I’ve been working to get the Pedz out of the way so that I can get moving on Mrs. Wonky. Some people find working with stainless pretty difficult. I love working with the stuff. No painting needed; just a little polishing and some Sheila Shine to keep it looking nice and oil free.

My first threading on the lathe. The Pedz legs. Threaded and polished.

Pedz legs bent and welded.  

Polishing out welds and heat spots. 

Preliminary set up. The Pedz 

I’ve been messing around with different concrete mixes for the Pedz tops. I started by reading the book “Concrete Countertops” by Fu-Tung Cheng. It’s a great book that tells a lot about doing these kinds of things. As those types of books go, I needed to change a few things, like buying materials locally that don’t cost an arm and a leg. That meant a little trial and error. So below are the first tops that I’m am totally stoked about.  They are super hard and took a mirror shine at 1500 grit grinding. It took almost an hour to break through to the glass aggregate with a 50 grit diamond disc. They were ground yesterday after 4 days of cure. I’ll follow that up soon with a 3000 grit. Cheng says it’s not needed, but I have so much glass in the surface that I think it’ll really bring the shine out. 

Got the 3000 grit diamond discs. MAN what a difference. Those things are like glass. I did make the mistake of using a penetrating sealer. It dulled the polished/ground finish a little. Looks plastic like. Next one will be waxed with carnauba wax.  No sealer

This week I got the lathe and mill hooked up to power. What did I do without my own equipment for so long????

My first project was getting Mrs. Wonky’s parts done. Turning the stainless backrest top screw:

Tapping the bottom disc:

I needed a mandrel to turn some aluminum discs for another project. The discs have 3/4 inch holes in the center. I was planning to make the tool when I remembered that in my tool box was a mandrel that I had made as an apprentice twenty years before. Sure enough it was a 3/4 inch mandrel. It had never been used. Today I used it for the first time.

Cheers and thanks for stopping by. 

Update: Turning lamp part in aluminum:

Today I went with Tee (first day of school was canceled due to weather) and we checked on the boat at the marina. As we were leaving, we spotted the remains of several hundred natural “Sponge Bobs” on the back of a local fishing boat. Not sure what the old cuban gentleman was doing, trying to find safe harbor or getting ready to unload. 

Hope all are safe and secure during the crazy weather.

Today I hooked up with photographer Markus Haugg to photograph an installation by artist Ara Peterson. Ara does some cool stuff with visual deception. These things can only have justice done to them when they are viewed in their natural, installed environment. Here are some shots of what I was seeing today: 

Markus shooting the details with full bounced strobe.

Shooting with ambient light; overhead spots and filtered sunlight in this case.

Close up of the detailed intricate work. 

More detail. Individual painted wood strips, laminated to form 8 x 16 foot (approx) wall piece. 

In getting Mrs. Wonky ready, I needed to counterbore some holes into her seat. This required the use of a Forstner bit. Wiki calls the Bosch bit on the left a “Hinge Sinker Bit,” one of their silly misnomers as it fits the definition of a Forstner except for the fact that it has carbide cutting surfaces instead of high speed steel. The outer knives on the Bosch bit cut through veneer much cleaner then the traditional Forstner bits cutting edges. The Bosch bit is actually the best of the three bits as far as cutting smoothness, accuracy and heat build up. At twice the price though of the Porter Cable set I got yesterday, the Bosch bits will stay at the Bosch store. The Porter Cable bits do a nice job actually.

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Bosch- Left, Porter Cable-Middle, and Freud-Right (the ragged edge on the hole is from my paper template)

Drilling the seat:

Special custom made stainless steel seat screw:

The first was an armature (see category: “Hidden Art”) for an as of yet unfinished chair. The following is a part that will support Mrs. Wonky’s new seat. Someone might turn the stool over to see the underside, but most won’t. Here’s Mrs. Wonky’s underside seat support:

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Mrs. Wonky opted for elective surgery while recovering. She wasn’t happy with her 10 ply seat so we’re rebuilding it to 15 ply. (you can see Mrs. Wonky hanging out in the background) 

West System Epoxy cold mold:

We’re still hoping to have her presentable by the end of the week, but she might opt for more stuff. 

My studio is getting smaller: