THE 2010 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMESSo what is the relevance of the games to the woodworking scene in Vancouver? Well a few years ago I received an email from I don’t know where suggesting I sign up for invitations to bid on Olympics related products and services. I filled out a form in which I checked off some boxes for the type of work I do. Although there were no boxes directly related to my business, I checked a few that I thought might include my work. I don’t think their system worked because I started getting “opportunities “to bid on everything from catering to toilets. I stopped accepting the emails.
I was also contacted with respect to producing a conceptual model of an Olympic venue to be presented as corporate gifts. I attended a meeting at a large design firm to “discuss” the project. This turned out to be a kind of job interview. As I was leaving the meeting room I noticed another guy sitting outside with what looked like his portfolio beside him. I never heard back from the design firm but later got an email forwarded from a woodworking group by a guy looking for someone to do some cnc work for a project related to the Olympics, a conceptual model of an Olympic venue. This gives you an idea of how small the woodworking community is here and how everybody is pretty closely connected.
I know I said this blog is not about the construction industry, but if I am going to find something about the Olympics relevant to woodworking I am going to have to go there. There has been a lot of hoopla about the fantastic engineering innovations involved in the wood structure of the Richmond Olympic Oval. Maybe I’m a moron but it just looks like a variation on the old Safechoice stores we used to see all over BC.
The general sentiment around the Olympics at this time seems to be one of trepidation and dread. I don’t know anyone who has a ticket to an event or is renting their home out for a windfall, and I am including everyone I talk to, not just family and friends. Personally, I think that the Olympics are representative of a kind of social madness like the big heads on Easter Island, and I think a lot of people here instinctually feel this, even if they don’t consciously think it.
I think that the extraordinary decadence and wastefulness of the games has given people a feeling of dread and trepidation in the sense expressed by Margaret Atwood in her lecture “payback”.
As far as the weather is concerned, I am glad it is mild. I hope it gets even warmer. This is not to spite the games but simply because the shop I rent is so poorly insulated that to heat it is very expensive. The last year of recession has been tough and I need a break somewhere. Which makes me wonder, how much would it cost to upgrade all these energy sucking, green house gas producing old buildings in BC? Probably a drop in the bucket of the Olympic budget.
A very popular sport here, maybe not an Olympic sport but popular none the less is thinking of all the things that the money spent on the Olympics could have bought. Here are a few of my most recent contributions.
1. I understand that the Olympics (a 2 week party) cost 6 billion dollars. To rebuild the totally destroyed country of Haiti is estimated to cost 10 billion.
2. To bring all of the public schools in the province up to acceptable structural and health standards would cost 500 million. The cost of the security alone for the games is close to 1 billion.
3. And so on, and so on
This morning while working on a rabbet and dado joint cut using power tools, I discovered the fit to be a little too tight. It would have taken me hours to re-set my Table saw and start to fine tune this fit; instead I reached for a few Special Purpose Hand Planes. I dont use these tools everyday but when you need them, there isnt anything better.
My two Lie-Nielson side rabbet planes were the perfect tool for widening the dado walls ever so slightly. What took me 5 minutes with these hand tools would have taken an hour on the table saw. I followed with my small Router Plane manufactured by VERITAS here in Canada. It was the perfect tool to ride down the edge of the stock, cleaning up the depth of the cut. A quick and easy hand tool fix for a joinery problem from a power tool. Nice!
Just wanted to say that the new Tool Chest I built two weeks ago has been performing everything I had hoped for. A great choice to transport my essential tools to a work site its actually been on the road for two weeks now with me. I thought out a few minor design changes and will add them to the next one. Stay tuned...
The V-Sole has some lumps and craters that came with the plane from the factory, I believe.
The japanning on the adjustable sole is almost none-existent.
The blade cap isnt too bad, but it has its issues.
Its a "B" casting.
I paid another $225 for the beading attachment, but Im still looking for the bullnose.
I sent my Miller Falls eggbeater off to Wiktor Kuc, over at WKTools.com three months ago. Mr. Kuc broke his wrist just after that, and that put him out of commission for a while, so the return of it is understandably delayed. One of my requests when I set it to him, though, was he not make it look like a brand new drill. That look is impressive, but not the look I like in a vintage tool and remember, to me, looks are half the battle.
It is longer and uses a few more lights (206). I used the dimensions and angles from the drawing to put the layout lines on a sheet of 0.75" plywood. I used the EZ Smart Rail system to cut and rout the basic star from the plywood (sorry, no pictures).
I drill a 1.0" in diameter holes in the plywood. I cut a 0.37" slot on the side of 0.75" inside diameter rigid PVC electrical conduit. I then cut it into 0.5" sections to go into the holes. The socket fits into the hole with the protrusion in the slot. When the socket is pushed flush with the face of the plywood and the adapter flush with the back side of the plywood, the socket is held firmly in place.
The drawing above shows what I came up with. A spring loaded indexing pin is mounted to the side of the SRK. The index jig clamps to the guide ridge of the Guide Rail and has evenly spaced holes that the index pin drops into. Here the setup is being used to drill the Christmas Star holes.
Note the futile attempt at corralling all the wood chips that drilling a 1" hole creates (the white stuff around the router). The blue tape on the indexer helps to see the index holes in the picture. I quickly discovered that if I left the bit plunged in the last hole, I could loosen the clamps and rotate the whole jig to line up with the next line of holes. Having two SRKs lets me have the router on one and the other set up as a alignment guide. With the bit the hole I can use the alignment guide to line up the rail parallel to the line at the proper distance.
Here Im lifting the knob to raise the indexing pin. Once it is lifted, I just have to move the SRK a little bit and I can let go of the knob. The pin will drop into the index hole as I pass it, and I m ready to drill the next hole.
It took about four hours to drill all 206 holes. Now I just have to cut 206 adapters. Here is the star with the holes drilled.
Next Ill paint it black. I have to design the roof mounting frame and a frame to fasten to the back of the star for attaching to the mounting frame. Then we can start inserting sockets and adapters, and then my friend can have fun wiring it. Ill post more when the project is done.
