Day 66: Sometimes It Just Hurts

Yesterday we did not meet because both Dwain and me went to the Peoples Climate March in NY City. I was worn pretty thin yesterday, and was still not 100%. Dwain was the same, so I'm glad that we did not get together.

Dwain went with his Zen group, and I got to ride on the bus with them. We got there on Saturday and went straight to Central Park, where his group sat and meditated in support of the March. It is really impressive that they can sit there for hours at a time. I meditate, and I do some sitting meditations. But I much prefer moving meditations like taiji or running. So while they sat I walked around Central Park, literally. From one corner to the other around the park. That was a six or so mile hike, but dang was it an adventure!

I walked all the wary around the park using the paths. What an amazing treasure the park is! There were so many people running, walking, riding bikes, strolling, eating ice cream, walking dogs, and any other park related thing like playing sports, practicing martial arts, and so much more.

There is a part of the park with a great fountain and arches, and there were four wedding parties there taking pictures.

There was also a chess tournament going on, and the participants ranged from little kid to really old person, and every flavor of human being seemed to be there. There were rows of tables and tables of people moving their pieces and slapping the timer.

There are several lakes in the park, and a few big enough to have boats in; but there was only one lake where I saw boats. The bigger lake had nothing but a fountain and a running/walking track around it.

I walked from the south of the park all of the way to the North Woods and around the lake at the top of the park. What a great adventure I had!

Then the day of peace started. I was there early and just walking around when I saw this group of over 400 police officers in formation. They were going over their duties for the day. Now I know that we need to police our society, but cops have just been being real knuckleheads and being caught for it. And I have been on both sides of the badge and gun, so I know that there are some really kind, compassionate cops. But there are also some really bad guys, racist and more. So seeing this really saddened me not because of who they are or what they do but because some people are just bad, and some of those bad people are cops.

It was really neat to see the day start with empty streets and grow into a huge crowd. At the beginning of the march there was a moment of silence when 400,000 persons stood one beside the other in perfect silence, and then the crowd roared to life. In that moment I felt the power that we have to make the changes necessary for our planet.

There were so many groups there, from actors and politicians to anarchists and communists. My favorite sight, though, was the number of kids there. Of course by kids I mean children to twenty-somethingers. It warms my heart that they are as involved as anyone because they really will inherit the mess were making of the planet.

I was there to march with Veterans for Peace, and I'm glad that I did. I've missed being active with this group. I'm really itching to make a difference since we've started causing more death and destruction in SW Asia. I really don't understand what Obama is doing. Can't he see how well this policy has worked in the last 13 years. Sad. Just sad. So I'll find places to volunteer and actions to go to so that I know I'm doing my part to stop this madness that we are bringing on the world.

Dulcimers! That's what we're here for, right?

I woke up this morning and finished getting ready and eating first breakfast, and then I went down to get the bike out of the basement. I've been riding Gretchen's because I got a flat on Sonam's. Well, today there was a flat on Gretchen's! So I had two bikes with a flat tire a piece. So I just started walking and called Dwain. I said what had happened and that I was on my way and would be late because it is a four mile walk. He offered to come pick me up, and he did! Then he took me to the bike shop after we finished and I bought two new inner tubes. I replaced them and did some other tightening up of the bikes. I should be good-to-go tomorrow.

I put the top linings on, and this doubles the glueing surface for the top. I did the same for the bottom. These are an important structural element for the instruments. The bottom linings are black walnut and the top are spruce because it is softer. The linings on top are left just proud so that they can be sanded down to match the ribs. Clothes pins hold the linings to the wood so the glue can dry and affix permanently the linings to the sides--using fish glue, so permanently isn't the right word. But you get my sentiment.

I was done cleaning the instrument of excess glue, so I had to make the transverse braces for the bottom. It may seem like a simple process of glueing some wood inside and calling it a day. But the craftsmanship is really import to Dwain and me. So there is measurements and cutting at angles and carving and planing for each of the braces; there are four on this machine.

Once they were each cut I had to work a lot to get them to sit right into the inside. Then, I had to rig weights so that the braces will be glued down properly. I love how the machine starts to look like some steam punk creature.

Once I got this done there was nothing else I could do on the instrument today, so I started to sharpen the planer, which had a really nasty dent and knick in the blade. It wasn't me! I've not done this since the first couple of weeks, so it was really nice to see that I could still do it. I see myself starting to work more independently and I like what I'm seeing.

At some point today there were a bunch of hornets flying around the shop. We were catching them and putting them outside while trying to find out where they were coming in the shop--we never found that out. But Dwain went outside and found out where they were coming into the house. He got some caulk and went to plug the holes. I was there for moral support and support support because he was up a ladder, regardless of how small it is. Well, he got stung more times than I did, but I got popped twice on the head. The back one still hurts!

Day 65: Day of Images

I've been practicing my two and a half songs.

 Goji is gone tonight, and maybe for good. I miss his energy!

The fish glue is dried and the mold held. This one has a really nice shape and the wood is amazing!

I had to get the extra glue out of the inside because I don't want someone opening it up and seeing a mess! 

It is nice to get to practice scraping the inside before I do the outside. There was a bit of glue, and I was being thorough.

 Lunch! This torfurkey sausage is my favorite meal!

And we got to eat in this weather!





We went on a trip to a luthier's shop. He does friction pegs for instruments. I asked him to critique my work. We also agreed to meet so that he can fix a set of pegs into an instrument and I can watch! Maybe we'll redo mine if that is possibel.






