Sometimes you just get swept away

There are times when, while browsing YouTube, you come across something that just carries you away to another time and place.  For a brief spell, you're not in 2020 anymore... you're back in the 1970s, or the 1990s, or whenever, and reminiscing of a time when life was slower and simpler and, frankly, a hell of a lot happier.

That's how I felt when I came across Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed performing "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess.  The original is blues-operatic, but Chet and Jerry put their own jazz/funk spin on it.

Also of note is that Chet is playing a fretless guitar during that song.  The fret markings are on the neck, but there are no actual metal frets.

The song starts at about 1:53.

There might some rare guitarists who are as good as Chet and Jerry, but there are none better.

Gmail's "nudge" feature

I never even knew this existed.  If you send an email to someone, and you don't hear back for a few days, Gmail will suggest a "nudge," which I guess is intended to nag the other person into replying.

You can turn this feature off in the settings.  I think I might leave it on, though, at least for a while.  It's a good way to remind myself that a person hasn't responded yet.

When your wood is warped

...try to join the pieces together so that they're warped in the same direction rather than in opposite directions.  Yes, I learned this one the hard way.  I'm doing everything wrong.

Man, I'm a terrible woodworker.

In other news, it's been unseasonably cool here lately.  Yesterday's high was 68.  :o

I want some summer, dadgummit.

I've learned something

I'm not a carpenter.  I've said that before, and I'll say it again, because it can't be said enough.  I absolutely suck at woodworking.  My wood is warped, my edges are crooked, and the holes I've drilled are only mostly circular and on target.

Having said that, I've learned something new.  My plan was to join the pieces of wood together with dowel pins.  I'm using quarter-inch pins, so I drilled quarter-inch holes.  And the pins fit in the holes... barely.  They're very tight.  There's no wiggle room, and that means all my holes have to line up exactly in order for this hare-brained scheme to work.

Since I suck at woodworking, my holes obviously don't line up exactly.

So I decided to go up to the next-size drill bit, a 17/64, and use that to enlarge the holes.

The newer, slightly larger holes are better.  The pins go in freely, and there's enough wiggle room for me to put the pieces together.  And the holes are still tight enough to create a snug fit once I add the glue to the mix.

From now on, whenever I'm planning to do the dowel-pin thing, I'm going to use a drill bit that's the next size larger rather than one that matches the diameter of the pin.  That's what I've learned.

Baby steps.

Returned the sander

Well, that didn't last long.  I noticed a couple of places on the sander where the plastic had broken, so I sent it back.  It's disappointing, because I was otherwise satisfied with it.  It performed as expected.  But I'm not keeping something that breaks so soon after brief and gentle use.  It may have even been broken before I started using it; I don't know.  The fractures were in hard-to-see places.

So now I've been browsing Amazon for sanders.  I'm not sure what kind I want to get, if any.  After all, I've still got the sanding attachment on the oscillating tool.

In other news, I drilled some holes today.  They were roundish and mostly on target.  They might actually work, though my warped pieces of wood with the raggedly cut edges will be a challenge to piece together.

I'm not a carpenter.  :(

No sanding today

I was going to get back to my sanding today, but it was rainy and overcast, so I figured I'd wait until a sunny afternoon made itself available.

I'm sanding with two new tools: an oscillating tool, and an orbital sander.  I've never used either of these kinds of tools until just recently.  I'm learning a few things, though.  The orbital sander tends to "round" edges due to the sandpaper bending over the edge a little.  Luckily, I know I'm not a carpenter, so I'm allowing myself some imperfections in this project (which is a custom-designed shelf for the bathroom, by the way).  My intent is to make a functional piece of furniture while also trying to do new-to-me woodworking things.  I want to learn.

I'm using the orbital sander with a course grain paper for the rough sanding.  Then I'm switching to the oscillating tool with the fine grain paper for the finer sanding.  It works for me.  *shrug*

One thing I've learned during this project is that making rip cuts with a jigsaw is impossible.  Or, at least, it's impossible for me.  The blade wanders along with the grain and becomes impossible to control.  I ruined some wood learning that.  :( 

The internet says it can be done if a straight-edged piece of wood is clamped atop the work piece as a guide.  I'm skeptical.  I think only a guide channel--something that constrains both sides of the shoe--would work for me and my saw, because no matter how much I tried to muscle it in the right direction, it wandered, and it got so that I was afraid I would permanently deform the blade if I muscled it too much.

There are guides on the internet for building a jigsaw cutting station, and I might just do it.  Then I might be able to make easy rip cuts with it.

Of course, I could also just buy a miter saw.  That's a lot of money, though, and I'd rather not buy any more tools for now.  Maybe I'm just stubborn.  Anyway, I'm making my cuts with the jigsaw.  And, occasionally, the oscillating tool.

One of my goals for this project was to avoid using metal fasteners.  All joining will be done with wooden dowel pegs and glue.  I was tempted to attempt a mortise-and-tenon joint, but after the setbacks I've already endured with this project, I'm thinking I'll hold off on that until the next project.  Besides, I don't have a router, so I'd have to use the Dremel and its router attachment, and that would take forever.

In the meantime, I'm really enjoying my new power tools.  So far, they've performed as advertised.  Hopefully they'll continue to do so.  We really do live in a golden age for power tools.

Sander bit me

I am not a carpenter.  My woodworking skills are very limited.  I'm going to make mistakes doing the simplest of woodworking tasks.

I was using an orbital sander, and I got the edge of the sandpaper too close to my finger.  It cut a nice little slice in it.  It's not bad; just a surface cut.  Still, though, any injury sucks, because it's a reminder that you were careless.

In the meantime, I've had a hard time concentrating on my writing.  The riots are too distracting.  I've been watching the live streams a little, and man, I've seen some stuff.  I watched the Metropolitan Optical in D.C. get ransacked in real time.  :o

I hope all y'all stay safe out there.