Busy time

I'm very sorry it has taken me so long to update. On the one hand, I was doing "documented" stuff, that is cleaning kanna, making uradashi, sharpening old blades, so there was not much new stuff going on. On the other hand, I'm 10 weeks from the end of my contract and I'm programming the last "experiment" and submitted the paper. It's not a hard job but your mind gets squatted by it and I don't feel like doing much more in the nights.

Anyway, what it is slightly new (for me) is my study of compound angle geometry:

I was reading the carpentry way, his series on the splayed leg saw horse, and I liked the problem: how to shape a piece of wood such that when you cut it in a horizontal plane the result is a square.  It's the same as hyperbolic shapes I was talking about when looking at the slope of the gullets, if you incline your plane (or your timber) things start to look weird.

So, I grabbed some paper, made four parallel bents, and made a mock up of a wood with it. Then I cut in diagonal and tried to make it fit in the table. The result is that the shape looks like a diamond. Now, if you start with a diamond shape with the inverse factor, once you splay it and cut a horizontal through it, you have something like a square:

Sorry but Julia threw away the paper piece before I could take a picture of it.

Again, no measures, doing things by eye only. You need to multiply the diagonal that will enlarge by the sinus of the angle you are  rotating the leg... sounds more complicated than what it is, and that's why making a model with piece of paper is useful, once you cut it, you can open and see how japanese guys draw things:

Give it a try, it's simpler than what it looks.

After that, I wanted to try a small roof model:

Nothing fancy, just a 30minutes exercise.

The good thing of coming from a underdeveloped country, is that by doing something slightly nicer than the model I will have the coolest roof on the country.


On the other news, the hobelbank found its new home at Sebastian living room. I would really like to rent a couch for the next 2 months.

This is how it looks at my workspace:

Knees complain a bit. And sawing straight is more difficult than at the bench. My planing beam is some construction lumber I took from the street. It sucks for planing so now I'm thinking how to use the ash I have left. I do like the length of it. I can plane comfortably 50cm, and 70cm leaning some more. I also like the slope but it needs to be higher. It's anyway good to see what works and what not.

I managed to finish 2 lids for the boxes inside my toolbox. I had to resaw the long ash piece down there. I was 30 minutes like a stupid dog with a bone too large for him till I discovered some things called clamps. Man I missed my vice.

With those 2 boxed finished I have the bottom of the immigrant's tool box full. 15 kilos already, maybe a bit more, and no planes inside. Just blades, files, chisels. Once I have the final list with its weight I will post it here. I'm taking as little as possible that gives me the feeling of a smooth start once I'm there. Each item has a few reasons to be there, for example I just ordered 3 naniwa speciality stone because they are the thinnest and lighter in the market and because the diamond stones chip some of my hard kanna blades, which is not fun. I have plenty of files because in chile you cannot get nice used ones. Diamond lapping plates to restore what I find over there. The hammers... well, I may have a small hammer problem.  The 20 saw blades are needed for practice and proselytism. You get the idea no?

I promise that once there I will have more time for writing and making things, instead of this endless preparation.