I love this shop because he employs ten people! They do a lot of rentals and school stuff. Good for them, I say!









There is a train running right outside of their building. And he offered me lots of pegs. I think I'll take him up on it.






We knocked off early because I couldn't focus after the field trip and ice cream. So I went home and cleaned out some gutters and trimmed the stuff growing over the roof.

 There were roses growing over the roof. And there was some good dirt in the gutters!









I got it all cut back and cleaned up.


I played music for the rest of the night, and I made the video at the beginning of this post. Tomorrow I'm getting up at 3:30 in the morning so that I can get to NY City for the People's Climate March. I feel good being active with a group again. I've no idea how big the crowd will be. I'll be marching with Veterans for Peace.

Day 64: Ordinary Guys Making Ordinary Trouble

What a fantastic day. We started off with the breakfast eggs and fake in Tolston jams and butter and tea. I always make an egg sandwich with fake and then jam on it and it's absolutely delicious. Igot to hear Dwain tell stories for quite a while which is always nice he's got great stories and they awere as delicious as the food that we had.

We both had paddling stories. That is, we've both experienced paddling at school. I remember it was Dean Gonzalez who did the beating. I don't remember ever getting paddled, but I have a suspicion that my brother had his own paddle in that office. I remember that my dad was so upset because one of us got paddled, my sister I think, that he went into the Dean's office. There was a scuffle, and my dad was kicked off campus. My brother was eventually expelled from the same school. I made it through, though I have no idea how. Really.

Today was the day were going to glue everything up and we did. Because of all the preliminary work we did yesterday--which will happen on every machine--the instrument went together really nicely. There was one problem with the lining but that was easily fixed. It's really nice to go over this again because there's so many things that I forgot. And sure I could figure some of them out or develop my own methods, but I'm here to learn from a master craftsman; I'm not here to guess. We've talked about how my building will change over time, and Dwain has said more than once that I'm not here to do exactly what he does. But for these first machines I think it's prudent to copy his methods.

Once the parts were in the mold I started on the fretboard. Normally this would be done first so that the fretboard would have time to get used to its new configuration, but because of the break that I took when I went home our schedule was a bit screwy. But the wood has been living in its roughed out form for a while, so it'll be good.

There is information that I wrote about in my sketchbook, but the notes don't list all of the steps. In fact, I cannot even recall doing this part of the process but I remember using the "shooting box" method of planing down the wood. Weird. 

The first thing that I had to do was make the edges of the fretboard straight. I went around and around for a while with the differences between square and straight. And we had a good conversation about language, where I have to know the jargon of the business to talk with others. But words are hard for me, really. I know stuff, and I have a pretty expansive vocabulary. But sometimes I think a thing and use the only words that seem right. 

Like the yesterday when we were mocking up the mold. We were putting the spring steel bars to hold the linings in. Dwain showed me how the bars should be put in so that the force keeps the wood against the mold, and the word I used is they push the wood in. Makes sense. Then I said that the other force is down, and Dwain was amused that I'd used down with in. But that is the force that I saw, down towards the tail block. We have a conversation about words almost daily, and I'm working to build a luthier lexicon. But still, stupid words! Which is why Goji or any other animal can help me with my words.


So straight. Yeah. The boards are rough cut down to almost the right size, and then the refinement comes once a board has been chosen. After I planed one side, which took a bit of chalk to mark the high spots, I had to work on the second. I was going to cut it down using the band saw and then plane it straight and smooth, but there was only about 1/16th of an inch that needed to come off. So I planed it off, but not without some difficulties.

Like tear-out, which is where the wood grain is loose and jumps free from the wood in a haphazard fashion. Here is a not so good pass of the plane where I was going "uphill" against the grain. This is a no-no unless it must be a yes-yes, as it was in this case. So I had to modify the planing a bit to get off the small amount of wood. I made a guide line so I could see how close I was getting to my final width. 

If you've never used a plane let me tell you that you can remove some wood really quickly! I started off planing the side that I was going to cut off, so there was a lot of practice. Then I set up so that I could plane down the top, but I wasn't even supposed to do that. There's a lot more practice. But the time I got to the right side I have a lot of shavings. But I'm getting better at planing!

I choose this piece of wood because the grain is really straight along the fretboard. But look how pretty it is on the side. Sometimes I'm reminded of the snakes that my dad used keep when we were growing up. Sure, it doesn't look exactly like a red rat or yellow rat, but it looks like a nice combination of the too.

At some point we went to have lunch. I treated Dwain to Thai food in celebration of my first commission. I'm so stoked to make the instrument for someone. Not that I'm not excited for the ones I'm making for me, but you get it, I hope. We got to stop into the bakery for some fresh bread. 


Did I tell you that Val has started making bread and ice cream? Well she has. She has been working her but off so that we can make it in TN. It will be really nice to be there permanently so that I can help her do stuff, like run the Palace Theater. She books shows and then is there to see the show through till the end. I've had dreams of doing a Kung Fu Theater on Saturdays, where we'd do a double feature of the best chopsocky films out there!

The last thing that I did was to cut the fretboard to its final shape. I started sanding it, but time ran out. I'll finish that part tomorrow because I have to change the sandpaper out on the drill driven drum sander. Ah tools. Of course I've been thinking about tools since I've started this process, and I've not stopped. Dwain has some that he is selling me or making me, and then I've got to get a bunch more. I really am going to try to build with the bare minimum of tools, but there are some pretty specific ones that I will have to have.