Day 5: Cutting and cutting and cutting.

Follow the grass line from the left out
just before the shadow ends and you'll
see a fawn that was just taking in
the morning.

Today I walked a total of 8 miles, and I'm really excited for the time when I'm a crusty old man who is telling some youth how I had to walk miles and miles to learn to make musical instruments. There are even hills both ways! But the summers here in Rochester are spectacular. I'll leave that part out.

Drying after the first coat
of shellac.

Today I watched Dwain inspect and touch up a machine that he has almost finished. His craftsmanship is really amazing. He sees things that only experience or a good teacher can show, and his hands move quickly and easily over what he has nearly perfected--both the machine and the way he builds it.

One of the things that I am most excited about is learning from Dwain how he finishes the surface of his instruments. Even though I've been making art forever, I'm still reluctant to do this kind of work because I don't have the confidence or the experience. But after the first lesson in working with finishes today I know that I will be able to make good finishes.

Today I continued working with the band saw to cut down further
that big piece of lumber from yesterday. I know I talked a bit about tools, but as cool stuff comes up I'll have to talk about it. Like these guys that Dwain found abandoned on the side of the road. They are well constructed and really ingenious. These roller stands are made with rolling pins. Wicked nice.

So that massive lumber is now manageable lumber, almost. I started making the first cut, but I did not do so well. Dwain had to correct and finish it. I have cutting performance anxiety, obviously. But that was the only screw up in a day of cutting, so I'm pleased. The saw and I are now really good friends.

This will be the peg head for
my machine.

I'll have to keep doing research to figure out what the best machine that we can buy is. They really do run the gamut in terms of price and quality. But since it will be the workhorse in the shop we cannot go cheap.

My tail block.

So I cut and measured and measured and cut. It was really nice to work out how to get the best use of the wood. So I had to worry about the peg blocks first, and cut about nine of those. And then out of the remaining wood I made end blocks.

Some tail blocks.

Some peg heads.

Dwain worked with me to figure out how to waste the least amount of wood, and then he scrutinized my measurements and cuts. There was a time when I was consistently cutting too short by 1/16 of an inch. I was measuring right and when using the fence it was set up right on the saw. What I was not doing, though, was considering where I was cutting in respect to the line I used to mark the wood. Dwain explained taking the line, splitting the line, and leaving the line. Once I understood this I consistently and consciously made my cuts.

I am staying with this wonderful woman and her two cats. This is George, and he is seen here helping me with my studies. George is really polite, and he gently asks for whatever he wants. Bodhi, though, is a young and pushy guy. He's lucky he is cute. I'll get more pictures of them.

And Gretchen is an artist and so much more. That'll require a different post, too. I'm lucky to have fallen in with her and her family and will learn and gain much while staying with them when studying in Rochester.