Thursday, September 13, 2012

On The Road Again

John Harris/Simon Cameron Mansion
Greta is going on the road for the third time since she was completed in April.

Last week, I demonstrated chip carving at the John Harris/Simon Cameron Mansion. This Sunday, I'll dovetail candle boxes at Fort Hunter Day along with two friends—one of whom will make Shaker oval boxes, and the other will build frame and panel doors with hand tools.

Greta's still plenty gappy.
You might wonder how Greta's holding up and breaking down with the change in humidity. Surprisingly, she's hardly moved at all. That gap between the two top boards to allow for wood movement has only shrunk about 1/32".  The only other difference is that the top boards have gotten a wee bit thicker—about 1/64".

Other than that, she still knocks down and goes together just fine.

The benchtop is a tad thicker.
We'll be outside this weekend in the grass, so I thought of a way to ensure that Greta's feet won't wick up any moisture from the ground: Duct tape.

I'll line the bottoms of her legs with blue painter's tape (which isn't as sticky), and then put duct tape overtop of it. Should make for a good moisture barrier.

And, I learned a couple things from last week's demo that I'll keep in mind for this Sunday:
1) You can never have too many packing blankets.
Packing for Fort Hunter.
2) I talk too much.

The latter of the two was revealed to me by my partner who said that I should cut more, talk less.

Not a problem. I'm bringing duct tape, remember?
at

14 comments:

  1. Jonathan SzczepanskiSeptember 13, 2012 at 5:01 PM

    Greta, the Road Warrior!
    I have heard some people have covered the bottom of the legs with epoxy to water proof them. I think it would be a more permanent solution then duct tape.

    Jonathan
    =======================

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  2. ShawnSeptember 13, 2012 at 5:03 PM

    I have a problem with my box dovetail demo in that it just takes to long. To many repetitive steps.

    Next time I'll just make it a dovetail demo with each side being seperate demonstration. Then doing a planing demo for top and bottom to break it up.

    I will say the thing the kids enjoyed the most was getting to saw and planing themselves. I'd start the 90* cuts for the dovetail, getting the top and face angles sawn, then let the kids finish. All they had to do was focus on stopping on the line since the kerf was started. I'd also demo doing a round over on the two end grains and let them do the long grain.

    They all smiled.

    - Shawn

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  3. Kari HultmanSeptember 13, 2012 at 5:13 PM

    Jonathan, yeah, but how hard would it be to get the epoxy off my mouth? I'd better stick with duct tape (That's a great idea actually--thanks!)

    Shawn, I'm taking my planes and some extra boards to make some shavings if onlookers get bored. I'm also bringing some moulding planes for fun. We'll have a spill plane for the kids to play with. I'm not ready to let any kids play with my tools just yet...

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  4. Jamie BaconSeptember 13, 2012 at 6:21 PM

    You get the coolest gigs Kari! Deservedly so. Have a great time. Looks like the weather will be smiling on you and Greta. :)

    Jamie

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  5. Frontier CarpenterSeptember 13, 2012 at 9:15 PM

    Is the duct tape to silence your partner?

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  6. MarilynSeptember 13, 2012 at 11:11 PM

    Yeah! That's what I wanted to know .. who is the duct tape for? The talker or the one making the observations?? ;o)

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  7. Kari HultmanSeptember 14, 2012 at 6:45 AM

    FC, are you trying to get me in trouble???

    Marilyn, I meant for me. Although, she's the talkative one at home. Hmmm

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  8. Bill AkinsSeptember 14, 2012 at 8:56 AM

    I think a dovetail candlebox video is in order. And you can talk all you want to.

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  9. JoshSeptember 14, 2012 at 11:17 AM

    Kari-

    I am wondering about your dovetail candle box. Seeing as how the dovetails are through, what did you do with the groove for the bottom?

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  10. Kari HultmanSeptember 14, 2012 at 12:35 PM

    Bill, that's a good idea. I did a video on handcut dovetails, but an entire box might be interesting.

    Josh, I made stopped grooves with a router (I think—it's been awhile). With these boxes, though, I'm going to run the grooves all the way through with my plow plane and then plug the holes later with square, tapered pegs. They should be fairly invisible on the endgrain.

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  11. Kari HultmanSeptember 14, 2012 at 3:26 PM

    Jamie, I've been very fortunate to have these opportunities. And yeah, 74ยบ and sunny on Sunday--how lucky is that??

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  12. Dyami PlotkeSeptember 14, 2012 at 6:47 PM

    Have a great time, Kari. I wash I was close enough to attend without making a weekend trip out of it. I can't wait to see Greta in person.

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  13. AbiSeptember 15, 2012 at 1:30 PM

    "Less talking, more cutting." Said that to my hairdresser once. Looking back, I was lucky to get out of that chair with anything other than a burr or a scalping. However, I suspect your partner is wise enough not to have uttered her version while you had a saw or other sharp implement in hand! Or was she? ;)

    Bench looks great!

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  14. Kari HultmanSeptember 17, 2012 at 9:18 PM

    It was lots of fun, Dyami, but made for a very long day. *whew*

    Abi, my partner sustained no injury from imparting her words of wisdom to me. But I'll remember to not use that phrase with my hairdresser. My hair is short enough!

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