Happy Birthday, Paul

It’s great to be 71 years plus 1 day old today! Spent all of yesterday flying from Houston back to State College, complete with thunderstorm delays in Detroit, a thunderstorm divert from State College to Pittsburgh, refuel and return to State College for some racetrack patterns until the new thunderstorms moved north of the airport, finally landing around 9:00 P.M. Throughout that adventure I was able to check-in and read all the birthday wishes from friends, making the day a lot less aggravating. Thanks to all for joining me through the ether on my birthday. Looking forward to enjoying many more birthdays and sharing them with you. I'd better get started raising a toast to each and every one of you as I didn't have a chance to do so yesterday! Bar Keep, your attention is needed over here!

Happy Birthday, Jennifer

It was a Friday morning, forty-five years ago today, that Leslie and I headed out to the St Joseph Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan with Leslie in active labor. We had taken the mandatory Lamaze classes to permit me to be in the Delivery Room, so we had visited the hospital ahead of time and knew where to pull up and drop off Leslie and then where I had to go to get her checked in and find the Maternity Ward. It was a partly sunny, cool morning as we drove, but as the labor became more active and the contractions happen more quickly in the Maternity Ward room, I could see snowflakes falling outside. About noontime Leslie was wheeled into the Delivery Room and I followed after getting on the required paper booties, gown, and hat. In the delivery room I had a stool with wheels to sit on--it would permit the doctor to push me out of the way if I fainted during the birth. Throughout labor I coached Leslie with the Lamaze methods "dog panting, cleansing breath, relax"). In the confines of the Delivery Room I recalled the story of a woman in labor who responded to her husband's coaching by biting his nose, so I maintained a safe distance while coaching. Jennifer arrived fairly quickly and was hustled off by the nurse to get weighed, washed off, and bundled in a blanket before being placed on the sheet on top of Leslie's stomach. (Back in those days, you know, the Middle Ages and Winterfell, they thought the mother could pass germs to the new infant, so skin-to-skin contact was to be avoided in the Delivery Room!)
Jennifer was taken off to the Nursery and Leslie and I went to the Recovery Room. It took a while for Leslie's uterus to recover its original size and shape, so as we tried to make that happen with massages and transfusions, they kept Jennifer in the Nursery. Leslie was not happy with that, so she convinced the nurse to get her baby, NOW.
I went off to phone the news to our families and Leslie and Jennifer spent the rest of Friday and all of Saturday enjoying the amenities of a hospital with constant vital sign measures and wonderful cuisine. Sunday dawned warm and humid and checkout was scheduled after lunchtime. As I headed to the hospital with our new baby car seat, I head the local radio issue a tornado watch for Ann Arbor. As an aspiring graduate meteorology student at the University of Michigan at the time, I naturally scoffed at the forecast and continued to the hospital. When I parked in the hospital lot, I found the hospital was on lock down and many patients were huddled in the central hallways for protection from the non-existent tornado. As I was explaining to the admissions desk that I was there to take my wife and new daughter home and there wasn't any real threat of a tornado hitting the hospital, the hospital administrators realized there wasn't any threat, and they cancelled the lock down. I ran up and gathered Leslie and Jennifer and we quickly exited the hospital before they changed their minds. And off we headed to our townhouse apartment in Ypsilanti and our new future as a family. Jennifer had arrived!

Happy 7th Birthday Prince Cheeks

Where did those cheeks go?

October 2007

 

Happy Birthday, Shawn

Take good care of Opa at your party and don't let him bring any Legos home.

Happy Birthday Lady Terra

You wowed them in Kiev, Milan, and Budapest.

and in Atlanta, too.

Jonathan, Opa, Elise do the aquarium

Happy Birthday Miss E.

4!

Happy Birthday Lady Ariel

Paul's first oak bowl made it to Shannon.  The red oak shines well with the oil and wax finish and really shows the rays and character of the wood.

 

New wood species

I ordered several bowl blanks from Got Wood. They were species of wood that I have not had any previous bowl turning experience (except for Cherry):  Bradford Pear, Chinaberry, Red Elm, Cherry, and Ash.  These bowl blanks are pre-cut round. Blanks are green wood (not dried), fully sealed in paraffin wax to guard against defects and too quick drying.  The pieces contain no pith, checks, or cracks. 

green blanks with paraffin

The first bowls I turned were of Bradford Pear and Chinaberry, both 6 inches in diameter and 3 inches thick.  I used a 2 1/8 inch diameter Forstner bit in my drill press to drill a .25 inch deep hole in the center of the blank and mounted the blank in the scroll chuck using the chuck in an expansion mode. 

