I started carving my last wood project for the semester today. I started by tracing the outline on the face of the wood and the profile not the side of the wood. Then using an angle grinder I started to take material out of the back of the mask.
In fear of taking too much out I stopped with about half an inch more to be removed from the hollow. Next I used the bandsaw to cut out the profile and then the out line.
After having the basic shape I returned to the hollow to continue removing the excess material. This time however I started to use Tami's carving set. Once I figured out which chisels I liked the most ( at least for hollowing) I went to town removing material. Unfortunately as a student who works on a computer my hands do not have the calluses that they have had in the past, but I am sure that will change pretty quickly.
Pictures to follow.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Earth Scrapper
Along the lines of several other earlier posts I introduce the Earth Scrapper. It is proposed as a 65 story sky scraper built below the surface of Mexico City. It is a gorgeous design that has some awesome potential.
Check out the video on yahoo, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/building-down-instead-161537141.html
Check out the video on yahoo, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/building-down-instead-161537141.html
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Shopsmith
So about a month ago I bought a Shopsmith. If you do not know what a Shopsmith is, it is an all-in-one shop system and mine includes a table saw, a drill press, a horizontal borer, a lathe, a disc sander, and a bandsaw. Today is the first day that I have had an excuse to use it. Normally I would use the school shop for most projects since it is available, but today I needed to help Tami with making a frame. So I got to try out the table saw and the band saw.
It was a little different to have to figure out how to change from one set up to another. It is not the most optimal set up, but it is definitely the best set up for me right now. Since I was able to get the entire set up for about the same cost as any one of the six different tools. This is a great option for small or inexpensive shop start ups.
It was a little different to have to figure out how to change from one set up to another. It is not the most optimal set up, but it is definitely the best set up for me right now. Since I was able to get the entire set up for about the same cost as any one of the six different tools. This is a great option for small or inexpensive shop start ups.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Carving
We had another day of lecture in Wood again. We learned about several different carving methods. There is the classic carving tools, adzes, and power tools as options.
Kestrel Adzes are made in Rock Island, Washington. They are an edge tool that is attached to a haft that places the edge of the tool at a 90 degree angle to the position of the hand. They are great at removing lots of material very quickly.
Pfeil chisels are the Ferrari of chisels. They are a high quality chisel that are worth every penny of their price. Not only will they last a life time if properly cared for, but they also can appreciate over the life of the tool. Addis chisels are antique chisels that have lasted so long that you can basically classify them as indestructible when properly used. They however can only be found used from places like ebay or antique shops. Another antique in the same realm is Stanley everlasting chisels, which as described in their name are everlasting.
Power chisels such as the Automach chisel work like a traditional chisel mixed with a 10,000 oscillation per minute jack hammer that fits comfortable in the palm of your hand. They can accept a wide variety of chisel tips that eat away at the wood as if it was no more that butter. Although expensive they are not all that much more expensive than a full set of Pfeil chisels. There are also rotary tools like Dremels that can be used with a variety of bits at various speeds to produce all sorts of effects.
Stepping up to a more aggressive wood remover you have angle grinders. These are more often found in metal working sections but with the correct discs they can be used to remove large amounts of wood very fast. There are sanding discs that use very coarse sand paper to abrade the wood. There are carbide burs that remove even more material quickly. Arbortech makes a disc that has three very strong teeth that will remove even more material than the bur. Last of all there is a disc called Lancelot that is basically a chainsaw on a grinding disc that removes as much wood as you want as fast as you want (sometimes a little too fast).
Then there is always the arena of just using a chainsaw by it self. Although this would be best left for very rough cuts or very large sculptures.
I may add more to the list of different wood removing tools as I start to learn how to carve. But for now I wanted to collect my thoughts and not forget any of the amazing tools that my professor presented to us today.
Kestrel Adzes are made in Rock Island, Washington. They are an edge tool that is attached to a haft that places the edge of the tool at a 90 degree angle to the position of the hand. They are great at removing lots of material very quickly.
