Summer Session of Northern Calif.

[avbill]

To Every one!

thank you Noaln and family for being a great host.
Jay was his usual self in the casting demo! All totaled there was 15+ many casted a pen blank. Greg segment jig. All in all everyone had a great time talking blanks, solving problems and seeing internet friends. Putting faces with written names!

:biggrin:

 

[markgum]

and where was that less expensive lathe posted for sale???

 

[tbroye]

My Grandson and I had a great time. He is already planning how many pens he can get from his molds, thing I might be busy out in the shop this week. His are fine mine are still tacky on the top for some reason. Thanks Nolan and Jay for your time and effort. Good food and good company what more could you want other than more money for Nolans blanks.

 

[JayDevin]

OK Between the Pearlex and Alumilite flying about, Molds apprearing out of nowhere and scales flying, the flies buzzin....I had a blast! I think I got a chance to talk to everyone, If not It was not on purpose...Some of the tacky blanks may have been caused by not stirring enough, I only have 4 eyes and that was a looooooooooooooonnnnnnngggg table we had. I am glad that all got the bug and Keep on casting,,,
Big Big Big THanks to Nolan, Jennifer and Nolan II for hosting us! It was Perfect!!
Looking forward to the next gathering all ready!

 

[markgum]

o so much fun. and bottle stoppers...... I need to make some of them.

 

[gketell]

If anyone else has photos and want to, you can send them to me and I'll put them on my server and link them here. Much easier than trying to upload 5 at a time to IAP.

It was a great time!! Special thanks to Jennifer and her mom and two friends (whose names I sadly have forgotten) for cooking all the food and prepping and all!!!

Now.... When do we want to schedule the next one?

GK

 

[Nolan]

Thanks all for coming and it was great seeing everyone. The "two friends" that cooked were David (one of my partners and best man in my wedding) and his brother-in-law Rick from Las Vegas. Yes thats right they actually spent part of their weekend visit in the backyard cooking for me and our get-together. I made up for it by going to his house and spending time with them after dinner since I didnt spend any time really with them while they were at the house. Rick and family left for home this morning. Just in case you cant tell David is a valued friend that would be there in a moments notice even if "there" was half way around the world.

 

[kenlicciardello]

A big thanks to all who put on the gathering, Nolan and family, Jay, Greg . . . It was great. Learned alot and got my kids pushing for casting at home. Oh well, it's only money and time!

Thanks again.

 

[Dave_M]

A great gathering for sure. Thank you Nolan and Jennifer for opening your home to us. Jennifer and her mom were a lot of fun to talk with and had great "Nolan" stories to share. You have a nice family Nolan. The winged bowl talk was a good one for me. I haven't thought of doing bowls before, but now I'm interested. Really good information Nolan. I could see me trying it with my spindle gouge. Smack!

Jay what can I say. The only thing that exceeds Jay's knowledge in this stuff is his ability to present the information. If you haven't had the opportunity to spend a little time with Jay, you're missing out on a lot of fun. Thank you Jay for all the effort you put into showing us how to get crazy with the resin. I see a pressure pot in my future.

Greg I also appreciate your help with the resins and for bringing your sliding table with the vacuum fence. I've seen it before, but you actually showed us some of the finer details you built into it that I hadn't noticed. Plus it always helps to hear what others might do different if they were to build it again. You obviously put a lot of in depth thought into your builds.

Mark thanks again for making the trip to Tap Plastics for the molds. I thought about making some, but I ran out of time.

David, I had a great time visiting with you. I'll see if I can apply your wisdom to my CA finish woes and maybe this time I'll get it right. Anything worth doing is worth doing wrong until you get it right.

Overall just a great time and I enjoyed meeting everyone again. Thanks to everyone who made the trek to Oakdale.

 

[gketell]

The Rikon with cracked spindle lock is http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/tls/1200220862.html $100

I still can't find the powermatic Cindy was talking about.

If you are power-searching craigslist for things I can't recommend the tool called "crazedlist.org" highly enough. I search sfbay-area, stockton, sacramento, and monterey bay all with a single search. Better yet, once the search is created for all those areas you can save it as an RSS feed and import it into your favorite reader and get notified as soon as a new craiglist post matching your search criteria is posted.

GK

 

[gketell]

Since we have two threads going...

I thought I would post my pictures in both threads.

Here are a few pictures I took.

Jay's casting demo

oh oh a few people have caught the casting bug!!

Nolan and his "Winged Bowl" discussion.

Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of the Good Eats (tm) because I was too busy eating. But we had burgers, dogs, 'tater salad, some of Cozee's "Atomic Buffalo Turds", cherry pie, brownies, and other goodies. Here is a bit of after-lunch chit chat and the "Nolan supply raid". Keep your wallets ready, when Nolan releases his new shipment of Honduran Rosewood Burl you will be drooling on your keyboard as you happily empty your wallets into the " li'l Nolan College Fund".

