garage time ... flies!

I have been trying  for about a week or so now to get out to the garage but things keep preventing me from it. Last Friday, I whimped out because it was cold, and I had a few beers so probably not a good idea anyway.

Saturday, Dad and I went to pick up the KLR over in Nashville, by the time I got home, I was a bit whooped, so again, probably not the best time. I don't remember why I didn't get out there Sunday, probably got lazy or something. Melissa has gotten home late pretty much every day this week, so I didn't manage to get out there after she got home either.

Today, she had a late appointment (5:00) which would allow me to get some stuff done before she left, and if she didn't get home too late, upon her return. I started with the tractor and intended to grade the driveway. However, just as I was about done, a support member for the box blade let go and the blade would no longer lift. Great!

I look it over and find that the mount point is a casting on the rear wheel housing. Oh my! Dad is gonna love this! The damn thing was sheared in half.

Dad wanted me to go to the dealer and show them what broke and get an estimate of the repair. We have a hefty repair bill in front of us.

I wasn't doing anything I hadn't done with it before, it .... just .... let go! Never seen anything like it, and neither had the people who sold us the tractor.

By the time I ran up to the tractor dealer (grading normally takes a half hour or less) it is two and a half hours later. Yeesh! this Bandit won't be running before my birthday at this rate!

After getting back, I reassembled the fuel tank. It looked pretty good with that new "paint" in it.

I managed to pull the carb bowls and set my floats within spec. Good thing I took the time, I was going to put them back in without checking, but two were off by 3 mm so I likely would've had to pull them off again had I not took the time.

Then the tractor guy came to take it off to their shop. There goes another half hour. While he was loading, Dad's chair quit working. Are you kidding me?

This took another half hour and by now, there isn't much point in going back out to the garage as Melissa will have to be leaving to make her appointment pretty soon.

She went to her appointment and returned, and I headed back out to the garage. This is the part I have been dreading -- okay the *next* part I have been dreading. I need to get the throttle cables back on. I struggled with this last week and spent hours getting nowhere.

I have been told how "easy" this is supposed to be, but I am not finding it to be so. I can get the ferrule in the hole, but aligning the cable with the slot on the back cable is whipping me!

I keep at it and at it, but am still getting nowhere. I finally managed to get the cable to slip in the slot. SWEET! I then slap the front one in (that one's easy because it's up front and easy to get my fingers too -- the other one is hidden in between carburetors) . I check the throttle grip and it pulls fine, but does not snap back. (insert multiple bad words here)  Apparently, I put the cables on the wrong side! (insert more bad words)

I unhook them and continue trying to get the cables to cooperate. By now it's been another two hours and the mechanic's chair thing I've been sitting on has become too much.

My ass hurts! I mean really hurts! That thing is a torture rack if you sit on it for any length of time.

I resign myself to some lathe time. It has been a few weeks since I attempted to turn anything and much, much longer since I have turned anything that made it to finishing stage.

I looked at some of the free wood lying around the garage but decided against it and grabbed some of the stuff Dad bought me a while ago. I grabbed a thin stick of Cocobolo I was thinking I could rough turn a beer tap handle with it. Then I couldn't find the tail stock spur that would help hold it. I cannot turn without it so abandon that for a piece of Rosewood (I think -- no longer marked).

This stuff is tough! I keep getting tears and scratches, and my tools are sharp. I have learned to keep the grinder mounted to the workbench at all times so I can just walk over and sharpen anytime I need to. If it's easy, then I am more inclined to do it.   ; )

Anyway, I get it turned and have decided it will either become a bowl or a box with lid. That is yet to be determined, but the shape is roughed out. I was getting a bit tired, so figured that was a good place to quit.

I decided, I should at least sand it before calling it a night. After sanding there were still a couple spots where the tool had tore into the grain a bit. I decided to hit those spots again with a sharp tool and then re-sand. Still didn't smooth out those rough areas.

I have some CA glue which is really good for filling in cracks, so I figure I could possibly use some to fill in these tore out areas. Besides, pen turners often use CA glue to put a nice gloss on their work. Two birds with one stone!

So I dribbled a couple drops on the work and turned the lathe on, keeping a rag on the piece so the glue will work itself into the grain. Oh my GOD!! this stuff is nasty.

I felt my nose hairs burning! and my eyes burning! and it was from the fumes from this stuff getting hot as it was rubbed into the wood. Wow! I never heard anyone who had discussed using CA glue mention this before, maybe it's an initiation ritual. That stuff is wicked!

However, it *did* put a nice finish on the piece and it did smooth over the rough spots better than anything else I had tried tonight. Enough so, that I put on a second coat and endured another round of eye and nose burn.They are still not smooth, but smoother! I will try to get a picture of it later and post it here.

I figured even though I hadn't accomplished much of anything, that was enough for the night. I got in the house to find it was 1:40 AM. Holy crap! garage time flies!