Oak Ridge Festival

This past weekend the RoadQueen, I and our boys took a short drive north to visit a bi-annual event called the Oak Ridge Festival located just outside the village of Attica, Ohio.  The festival has been going on for thirty years or more but I only heard of it thanks to brother in law who attended a couple years ago.

The weather was beautiful with temperatures climbing barely into the 80's so it was a great day to spend outdoors. 

The Oak Ridge Festival is all about living history and putting on display tools and methods of a bygone era.  Just inside the gates we saw this draft pony team plowing some fertile Ohio ground.

A pre-1840's reenactment camp was a highlight for me.  If I didn't have too many hobbies already I would love to get into this.

  

A permanent feature on the festival grounds is a traditional sawmill.  Throughout the weekend operations turning logs into dimensional lumber were on display.  As a woodworking hobbyist I found this also very interesting.  

I talked to an old-timer who has participated in the event for around 30 years.  He said usually they have an antique steam engine providing the power for the saw mill but the owner-operator of the engine wasn't able to attend this year.  So while not as cool as an old steamer a trusty Farmall got the job done just fine.

It took about five minutes to turn a massive red oak tree trunk into a stack of boards.  The fresh cut wood smelled wonderful.

Half the grounds were open fields where the primitive camp, agricultural and sawmill displays were set up.  The remainder of the festival was situated in a wooded tract of land.  Under the cool shade of hardwoods a lane wound itself around with vendors selling crafts and foodstuffs.   

Old-Time Music of course!

 Down a small side trail we discovered the Simon Kenton Range.  We hung around for a while enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of a black powder novelty shoot.

I really like how they have the range set up in woods instead of out in the middle of an open field.

Nice to see some ladies shooting as well.

One of the boy's favorites was a working blacksmith.  This is no surprise as boys have been interested in fire and beating things with hammers for generations.  

The smith was buring coal in his small forge and heating it up with a hand cranked bellows.  It took less than a minute to heat the iron up to red hot.

RoadQueen took this picture of the blacksmith in action.  

Speaking of RoadQueen, The event she was most interested in was the antique tractor pull.  So while the boys went off exploring on their own we settled in to watch some classic American iron do its thing.  I've been to tractor pulls at the county fair but never seen one like this with stock and lightly modified antique machines doing the heavy lifting.  Very cool and nowhere near as noisy as the modern pulling tractor shows.

A picture heavy post I know but these old tractors just look too good to leave out.  It was a great day and we all had a good time.  Later in October the second festival of the year takes place.  The feature then will be antique military vehicles so needless to say we will be in attendance.

Recent Turnings

Here is a few photographs of my latest wood turnings I have produced since warm weather has allowed me back into my workshop.  These diminutive spindles are pipe tampers.  A tamper is a smoking accessory that allows the ash and unburnt tobacco that clings to the walls of a pipe bowl to be gently compressed and pushed into the ember keeping it lit and smoking.

This tamp made from an unknown species of tropical wood is a shape I call the "Classic" based on the tradition beads and coves cut into the wood.  I like to use one of my wooden tampers when I smoke my meerschaum pipe instead of a regular metal pipe nail just to be certain that the tool won't scratch the delicate surface of the white mineral my pipe is made of.

Because wood is a natural material and trees come in many different species the characteristics of grain, color and hardness can vary greatly.  To me one of the most rewarding aspects of woodworking is experimenting and learning about the various kinds of wood available.  On the lathe I've found that generally the more dense and hard a wood is the better it turns. 

In continuation from my last post this is the piece of African Blackwood that I had just begun to work as it nears completion. While it is considered one of the hardest woods in the world with care and patience it yields a beautiful turning with crisp sharp edges and a deep ebony-like hue.  

This is an interesting note from my favorite online resource about wood: www.wood-database

 "To be considered the original ebony, African Blackwood was imported and used in Ancient Egypt thousands of years ago. Even the name “ebony” has an Egyptian derivation as “hbny”—which has been shown to refer to primarily toDalbergia melanoxylon, rather than the species which are considered to be ebony today: such as those in the Diospyros genus."

The wood lathe is unique because often work piece is cut not only along the grain but often transitional cuts expose the end grain and by nature because the stock is spinning and becomes round the growth rings or layers will appear concentric and interesting.  

Another wood which I do have a little experience with is Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera), also known by it's aliases Hedge Apple and Bois d' arc.  The French term Bois d' arc translates to "bow wood" and I can testify that it does indeed make a good bow.

