This is mostly followup on yesterday. Forgot to mention I had a great chat with my apprentice Karly. But no dear, June and July will not work. Why?
Gardening
Rushing orders out before Lark Camp if that happens and its safe
Fiddle Tunes get together if not the real deal
Late Spring Tides/lighting best for Paleontology
I’ll be thick in the first results of Glass Flutes
Practicing, and maintaining instruments
Lots of Yardwork
Best Time for Birding
Heat Domes of Death
So lets look at the Fall again. Or come down for a week in the earlier bit of Spring.
Overnight I got about 4 hours of sleep, ordered a wax that will work well for machining using my cirrent methods, and then will be used to cast glass finally. I am going to make a Requinta out of glass in the same style. Laurent made a few piccolos.
Long phone calls today with friends Mickie and Bracken. Nancy and I assessing the old and ratty Lilac by my office. It serves a purpose of providing shade in the afternoons and perchage for birds, especially since we removed the diseased Filberts. Why I want to keep the one inconveniently outside my shop door. The solution may be to move the latter to that corner or simply keep that corner clear. My waterline and two power lines go 2’ under this tree, which is enough to cause issues. I might simply plant more Filberts (disease -free) next fall. Or chestnuts.
Then a long and inspiring call with the folds at McClain’s Printmaking Supplies regarding this Cherry wood and how to process it to blocks ready for cutting prints. The best solution is to mount a 1/8” to 3/16” veneer onto a stable substrate such as Baltic Birch. Plywood got really expensive last summer - $116 for a sheet of 1/2” CDX. Baltic Birch is around $150 currently. An alternative would be some cheap pine made from fingerjointed strips from IKEA. I have some for prototyping. he equivalent would run around $84, at $7 for the 12 X 16. There way be other stuff available as substrates, such as the stuff made for countertops and sold by Edensaw. I’ll need a press for glueing.
They are going to put me in touch with the block maker who just retired, and another expert or two. I could get a lot of veneer wood. Curing it so it doesn’t warp is a possibility with a bit of experimentation. The craft of Japanese Wood Block Printing was highly compartmentalized traditionally. Now it is going extinct in that old form. The newer generations would rather do something else.
Then I got down to the wood pile. I retrieved my wildlife camera to watch for potential poachers. None. But I got more footage for the horror movie we are working on. The roadway, especially with its more open sky was full of bats!
Most important task was to paint the ends of these big cants. As in can’t lift. This wood is very heavy. Tomorrow I am going to cut a rectangular piece and weigh it and then calculate the weight of the long trunk piece. If its more than Alden can handle, we’ll have Kitsap Towing haul it with their heavy equipment moving service.
Then I need to start hauling the firewood -sized pieces. Instead of painting the ends I might slice and dice these on the bandsaw. Some will get submerged into salt water tanks made from trash cans. This will draw the water out by osmosis while keeping the wood from cracking due to the fact that its underwater. They cure large logs this way.
Another very important task - talking to our dear friend Sarah Stone about her’s dad’s workshop. I need to retrieve a book loan to forward onto Shelley. He also had a few tools that I would prefer to redistribute to someone appropriate. These were my old sound post setters. nancy, Lila and I will converge on the violin shop net week and meet her curbside. My knees do not want to go up that long flight of stairs.
A long yet very satisfying day!
Intended to edit and add to this in the morn before I sent it off. Screw that! I am onto another post instead.
casey
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