I can't possibly talk about my day, 'cos it's been flippin' 'orrible and I'd really rather pretend it didn't exist. So instead let's talk about this Blog...
Not that I'm as ego-centric as that might suggest, just that I find some of the facts and figures I get from Sitemeter relating to the traffic on here rather fascinating. I know, what a sad case I am. Location's my favourite. Obviously the UK provides the bulk, with the US coming in second (for a change), but there's also Canada, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, and less often Germany, Luxemburg, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Slovakia, Romania, Russia and probably others I've forgotten (sorry). What I like best is being able to click on the link for the country and getting a rundown of size, population, principle exports etc etc. It certainly helps fill some gaping holes in my geographical knowledge... S'tordinary, though, the internet. My only real-life forrin travel is a school trip on the ferry to Boulogne Sur le Mer, and yet here you can travel the world from the discomfort of your desk instead of the discomfort of an airport lounge... Should you be gagging to know, Continental share has Europe streaking ahead on 71%, North America with a respectable 25% and Australia lagging behind with 4%. Evidentally the African, Asian and indeed Antarctic market has yet to embrace these Musings. Frankly I'm gutted.
Even as I posted this the stats tell me I can add Argentina to the list - and I completely forgot South America all together, didn't I? Oh deary me...
On the whole, if you're awake at four in the morning, another year older and nothing much to show for it, and generally not exactly Little Miss Sunshine, there are some things you don't want to see. "How to Have a Good Death" in large letters on the BBC homepage is definitely one of them...
Had a look at the leg tenons though, and everything seems okay. Hard to tell until I've trimmed down their protrouding ends though; a task which should be fun. Cleaned up the copious glue squeeze out underneath, which took a while, but despite extensive card scraper use for same The Thumbs seem to be largely all right. Remind me to tell you the cause of this miracle later; right now I've got to go and book myself a plot in the nearest cemetry.
I can see I was at fault. You can't ask for opinions when you haven't said what you've got in mind - sorry. I think I'm going for something that's a bit stand-alone-ish, if that makes any sense. Bit like instead of having a group of trees in a garden (a public garden that is, not a back garden!) you have one on its own as a "specimen" tree. By no stretch of the imagination is this going to be any kind of specimen (unless it's a disaster, when it'll be one of entirely the wrong sort..) but equally it's not one of a group of chairs or going to be used at a table. I won't say "throne-like", 'cos it might give the recipient ideas above their station... Also it's near impossible to judge anything without the legs in place. To which end...
Finally the muse arrived and I suddenly just felt I could turn those pesky tenons. Dunno why it is I have this sort of feeling about task in a project, but previous experience shows I ignore the signs at my peril. So I got them as tight as I could, then tweaked them with the left over 80g strip of alu-zirc from the drum sander piece.
The moment of truth with a quick test run with the tenons half way home to see whether I totally fouled up the angles or not. Well, they're not perfect, but on the other hand they don't look too bad either. I'll put this down as a result I think; at this stage anyway... Perishing stressful though. The turning was the worst. I knew I was tensing up my jaw while I concentrated on getting the tenons just so, but even when I was conscious of it I couldn't stop myself. Amazing anyone does this for relaxation...
Cutting the wedges was just a case of getting the bandsaw set up for the angle, providing some means of getting uniform wedge thickness, and making sure the bits didn't drop down the hole in the insert. Strips of tape dealt with the last two problems, the Bevel Boss and a sliding bevel the first.
Anyway, lots of nervous checking on fit, lining up glue and hammer and so forth later, and I went for the glue bottle. I don't know yet if it's all worked okay (I haven't looked) but I whaled away on those legs seating them home, and likewise on the wedges, so finger's crossed. You can see what a tip the place gets in when I'm in the middle of something, can't you...
Alas, looking at the rear view here, it seems like the rear right (front left in this pic) leg may have a slightly off angle. Merde. Maybe it's just the pic; afterall, if I didn't notice at the time, it can't be too glaring, can it..? At least it's reached the point where, worst case scenario, once the legs are cut to length, I can slap on some finish and call it a stool by the middle of May.
It's kinda cool, isn't it? I mean, it looks sort of like it should. I'm always surprised when that happens - how did I do that? sort of thing. Despite all the troubles I can see why chair making can be addictive...
Well I threatened you with having to voice an opinion, and here's the moment of truth. Obviously it's not ideal, what with the legs being, erm, well, a sawhorse... And the height's probably a bit off, plus the sticks may end up looking fractionally shorter than that once they're in their mortises and angled and so forth. Oh, and they'll be thinner and probably six of them. But apart from that, what d'you think? Too short, or okay? I stuck an offcut on the top as a sort of stand-in comb, but it'll be thicker than that, which'll add a bit of height... But then he's a tall lad. Ack.
Meanwhile the DVD drive on the 'puter's ceased to function. Bugger. I don't much fancy another session of hassle with our Indian friend, quite frankly. I feel Strong Words to Dell coming on...
Not that I'm as ego-centric as that might suggest, just that I find some of the facts and figures I get from Sitemeter relating to the traffic on here rather fascinating. I know, what a sad case I am. Location's my favourite. Obviously the UK provides the bulk, with the US coming in second (for a change), but there's also Canada, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, and less often Germany, Luxemburg, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Slovakia, Romania, Russia and probably others I've forgotten (sorry). What I like best is being able to click on the link for the country and getting a rundown of size, population, principle exports etc etc. It certainly helps fill some gaping holes in my geographical knowledge... S'tordinary, though, the internet. My only real-life forrin travel is a school trip on the ferry to Boulogne Sur le Mer, and yet here you can travel the world from the discomfort of your desk instead of the discomfort of an airport lounge... Should you be gagging to know, Continental share has Europe streaking ahead on 71%, North America with a respectable 25% and Australia lagging behind with 4%. Evidentally the African, Asian and indeed Antarctic market has yet to embrace these Musings. Frankly I'm gutted.