That's all I have from today. Jennifer and Mark took more pictures so hopefully they will be able to post up soon.

 

[gketell]

Pictures from Mark

Intro chat and sharing of the wealth.

Creating new castaholics.

MMMMMM tasty Nolan wood.

GK

 

[John M]

That wood selection was out of control. Next time I will know to bring more cash. Good thing he did not take plastic.

 

[Nolan]

I can do checks too and plastic via paypal. Actually I have a merchant account at the plant so if I had to I could run it through there. Did I mention the payment plans????:biggrin:

That wood selection was out of control. Next time I will know to bring more cash. Good thing he did not take plastic.

 

[John M]

"MMMMMM tastey Nolan wood". That did not sound dirty the first time I read it, I must have been really tired.

 

[John M]

I can do checks too and plastic via paypal. Actually I have a merchant account at the plant so if I had to I could run it through there. Did I mention the payment plans????:biggrin:

I might head out there on my bike in a few weeks to pick up some. Would be a nice ride and it would keep me from bringing to much back.

 

[tbroye]

Sticky Blanks

For those of you who ended up with sticky blanks from Jay's casting demo, try cutting 1/16 - 1/8 off the sticky side. I tried it on some of our stuff and the inside was solid after trimming. I used my bandsaw wth a 1/2 blade. Now to clean the blade. So it looks like we can salvage our castings. I ended up with 3, 3/4 x /3/4 out of one mold.

Thanks again to Nolan and his family and to Jay for the demo.

 

[markgum]

well, tapped my casting as I ran in the house last night and it was still tacky in the 2nd colour area. so.... I will let it set a few more days till I find some time to work with it. I proabably didn't mix part A and Part b together long enough. But it was a GREAT learning experience.

 

[gketell]

try sticking it in the oven at 120 or 150 for a little while. If that doesn't solidify it nothing will.

 

[Dave_M]

Yeah I was bummed about that. Right after I left I thought "Dang I probably could have whipped out my iPhone and used Pay Pal to send you a wad of cash". There is an upside to my momentary lapse of reason: My wife is impressed with my level of restraint.

I can do checks too and plastic via paypal. Actually I have a merchant account at the plant so if I had to I could run it through there. Did I mention the payment plans????:biggrin:

 

[Dave_M]

I watched the the two parts being mixed and I could see very faint swirls in the resin until is became completely clear. The point where the resin became complete clear I assume meant both parts were completely mixed. I didn't add any color to my resin so it was probably easier for me to notice this effect. I also noticed there isn't a lot of time between being thoroughly mixed and starting to set. Get it mixed and get it poured.

I agree Mark. Great learning experience. I'm eager to try this on my own.

well, tapped my casting as I ran in the house last night and it was still tacky in the 2nd colour area. so.... I will let it set a few more days till I find some time to work with it. I proabably didn't mix part A and Part b together long enough. But it was a GREAT learning experience.

 

[tbroye]

My mold never as gotten solid. The one my Grandson made was just sticky on the outside and once trimed and cut into blank it was fine. My mold had softspot through out, so it was tossed.

 

[gketell]

Big thing with all resins is mixing. The instructions for Alumilite say to mix for at least two minutes if your aren't using pressure and 1 minute if you are. I'm sorry Jay and I weren't more clear on how much to mix.

 

[JayDevin]

mixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixmixstirstirstirstirstirstirstirstirstirstirstir
mixmixmixmixmix
pour

 

[JayDevin]

mix some more

 

[Dave_M]

Well I cut up one of my rose petal molds and started to turn the first blank. If this isn't a labor of love, well then it's just plain old labor. Take your time. Keep them tools razor sharp. I found that my shallow spindle gouge does the best job. Small delicate cuts. CA... lots of CA along the way. Don't get in a rush. Take a break. When you think it's time to put down the tools and start sanding, consider yourself lucky you made it that far because you should have started sanding five minutes ago.

It's really not that bad, but it is tedious and time consuming compared to anything else I've turned to this point. Thanks to Greg for showing me the yellow brick road, I'm very close to having my first rose petal pen completed and it's looking good. I've made it to the sanding stage but due to my schedule the next few days, sanding will have to wait for another day.

 

[gketell]

woohoo I can't wait to see it finished!!

 

[kenlicciardello]

Well, sometimes I just can't do much right. We got the molds home ok, no damage or spills in the car. Eric's black and gold molds looked pretty good although the gold was still tacky. Ryan's "worthless wood" looked like it would be "wasted wood" as the red never mixed with the Part B. I tried to salvage by putting them in the oven at 200 for a little while then turning off the oven and letting them sit while the oven cooled. It seemed to help so I did it again. I then went out of town for work for a few days, came back to Eric's hs graduation followed by my wife surgery today. Got her back from the hospital and walked into a crisis in the kitchen. My daughter was making brownies with my inlaws and preheated the oven to 400 and left it for a while. Unfortunately, she did not check the oven first and I never took the molds out from the last heating. The molds melted and the unhardened red poured all over the oven.

