But there was something different about today. It had to be both of us, whatever happened, but it seemed as if a fog lifted in the place. We were talking more and joking a bit. And we went on a field trip, which maybe shook some stuff up. But we were pretty jovial before even then. So weird.The sun was shining summerly and it was warm, and I know that helped me! It definitely is helping this sunflower that I rode by. I swear the last time that I passed it it was at my knees!
Today I had to finish my fiddle edges. This has been the most challenging thing for me to do, and not just because I lost blood doing it. I've got the carving down--I mean I'm comfortable removing wood with a knife. Instead of using Dwain's knife I decided to use my own. At first Dwain didn't like that, but after inspection of the knife he said that it was okay and even prudent that I use my own tools.
But what I could not get was using the little planes to take the lumps that my carving left. There is some practice that needs to be had before I get proficient working with those guys. Dwain let me off the hook when he said to sand the edges down. I breathed a huge sigh of relief over that, and I got to work sanding them down.
Dwain uses these sanding blocks that are used for manicures and pedicures. This is really smart because there are so many places that a sanding bloc or sanding stick will not work. Dwain has at least two different kinds of sanding blocks, and for each one he has it loaded with a range of papers. That is, he has 80, 100, 120, etc. for each different set. And he has sanding sticks, but I've seen only three of those. I keep saying this, and it is absolutely true. I could not get this information any other way, except through time. And there ain't nobody got time for that!
As I'm working on my machine Dwain is right there to critique my work. He definitely sees things that I'm not used to looking for yet. Like my tail block. Last night Dwain was reading my post and saw my tail block in an image. He saw that there was a spot that wasn't quite right. So I spent some time fixing that. Plus I used a scraper to clean up the rest of the body to get it ready for the top. Then I put two coats of shellac on the inside of the body and on the underside of the fret board and the top. The shellac helps to keep the wood from being as susceptible to changes in moisture. Of course this doesn't make an instrument waterproof, but it does work. When I was at the Cranberry Festival I was talking to Carol, of musiclady.com, and she talked about how Dwain's instruments helod up well under varying conditions. So I know it works.
I took another picture of Dwains instrument after the second coat of shellac. I really do like the way that they look. The instruments take on some kind of large wooden structure, and I still say that they look like ships.
We got back on planing down the backs. I had the right idea the other day when I did this on my own, but I did miss a couple of steps. So Dwain gave me another quick lesson to reinforce the process and gave me some suggestions concerning my stance and posture. He then realized that he has the wing span of a condor and I have the wing span of a kestrel. I think he laughed then.
Dwain ordered some cases, and they came in today. So we went to pick them up. There were fourteen of them, and they barely fit in the car. I rode home with one between my legs; I couldn't see out of the windshield. The cases were shipped to Bernie's workshop. Do you recall him from an earlier post? He is a local luthier who makes some great instruments. You can see Dwain and Bernie in the elevator with all of the boxes we had to get home.
I got to go around Bernie's shop, which I didn't get to do on the last trip. He is indeed a luthier, as is evidenced by all of the stuff in his shop. He has about five different spaces from which to work, and he has a variety of wood-working tools. He definitely keeps a great space from which to work!
And I got to get a closer and longer look at some of the instruments in his shop. He has a wide variety of stringed instruments from different makers. I had the pleasure of seeing a concept that he is just bringing to life. He was commissioned to make a Rousseau inspired banjo with a solid body, like a bass. He was so stoked!
We got the cases unloaded, and then I finished with the shellac job I had going. Dwain was finishing up for the day because he had a meeting to go to. He asked if I was going to keep working, but I'd seen the sunshine, and I told him nope. I said that I was going to go find a park to be in. But when I got home I decided that a run would be great because I have a goal of running four miles in under 32 minutes. It was just before 5pm when I got home, and I didn't want to run in the traffic, so I relaxed and read my book until just before 6. Plus I hydrated because I'd already ridden the bike 8 miles today. I ran faster than I have in a long, long time. I was hoping to break 35 minutes, but I broke 34! Crazy. My goal is to break 32.
I was really hungry because my eating schedule was messed up. But I had a great dinner! I had two boiled eggs, three spicy pickle spears, a garlic clove, some corn chips, some cheddar cheese, and some chamomile tea while I watched Colbert. It was really a great end to a wonderful day!
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