Although I've used Osage before this is the first time I've spun a piece on the lathe. It works as well for turning as it does on the archery range.  Over time and with exposure to UV light the lemon yellow will give way to deeper oranges and honey browns.

New Spur Drive And Live Center

Last Friday I received a package containing a new spur drive and live center for my vintage Craftsman wood lathe.  These two precision components are responsible for holding a blank of wood securely while transferring the torque from the motor and allowing the piece to spin freely. 

Sears quit manufacturing my specific model many years ago but luckily all lathe shafts are set up using Morse Tapers.  Morse Taper invented by Stephen A. Morse in the mid-1860's is one of several styles of machine taper that are used to connect bits, cutters and chucks to machine tools.

I wasn't quite sure which size taper my machine uses so with a quick online search I learned that the seven sizes of Morse Tapers are easily distinguishable by the diameter of the taper at the widest point. After knocking out my old centers I measured their diameters with a caliper and consulting the chart I easily determined my lathe uses a #1 MT at both the head stock and tail stock shafts.  I located the parts at my favorite woodworking online vendor. While the parts were inexpensive at around $20 each they appear well made and will work fine for the small scale work I like to do.

The spur drive (above) has a pointed pin in the very center that is spring loaded.  The cone of the pin bottoms out on a pilot hole drilled in the end of the workpiece and then retracts under spring tension to allow the four spurs to dig into the wood allowing transfer of torque.  

The live center (above) spins smooth on bearings and supports the turning blank at the tail stock.

Along with the components I also ordered some blanks of various exotic hardwoods that I've never used before.  In this series of photographs is a super dense and heavy specimen called African Blackwood.  This Ebony like species is known to be one of the hardest and densest woods in the world and I can say without a doubt it is some of the toughest stuff I've ever put a gouge to.

The surface of the wood appears shiny even after just being roughed out by the gouge.  I can tell already that the African Blackwood will take on a beautiful luster once I get to the final polishing stages.

Shop Notes -- Woodworking

Before sub-freezing temperatures returned to the Ohio Valley I managed to complete the machining work on the replacement windowsill for my kitchen.  I got a brand new blade for my garage sale band saw and now cuts are true and precise. The shot above shows the shows the blade's path straight down the line.  These cuts out on the end of the board can't be done on the table saw without a special jig so with a slow and steady feed rate provided by me the band saw works great.
   

Any slight irregularities are quickly cleaned up with a file.

Oak is a very hard wood so a keen edge on all cutting tools is essential for clean accurate cuts without burns or grain tear out.  

  

Back to the table saw to make two more cuts that remove stock from the bottom inside edge of the sill.  This hollows out a straight section that will rest on the window framing and lock it into place horizontally. 

Putting a small radius on all the exposed edges of the sill was my favorite part of this project.  I do the work by hand using files, sanding block and various grades of abrasive paper. After lightly sanding the remaining surfaces I applied the first coat of polyurethane. At this point I'm just waiting for a break in the weather so I can heat up the workshop enough to continue on with the clear coating.

Workshop Activity

Here's a few shots taken around the shop over the last few days. Finally we have a three day January thaw that has allowed me to get some work done. Yesterday I used paint stripper to clean the old layers of paint from this cold air return grill and  restore it to bare metal.  I used a wire brush, a scotchbrite pad and a bit of elbow grease to remove the slimy residue from between the louvers. Yuck!

After looking at grills at the local big box I noticed my 60 year old cover was stamped from thicker steel and was overall better quality than what was available at the store.  Ultimately I decided to restore my original grill because I was not finding the correct width grill either retail or online in my initial searches. I've done a couple other ones in the house and they look fine.

Here's the grill after a couple coats of spray primer.  I'm getting anxious to put it back in its spot covering the big ugly hole in the living room wall.

Next I got out the table saw to cut up some oak lumber. Pictured below is the new window sill for in my kitchen above the sink.

Today I have to pick up a new blade for my band saw and I will finish the notch cut out on each end of the sill where it fits around the wall.  I was able to purchase window casing which I was working on earlier but I was not able to find the smaller foot pieces that fit up tight against the edge of the window frame so I ripped down some oak to make my own. Those are the four long strips on the right below.  I'll have to machine them down using the planer then round off the corner on the router table.

I love the smell of fresh sawn oak.
More to come!