When the anesthesia finally wears off, and she finds out what happened, I will probably be banished to the garage. . . . . Again.

Tomorrow, off to the parking lot sale at harbour freight for a pressure pot. I never learn.

Ken

 

[Dave_M]

That's too funny Ken. Sounds like something that would happen to me. I can't imagine discovering that mess. Did the Alumilite stink up the place with that high heat or was it still odor free? I hope your wife's recovery goes well. Take good care of her and maybe she'll cut you some slack. Chocolate always works for my wife.

 

[gketell]

Ken you better go to an appliance store parking lot sale and get a new oven for her. Get that nice upgraded one she wants. Then she will be happy and you will have an oven for the garage. :wink:

Seriously, I have a little counter-top toaster oven that I use for garage stuff. It is the garage's and no food ever goes in it.

GK

 

[markgum]

Hey Ken;
I thought I only did stuff like that. I will make a run over to Tap and when the Aussie wood arrives, there will be a little present in there for you.
I think I will follow Greg's advice and go visit some local yard sales and find a toaster oven. I thought about putting my tacky blocks in the oven but it would not go below 170 so... didn't do it.

 

[gomeral]

Heh. I'll have to learn from all of these stories, maybe get a toaster oven for the (soon to be new) workshop. I'm really bummed I couldn't make it to the meeting, especially since I got my father-in-law and his wife, instead!

I may very well volunteer again to host another, since we'll have the larger garage/workshop (3-car!). Also, with luck I can talk Jay into showing me how to use the two pressure pots I just bought!

Greg, how's the wrist doing? (Did I remember that correctly, or am I on crack?)


daniel

 

[kenlicciardello]

Well, with all these skilled and intelligent people telling me to get a toaster oven for the garage, how can she be upset when I get one?

Fortunately, there was no smell in the oven or kitchen and it cleaned up pretty easily. Everybody had a good laugh at my expense, but it was all in fun. It's great to have an understanding wife and family. Thanks Mark, I appreciate all the effort you go through for people.

Daniel, it sounds like you are moving. Did you stay in the area? If you need anything let me know.

Ken

 

[gomeral]

In two weeks, we are moving around the corner from our apartment complex, just off Shepherd between Maple and Chestnut. We'll be renting still, but it's a nice house, 3br/2ba with 3-car garage (workshop!!) and a pool in the back yard. For what we're paying for rent + storage unit, we'll have twice the space and more comfort.

My folks are coming up from TX to help with the move, so I think we're good. I appreciate the offer, and may wind up asking if anyone's got a pickup truck to move a couple of items - we're going to hire professionals for most of the big stuff, but I may not want to wait for a few items.

In the meantime, we get to start packing. Again. (This will be my 5th move in 5 years...) :/


daniel

P.S. That 5-in-5 number sounds really bad, but it's not quite as rough as it sounds. I moved in '04, then in '06 twice (we were in apt for 3-4 months while we looked for a house), then last year, and now another local move into a house. The good news is that my planer is in storage, and I've been wanting to get the workshop set up...now I'll have the room!

 

[nava1uni]

The get together was great. I think that I have figured out blank problem. I did not heat mine and over the past week they have continued to develop large bubbles and if I poke them with a pick they are still wet inside. The bottle stopper that I made that was part A and part B water clear hardened with no difficulty, but the blanks that didn't harden were made with one part of the water clear and one part of the crystal clear. I don't think that the two parts mix together with good results.
Did anyone else whose blanks were part A and B of the water clear have a problem with them hardening?
I am ready for another get together, toward the end of July works for me.

 

[markgum]

you know... the one thing I think I missed was "where the heck do you get the resin stuff??" I know the peralx from Michaels. I went to tap plastics tonight on the way home and they said they never heard of anything called aluminite.

 

[nava1uni]

Jay said that they are selling it at Woodcraft in Dublin and you can buy it online from Alumilite.

 

[markgum]

Thanks Cindy. I looked on line for Woodcraft and didn't see it. :frown: But,,, I'm sure Jay has input on the Dublin store. :biggrin:
I'll check out Alumilite's web site later today. I'm off to a class with our local wood turner's SIG on bottle stoppers. Whooo hooo.. !! ! ! !

Jay said that they are selling it at Woodcraft in Dublin and you can buy it online from Alumilite.

 

[JayDevin]

Yes Mark

I did push to get Alumilite at the Dublin Woodcraft.
and yse you can order from alumilite,at this time best to do that as I have no idea when WC Dub next shipment is due

 

[tbroye]

That what I did took about a week to get it as it comes FEDX ground. I poured 2 bottle stoppers tonight using some Pearl EX. About 2oz each of A and B was enough for each using a Medicine bottle. Mixed the 2 parts and added the Pearl EX no problems.