Friday 14 June 2013

The Interconnectedness of Things

I put my coarsest blade onto the bandsaw ready to rip down some of the Yew billets, 3tpi with an alternate set on the teeth for good clearance and a slightly wider cut, essential when ripping down the length of green wood.
While I was doing it I remembered the lessons learned from my new little lathe that slower is better for heavy work. I enjoy the way new skills and knowledge transfer to other jobs and remind one of things which may have otherwise been ignored.
I swapped the drive belt over onto the slower speed / higher torque setting and noticed it was badly frayed.
A quick look online located one and I ordered it over the phone. The guy who took the order was V helpful and said the old one would probably hold out for a while.
Well it lasted until 3:30! long enough to go through most of the short logs which were for billets. Generally they each yielded a single billet, but there are a couple from which I may get pairs of matched ones.
It was heavy going and a few times I was at the limit of both me and the bandsaw. The bigger logs needed coaxing through and a wedge banged into the saw cut behind the blade to help stop it pinching.
A good session of sawing.
My wife  was relieved (and possibly the neighbours too) to get some peace and quiet when the belt finally gave way.

I can get on painting the ends of these with PVA writing where and when they were cut and reorgansing my shelves to stor them for a year.
People always ask 'how long does it take to make a bow?' Maybe they'd like to come and lend a hand with this stuff which tends to get forgotten in the general scheme of things.

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