Life always feels transitional to me. It is constant change. So, even when it is frustrating, like driving yesterday was, I don’t worry about it, because I know it will change. But before I worry about waiting for that, I am working on changing some of it myself. Summer is coming, and kids will be in the streets. I am going to make a change and try to set up each delivery point, so I don’t have to back out when I park. Even with a backup camera, it is not good enough, and I want to be sure of what is going on at a point when one is tempted to be hurried.
On the further note of transition, I cannot keep doing this work and expecting it to sustain me. It is good work, and I love the nature of it. I know, delivering meals to people is just courier work. But I like doing things that make people happy. It is disappointing that this particular job is very sight unseen. And since it is, I try to make myself a seamless and invisible part of the process. Someone orders food, and it show up where they want it. No problems. No conflicts. No doubts. It is just there, when and where. On the few occasions I do get to see the customer, I am happy and upbeat and hope to give them a smile for the day. Finally, in the shops, I have been able to finally get to know several amazing people who come to their jobs every day and give smiles away for free. I admire them all for their genuine happiness and work ethic that makes them more than just a cog.
I have the ground moving under my feet. At the moment it is not just the ground that is the major cause of the motion, but me.
I have got a lot of tools at my disposal. I have leatherworking tools, a tractor, a couple of trailers, and a shop full of woodworking tools. I have even got my own sawmill. I have a supreme camera. I am always developing skills to work with these things. I have more physical capability than I have had in years thanks to changes that have put a stop to serious joint inflammation that I once thought was just a normal part of life, and how people felt. It was debilitating. But having gone from almost unable to walk to taking life at a jog, at least, I am springing my steps and loving every one of them, which is such a change from a year ago!
But to make enough to just keep up with bills, I need to work long days now. That is frustrating. It has killed all of my time for my interests. I came home yesterday so tired that I could not work in the shop. It was not just tired from all of the work, but from all of the motion. I felt out of sorts, and disoriented. I went to bed my 7Pm. (it’s now nearly 1AM. I’ll be back to sleep before long, I think, but I figured this would be a part of it when I succumbed to the exhaustion at 7.) It’s fine. I’ll get back to sleep soon and hopefully be well rested again for tomorrow. That is not the kind of condition I need to be in to even finish the top for the kitchen island. (Which I think is coming along great, I might add! It’s only poplar, but it is better than the old door that is on it now! And I can always replace it again when there is some new kind of wood available! I am not afraid of that sized planing job anymore, now that I am well into it! It is far easier than I imagined it would be.)
Why be parenthetically into the topic of the kitchen island? I glued up those severely warped boards, and got them to hold a straight top, even though they were two and a quarter inch thick. If there is one thing I wish I had done better, it is the jointing. I’ll work on that. But it is relatively straight when one thinks back to what I started with. I worked with these boards because my ambition is to not waste what I have. The wood I use is recovered from a dump. I want to make good out of what others throw away. It is a sort of dumpster diving, but to make lovely things that are highly valued. So, when the boards were milled straight, I set them aside to dry and got warped boards. That is something I could do better at during the drying process. I have been learning. But I did not want to just let them go. I have lost the piece with the pith in it, sure. But the rest! They are all twelve inches wide, and six and a half feet long.
To go at them, I have used the scrub plane, which is very heavily cambered, and cuts like a dream. It takes deep cuts and gets right down to business. That is the easy way to flat. Then smooth comes under the hand of something like a six, seven, or eight. You choose! It is all about what you can handle at those lengths of planes. I finally have settled on the six, as it is well long enough and heavy enough for the work. That is finalizing flatness just fine. Then finish is up to the number three or four. Those planes are short and ride up and down any undulation in the boards. The have a mild camber on the blade, so they don’t leave marks from a squared edge. All one has to do is keep the blade set for a very shallow cut, and it clears the surface of marks from the edges of the previous plane.
I have had a couple people I have talked to about this bring up sanding. My god. Have you never used a sharp blade? Not sharp like an old kitchen knife from the drawer! Sharp like the surgeon’s tools. The cuts are clean and clear. They leave nothing to be desired from sandpaper. Sandpaper would ruin a beautiful finish! Mechanical sanding even much more so! But if anything did want after the blade, I would use a card scraper! I have yet to find want for sanding. There are a couple of spots on one of the pieces of wood that are particularly poxy and may serve me back my words to feast on yet. But should you find a piece of the wood wanting, I fear sandpaper would only make it much worse, very quickly. Touch the blade of the plane to the stone and give a gentle push across the wood. Take one or two thousandths of an inch from the surface, and you will likely find a glassy smooth result!
I have to remind myself which kind of oil to use on the top. I will no doubt be mixing it with beeswax. But it cannot be boiled. Boiled is not food safe. But I don’t want something that will go rancid, either, such as olive oil. Besides, who wants to fight Popeye for her? But all that will come soon enough. I expect to do a fairly straight sawing on the edges, then jointing to true and smooth them. Then I will break the corners with the block plane and call it good. Somewhere before I do all that, I will have to figure out how to turn it over and at least scallop the bottom to relative smoothness. As it is now, I would have to put some serious shims under it to keep it from rocking before screwing it down. I’d rather not. A lot can be gained from just scrubbing it.
So, anyway, there’s some thoughts on all that. At least it is not the disorienting thought of spinning around Logan trying to find addresses and worrying about my rating so I can keep working. They have such a high threshold for that, and I cannot see how one keeps it in a chaotic world. But I am trying. I’d message customers all along the way, but I don’t like distracted driving. It is too much already with what I do have to do. And why slow the processes? Just get them their order and be done. That’s the way it should be! If they wanted to chat, they could just come to the door. Nobody does. It is lonely work that way. Not like the good old pizza delivery days in college, when I could assure they were on good terms with their service and make corrections along the way.
Right. I am going to get back to resting and sleeping for tomorrow. Time for my medieval second sleep!