Pfeil chisels are the Ferrari of chisels. They are a high quality chisel that are worth every penny of their price. Not only will they last a life time if properly cared for, but they also can appreciate over the life of the tool. Addis chisels are antique chisels that have lasted so long that you can basically classify them as indestructible when properly used. They however can only be found used from places like ebay or antique shops. Another antique in the same realm is Stanley everlasting chisels, which as described in their name are everlasting.
Power chisels such as the Automach chisel work like a traditional chisel mixed with a 10,000 oscillation per minute jack hammer that fits comfortable in the palm of your hand. They can accept a wide variety of chisel tips that eat away at the wood as if it was no more that butter. Although expensive they are not all that much more expensive than a full set of Pfeil chisels. There are also rotary tools like Dremels that can be used with a variety of bits at various speeds to produce all sorts of effects.
Stepping up to a more aggressive wood remover you have angle grinders. These are more often found in metal working sections but with the correct discs they can be used to remove large amounts of wood very fast. There are sanding discs that use very coarse sand paper to abrade the wood. There are carbide burs that remove even more material quickly. Arbortech makes a disc that has three very strong teeth that will remove even more material than the bur. Last of all there is a disc called Lancelot that is basically a chainsaw on a grinding disc that removes as much wood as you want as fast as you want (sometimes a little too fast).
Then there is always the arena of just using a chainsaw by it self. Although this would be best left for very rough cuts or very large sculptures.
I may add more to the list of different wood removing tools as I start to learn how to carve. But for now I wanted to collect my thoughts and not forget any of the amazing tools that my professor presented to us today.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Ready to Move
As the end of the year quickly approaches I am growing in anticipation of moving to Virginia. Now part of the excitement comes from being done with school, having a real job and all of that. However I am probably most excited about having a garden that is much easier to manage.
I think that our garden has done so poorly because the weather has just been too hot. Now that it is cooling off, some of the plants that I was about ready to rip out of the ground are starting to come back to life. We have also planted a few more things and are excited to see what takes.
This summer out garden was so nice. We could hardly keep up with how much the garden was producing. I absolutely cannot wait to finally have a place of my own and plant a large garden that as long as there are not freak snow storms will do great.
I think that our garden has done so poorly because the weather has just been too hot. Now that it is cooling off, some of the plants that I was about ready to rip out of the ground are starting to come back to life. We have also planted a few more things and are excited to see what takes.
This summer out garden was so nice. We could hardly keep up with how much the garden was producing. I absolutely cannot wait to finally have a place of my own and plant a large garden that as long as there are not freak snow storms will do great.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Cheaper Living in a Hole
In response to my Hobbit Hole post Ruth brought up the fact that building underground can be more expensive than building above ground. While this is true for the upfront costs I would like to show why it makes sense in the long run. First why is it expensive to build underground? In order to have a basement (or anything underground) you must first dig a hole. Then you have to make sure that it is moisture proof. All of this costs more than just building on top of the ground. Checking around a couple of places online most people said that it cost them about $10,000 to build their basements. For this argument lets say that since the entire house is going to cost $20,000 or even $30,000 more than a typical house.
Now lets look at why you want to spend that much more initially. First it would eliminate your heating and cooling bills. According to the Energy Star website that is about $1,000 dollars a year. So over the period of 20-30 years the house has already made back every penny to originally spent. And that is assuming that you live in an average place. In places where summers are really hot (Arizona) or the winters are really cold (Michigan) the energy bills could be even higher which means the house would pay for itself even faster.
Second if we were to build below ground then we could be building on smaller lots with the same size of house. Now land prices vary greatly by location so this is a variable that may or may not save a lot of money. Looking at a few places here in my area I found that even on the cheap end a lot of land is about $50,000. Now when we are building underground en masse we could easily build two houses on a quarter of an acre or even a eight of an acre. So now the cost of land has dropped in half. That savings alone basically covers the cost of building underground.
