Tag: sabbatical

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

I got up early, though not as early as day 9, to drive out to the Habitat build again. I’d volunteered again and this time arrived at 8:30, not 7:45. The same two supervisors were there, and as I walked up, they greeted me and put me to work. Not content to wait for the orientation lectures, I pulled out some ladders and was given caulking duty in all corners of a bedroom.

Not my best skill, but I worked at it, trying to seal each of the seams where the drywall comes together. It’s a small energy saver, providing some insulation and reducing drafts. As expected, I probably put too much in each corner bead, especially around the ceiling corners, but I got a complete room done.

Then it was painting. With about 12 or 13 volunteers, the idea was that we’d get three coats inside the house. I started cutting in spaces for primer, and then was pulled out to help unload new cabinets that would be installed the next week. Once those were stacked in a driveway, I was asked if I’d prefer inside or outside work. Outside for sure, with so many people and fumes, so I was given a task with a high school kid to un-pile the dirt in front and spread it around near the house. I filled in electrical trenches and then tried to build a slope down to the street.

Hard work, and working slow, but work that is simple and lets me think. Two or three others joined us and we soon had a 4 ft x 6 ft pile of dirt spread out. An early lunch where I was glad to sit in the car and rest for a few minutes. When we got back to it, most people went to put on the first coat of final paint and I helped with more dirt work and a few random jobs outside getting fascia cut and various tools and supplies moved around.

Near the end I could feel my back aching a bit, and slowed down. Around 3, everyone pitched in to do one last coat of paint, the third, inside the house. I cut in the kitchen and then rolled the walls. Not glamorous, not hard, and certainly not fun, but I did OK. Despite the low light, no complaints on my work. We knocked off at 4:15 and I was off to class.

Practice

Class was interesting. I got there early enough to sharpen a plane and flatten a mortising chisel. My first task was to flatten the edge of one of the aprons I’d cut last week. One was already square, but my band saw rip meant that the other apron had two flat sides (one by me, one by the planer) and two un-square and un-flat edges. At home I’d have run it on the jointer, but in class I needed to it by hand.

The edge was high on one side, but I couldn’t square it. I was working with just one bench dog, and a TA came by to show me how to secure it in the vise. I declined, saying I wanted to practice balancing the board. He laughed and walked away, and I struggled.

We had a break for another demo, where the instructor showed everyone again how to mark and chisel a mortise. I was the only one who’d gotten that far on Tuesday, so it was a bit of a boring lecture at times, but I did learn a few things I’d missed the first time, or hadn’t done Tues. After 45 min or so of watching, I headed back to the shop and finally managed to square the edge of my board. My iron was slightly tilted, so I was just planing the board on an angle. I managed to square it after a few tries and quickly squared the board.

Then it was mortise time. We were supposed to mark 5 lines and transfer them across the edge and get that approved. I did that first, but only 3 of mine were OK. That made sense as I was working with a utility blade and the bevel messed me up a bit.

I left that for a minute and chopped two more mortises. One was OK, one looked good until near the end when I managed to mis-set the chisel and hit it once before I realized. Not a good looking mistake, but one that would likely be covered by the shoulder of the tenon piece and wouldn’t affect fit much.

Still.

I got those chopped, laid out and transferred three more lines and took everything up for approval. I got good marks, though I realized that laying out a mortise one day and then potentially using a different chisel the next is bad. The instructor noticed and I could see where this is a problem. Relative measurements only work when you use the same tools.

I laid out and marked a third set of mortises, getting them chopped just before 9. The instructor thought those were my best, and I called it a night 20 minutes early. I was beat, so I packed up and headed home.

A long day, a very tiring day, but a good day. Helped lower someone’s mortgage for a house and built some chiseling skill.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

It’s time to get the rest of the flagpole cut. The idea is there are two sides, the front and back, made from 2×6 lumber. It’s tapered, but those are the top and bottom as the pole is on the bench. Then there’s 2x4s, which are really split, to form the sides. I only bought 2, so I’m hoping I don’t mess this up today.

The plan is to measure and cut wood, then start marking biscuit locations. I’m hoping glue arrives and I can get to that over the weekend or early next week.

Reality

I wrote the first part of this in the morning, as the DirectTV guy came by to realign our dish and upgrade a received. I had to baby-sit the process for a bit and when he was done, the day fell apart.

It was very windy outside, too windy to cut and probably even uncovering the jig wouldn’t have gone well. A friend called to see if I was free for lunch, and I agreed since I’d missed him the last coulple of weeks. After that, with more wind, I gathered kids and we delivered some of the horse projects I’d worked on to a friend.

That was really the day. A bit of planning and nothing. However with Habitat tomorrow, it wasn’t a bad way to spend a day.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

Flagpole

After the weather ruined my first jig, I decided to plan better, and wait for a clear time to work on the flagpole. Today  was that day. I was slow to get going, but I managed to get to Home Depot in the morning and purchase a few hardware items along with the wood for the jig. It takes 3 8” strips of 3/4” plywood and I had them cut those. They also agreed to do the 1 1/2” strips for the cleats, which was nice. Not only did it mean I could transport things easier, but also I didn’t have to muck with that.