My first step was to true up the blank sides to form a cylinder and remove the paraffin coating.  On the tailstock side I turned a tenon about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 3/8 inches long.   I shaped the curved bottom of the bowl and put in an indentation near the tenon that would later become the base of the bowl.  Using the tenon I reversed chucked the bowl and hollowed out the inside of the bowl.   The Bradford Pear was particularly aromatic and quite wet, but it turned nicely and showed very little tear out in the end grain.

The bottom of the bowl has a curved surface where the side meets the bottom of the bowl.  I put a small band on the outside lip of the bowl and otherwise had the side of the bowl taper to the base. 

Bradford Pear:  Happy Birthday Lady Ariel

The inside of the Bradford Pear bowl shows a subdued grain pattern and the wood has an yellow-orange tint.  The Chinaberry blank was turned in the same manner and I found the wood to be aromatic, not as fragrant as the Bradford Pear, and the shavings were not as wet as the Pear.  Chinaberry also showed more tear out on the end grain, so I had to be more careful to get a smooth finish.

On this bowl I put a small cove cut on the outside of the bowl, about an inch below the lip of the bowl and then a simple taper to the bowl base.

Chinaberry

The grain pattern on the Chinaberry bowl is very distinct, and the wood had an orange to red coloration.  Turning green wood is definitely easier than turning dry wood as the shavings come off almost in continuous strips. My hands often felt damp from the spray coming off the chisel as it cut into the green wood.  I used the carbide tools for most of the turnings, plus the parting chisel and a round nose scraper to smooth out the bottom of the bowls and remove most of the tear out on the outsides of the bowls.   

Once the bowls were completely turned, I reverse chucked them in a jam chuck to remove the tenon from the bottom of the bowl.  I could only get the tenon down to about the size of a quarter and about 1/4 inch long, because the tail stock gets in the way of the parting tool, so to remove that remaining tenon, I used a hand chisel and then power sanded the bottom.   

To sand the bowls I used Abranet sanding mesh, but it was really needed for the Bradford Pear because the wet wood would have clogged up regular sandpaper.  The Chinaberry was not as wet, so I used both Abranet and regular sandpaper to finish it.  Both bowls got a finish coat of Walnut Oil and once dry, they will get a final wax finish.

Because of  the high moisture content of these green bowls, I am storing them in a plastic bag with their moist shavings, a combination that hopefully will allow the wood to dry slowly, without too much movement or checking.   At this point I am not sure how long it will take for these bowls to dry out, so this will be an experiment to see what it takes to dry these kinds of wood.

Happy 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday, Tiger Lilly

Happy Birthday Admiral Grand Poppy

July 31, 2013 at Rittenhouse Sq.

May 25, 2013 at the Barony

 August 26 A useful hemlock box to put things in
Happy Birthday, Dad.

Gambol and I drove to Holly's for Dad's 83rd birthday party. Holly put on a beautiful spread of quiche lorraine, garlic bread, spinach/basil salad, and coconut birthday cake.  She is a terrific hostess.  

Gambol also did an impressive job of exploring but staying close and coming when called.  I was very proud of him. Holly and Mark's place is partially fenced but has a creek running through it that leaves a gap in the fence.  Gambol pranced right through the water to gt to the neighbors'.  They also have an overgrown area perfect for bunnies and other huntables.  What a marvelous way to spend an afternoon.  Gracie and Roxie joined in the fun too but Gambol was the hunter. I enjoyed the drive with him as my co-pilot.

Happy Birthday, Baron

Wahooo!

Happy Birthday, Lady Terra

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag

Well Jennifer, back on the day you were born it was a chilly day in Ann Arbor Michigan. I remember telling Mom that there were snow flakes falling, but not sticking, while Mom was in the Labor Room. You were born on Wednesday and as the week progressed the temperatures climbed out of the 40s to reach the 60s or so. The day you came home there were thunderstorms in the area and some overly enthusiastic forecaster put out a tornado watch/warning for Ann Arbor, so the hospital went on lockdown , getting all the patients into the hallways and not letting anyone in or out of the hospital. I was finally able to get into the hospital and gather up Mom and you to go home. So weird weather is part of your destiny. love, Dad 

They wouldn't let us out until Sunday, Mothers' Day. Five days in the horspital is 5 days too many. love, Mom

Happy Birthday Lady E

Pretty in purple

Your mommy called Opa and me very early on this day 3 years ago.  She said, "I think we having a baby today." I said I'd be there as soon as I could but I didn't have a car since a chipmunk had chewed in ignition wire.  I called the car guy and told him my problem.  He fixed the car in record time and I drove as fast as I could to see you.  Jonathan and I wanted to be your first visitors.  We made it.  No chipmunks have destroyed my car since your birthday.