Multi-dimensional Planer

Some tools just have a mind of their own.  I'm trying to figure out how a 12" by 6" piece of quality walnut came out of the planer lower on one corner than the other.  The wood looked fine when the whole board was jointed.  I'm bummed because this particular piece was supposed to be a show face on the clock it was destined for.

Back to the planer problem.  My theory is that my feeding pieces to alternating sides of the 12" planer somehow skewed/elevated the board while the corner was between feed rollers.  There is an analog in the computing field where I have some real expertise: I often want the computer to do what I want, not what I told it to do.  I guess the machinery in any field is a harsh reflection of the operator's skill.

On the bright side, some small taper files arrived today.  I'm taking up saw sharpening, but was stymied by the dearth of taper file options in the retail world.  I finally found what I needed at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.

Machine Day

I scored some 5/4 poplar and walnut today.  I'm making some clocks for Christmas presents.  Enough back story.  I had the rare opportunity to spend several hours straight in the machine shop (garage) today.  Jointer, table saw, and bandsaw all got some love.  The lesson for today is WALNUT IS HARD!  Resawing poplar is easy, especially clear project quality stuff.  However, today was my first time resawing walnut.  I ruined about 11" of the first board by drifting off the cut line.  I learned to slow the feed rate down and to push a lot harder to get the walnut through.

I say ruined, but I'll just plane it thinner and use it for another component on one of the clocks.

Hello world!

It is customary for the first program in a new programming language to simply print "Hello world!" on the screen.  The blog equivalent is 'First post!

Hello, world!  This is the first post.

I was in Haiti in 2007.  Here is some hand hewn mahogany seasoning in the sun.