First was biscuiting the pieces together. I learned this isn’t super strong, but it will hold enough. I used #20 biscuits this time instead of #0 ones. Make a big difference.

Then it was layout time. First, get the total length.

The plan is 22ft 2 in, but I opted to go with 22 as I didn’t want to get too close on cuts. A new saw blade went in to try and get as clean a cut as I could.

Then I can to measure the taper. The idea is that I taper one side (of both the front and back) first. I used a chalk line to get the angle, and then colored that in with a pencil.

I’d also bought some 1/4” plywood, which I ripped strips from to make this cleat for the saw to ride on. I screwed those in along my line.

Then it was time to cut the jig. I ran the saw along the cleats to trim the jig to size. Some scrap plywood I’ll use for other projects at some point.

I was feeling pretty good at this point and had a good sense of accomplishment. I’ve seen this on the video 4 or 5 times, but it’s quick there, and slightly intimidating. However good sun, not much wind, and I had a jig.

Then I needed to cut a scarf joint in my boards. It’s hard to find a good 20+ft board,  and even the 16ft ones I got were culled from a large number of other ones. They’re slightly warped, but the straightest I saw and I think they’ll be OK once they are glued up and holding each other. However I need a way to join them together. This is how I did that.

I won’t glue these yet, but when I attach everything they’ll get a good coating of glue.

With that done, I put two of the boards (front) under the jig and cut. It made me a little nervous, but this isn’t a lot of wood (in cost) and if I mess up, I start over. At least I have a jig now.

Things went well, and I put in the other two boards (back) and cut them as well. With that done, I had one side tapered. But I needed the second side done, so I flipped over the jig and attached a cleat on the bottom for the boards to sit against. In the picture below, the jig is upside down. With that cleat on, I flipped it over, butted it against the wood, and cut.

It’s hard to see, but the close end is 3” side, and the far end is 4.5” wide. That’s the taper of the flagpole.

I got some of my glue as well, and I’m expecting the rest this week.

That was most of the day, and of course, I had to clean up and cover up in case it rains. When I planned this Monday, there was no rain in the forecast, but by Tues afternoon, there was a chance for Wed.

Woodworking Fundamentals Class

Tuesday night was woodworking class, so after cleaning up, I packed up the car and headed out with my supplies to the west side of town and class. I barely made it there on time and just had time to sharpen a plane blade before the instructor wanted us to gather for a lecture. Lucky for me the blade was in good shape and fairly sharp.

We started class with introductions. Now that the class was set with 12 or 13 students (down from 18), the teacher wanted us to get to know each other. He talked about his work as a furniture maker and fitter, working for restaurants, museums, etc. Then we went around the circle.

What was surprising for me is that most of the people there, probably 10 of us, wanted to do this as a career in some way. Most people were in their 30s or 40s, but were looking for something else. A few construction people, a few artists, looking to improve their skills. However there were 4 or 5 of us that worked for a corporate company, and except for me, everyone hated their jobs. We had one software engineer who’s doing this as a hobby, but doesn’t love his job. A banker, a video person, some other corporate people that are hoping they can find work for themselves, doing woodworking.

Interesting. I avoided talking much about my job, since I have the best job and didn’t want to make anyone feel bad, but it’s a sad state of affairs for corporate workers if I had any kind of representative sample.

Then we got into woodworking, which was learning to square a third side of our leg, in this case the top end. That’s a bit of a challenge, but not as hard as the other two. Once we finished that, we were looking to chop a mortise. I’ve tried to drill and rout one, but never hand chop one. We watched the instructor do some layout and marking, which looked easy, but as I found out, wasn’t. He also chopped two intersecting mortises in a few minutes.

Everyone was tired at this point, so we were on our own. My boards were square and flat, so I got to work quickly. I first cut the big board into two with the bandsaw to get the aprons. I’m sure Thur will be tenon time with those. Then I checked my leg, which was barely off square. Using a shooting board, I managed to get it square quickly, surprising myself.

Our software engineer, Tony, chatted with me a bit as he tried to square his leg. He’s a java guy, and hates SQL Server, so he complained a bit and I listened to him vent. I gave him a few tips on SQL Server and what had worked for me squaring the wood. I’m not advanced yet, but I am ahead of most people.

I got my wood marked, using my new marking gauge to set up the mortise spot. Then it was time to chisel out the wood.

It went surprisingly quickly. I thought it might take me the rest of the night to do one mortise, but I actually ended up getting both of them done and intersecting. I didn’t take a good picture, but I will Thur. Especially as I they were pronounced “pretty good”, but then I was told to “do it again”.

I managed to mark out two more mortises below these  since this is a practice leg, but was feeling tired. It was 9 at this point, so I cleaned my area, packed up, and left.

A good wood day.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

It’s not really day 12. It’s day 11 in work days, but since I worked Saturday to catch up, I’ll just keep going.

A slow day for the sabbatical today. I had a few household things to handle, including getting a pool table moved, and I wasn’t positive about weather.

So this was a planning day, along with double checking my shopping list and re-watching part of the video on the flagpole. Tomorrow I hit it hard.