Third is the fact that if this was done en masse it would be easy to reduce the cost of building. For example if a builder decided to build his new subdivision all underground he could easily excavate the entire area, build the houses knowing that they would be buried (which would definitely take a different set of construction techniques). Then as the houses were finished each one could be covered back over with soil and the project would be done. I do not know how much this could save but it should definitely reduce the costs.
Those I guess are just a couple more thoughts about why we should be building underground. I am sure that my argument is not perfect or the numbers completely accurate. That was not the point of this post. The point was to just look a little past the initial costs so that we all can realize how worth it some of these initial investments can be.
Now lets look at why you want to spend that much more initially. First it would eliminate your heating and cooling bills. According to the Energy Star website that is about $1,000 dollars a year. So over the period of 20-30 years the house has already made back every penny to originally spent. And that is assuming that you live in an average place. In places where summers are really hot (Arizona) or the winters are really cold (Michigan) the energy bills could be even higher which means the house would pay for itself even faster.
Second if we were to build below ground then we could be building on smaller lots with the same size of house. Now land prices vary greatly by location so this is a variable that may or may not save a lot of money. Looking at a few places here in my area I found that even on the cheap end a lot of land is about $50,000. Now when we are building underground en masse we could easily build two houses on a quarter of an acre or even a eight of an acre. So now the cost of land has dropped in half. That savings alone basically covers the cost of building underground.
Third is the fact that if this was done en masse it would be easy to reduce the cost of building. For example if a builder decided to build his new subdivision all underground he could easily excavate the entire area, build the houses knowing that they would be buried (which would definitely take a different set of construction techniques). Then as the houses were finished each one could be covered back over with soil and the project would be done. I do not know how much this could save but it should definitely reduce the costs.
Those I guess are just a couple more thoughts about why we should be building underground. I am sure that my argument is not perfect or the numbers completely accurate. That was not the point of this post. The point was to just look a little past the initial costs so that we all can realize how worth it some of these initial investments can be.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Yurts!
This is something that I just ran across today. Modern day yurts are build in the design of yurts from Mongolia and Turkey. It is basically a round house with a peaked roof. The walls are a wooden lattice, the roof is support by wooden beams. The walls are now often a high quality plastic. They are simple and easy to construct, even the larger yurts can be put up in a weekend if there are a few helping hands working together.
One can be used as a starter home. As a family grows it is simple to add another yurt next to the original and basically double the living space. Or if you do not need to double the space you can get a smaller yurt for an addition. Yurts can be used as a guest house, a room for a hot tub, a office, or even a rather epic tree house.
I guess there are a few things that have me interested in yurts. The first is that they are simple. It is something that I could do for myself (with help of course). It would not have to be built by someone else. I could intimately know and understand every last detail. That way when something goes wrong, A) I am more aware of what needs to be done to fix it, and B) I can only curse myself. Second it is a unique and simple building that could easily go onto any empty plot of land without too much fuss.
The only thing that I think would take some time would be building the interior walls, kitchen and bathroom. However the Yurt could go up in a couple of days and then slowly build up the rest as I go. I am pretty sure that it would take a lot of thinking outside the box to make it work but that definitely sounds like an adventure.
One can be used as a starter home. As a family grows it is simple to add another yurt next to the original and basically double the living space. Or if you do not need to double the space you can get a smaller yurt for an addition. Yurts can be used as a guest house, a room for a hot tub, a office, or even a rather epic tree house.
I guess there are a few things that have me interested in yurts. The first is that they are simple. It is something that I could do for myself (with help of course). It would not have to be built by someone else. I could intimately know and understand every last detail. That way when something goes wrong, A) I am more aware of what needs to be done to fix it, and B) I can only curse myself. Second it is a unique and simple building that could easily go onto any empty plot of land without too much fuss.
The only thing that I think would take some time would be building the interior walls, kitchen and bathroom. However the Yurt could go up in a couple of days and then slowly build up the rest as I go. I am pretty sure that it would take a lot of thinking outside the box to make it work but that definitely sounds like an adventure.
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