Rolling Pin For The Missus

Turning a Pad Foot

Edinburg Dam

Indiana Live Steamers

I spent the weekend at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking learning spindle turning on the wood lathe. I learned quite a bit and had some fun at the same time. The instructor, Mark Sfirri, was very good - quite knowledgeable, good sense of humor, and most importantly, patient with dumb asses like me with a thousand questions. I didn't really know much about the school but it's really first rate. It's not cheap, but when you think about it, real education rarely is. You either have to pay in time or money.

I was able to save a few bucks by taking the little camper and spending two nights at the Johnson County Park. Twenty bucks for two nights and the bath house was clean and air conditioned. It was about twenty miles away from the school but a nice commute for two mornings. There's a barbeque place down the road a little bit with the Boss Hog pulled pork sandwich. The park is also the home of the Indiana Live Steamers railroad club and a model railroad club. They're also hosting a duathalon in July. I'll have to keep that in mind. If I'm healed up next summer, I might try that. I think it's 2 mile running, 20 miles on the bike and then 2-1/2 miles running again. I was looking for one of those prior to my affliction. The park is outside Edinburgh by Camp Atterbury. Edinburgh looks like an old town, maybe a little down on it's luck, but it would be a nice place to spend a day shooting a few black and white pictures. I filled up the tank on the truck just north of there for $3.48/gallon, which was thirty cents less than the cheapest station I went by before hitting I-65. So it was all good.

So I've now done a little spindle turning. I made a little baseball bat and the rolling pin plus a few other little practice pieces like the pad foot. I feel much better about having to teach it now that I've had a little professional instruction. I learned about grinding the lathe tools, so now it's off to school one of these days to see about that. The Marc Adams school has a one day bowl turning class in October I might sign up for. If I can show the students how to do simple spindle turnings and bowls, that should be enough for the class I'm going to teach. One of the guys I talked to at lunch mentioned a class about making cabinets. Said that would be good to show the boys. Actually, I picked up the full catalog from the school and there's all kinds of stuff offered that I'd be interested in taking. As always, I'm interested in learning more things than I have time for. Maybe when I retire.

Busy week on tap again. I hope the rain stops long enough to get a few things done outside. I had another big chunk of a tree come down in the last storm after I had everything else cleaned up. The chickens will be leaving the basement this week and heading out to the pen. The Missus gave me the run down on what she wants for the new front steps, so I need to give that a hard look and draw up a plan. There's always grass to cut and the mower needs some work. I'll just keep forging ahead until the jobs get done or vacation's over.