19th Century Cooperage Project

Bit of a breakthrough on the issue of how-to cooper. Amongst other things I found this video which has answered some key questions for me:



This also helps me know what tools I need to make. I really need to get my forge going! Progress on the shave horse has been really slow. I brought up the remainder of the wood from which I will make the other pieces, but I just don't have the tools to be able to progress like I should.

My priorities are to finish the shave horse, and to get the forge going so I can make the things necessary for coopering. No doubt I'll have to buy tools in the process, but I'll do as much as I can without buying tools. I could really use a shop bandsaw or a large ripsaw to be able to turn my logs into planks.

My Shave Horse Project - Part 3

Well on my way through planing. I probably should have started with a chisel on the high spots, but my block plane in rather large, so I just took it head-on, and it worked. One side is almost completely smooth. It looks really sharp when it is planed perfectly smooth and straight.

Also, now testing the plank against the flatness of the table, it is very near straight. I might have a warp of 1/4". The only real issue is the variance from side to side. One side is at least 1/4" thicker than the other. Well, more planing for the thick side then. I've made about enough shavings to stuff a mattress.

Next I really need to cut out the other pieces with the chainsaw so I can start them drying.

My Shave Horse Project - Part 2

Here is the final result of the chainsaw massacre. My 66" extremely heavy plank, which is drying faster now. I already have 2/3 of one side planed smooth. I'll post pictures soon. You can see in the closeup picture I planed a little spot just to see how it would go.

Better than a Rubik's Cube

I sat contentedly in my tower watching two small aircraft practicing touch-and-go. Every few minutes I'd call them over the radio to clear them for the next touch as they circled the runway pattern like a cat chasing it's tail.

Without warning another aircraft appeared on radar, coming in fast. According to its data tag it was a Boeing 737, and it was obviously heading for the runway. I punched my radio call button:

"Alaska two zero zero bravo romeo, Eugene Tower. State your intentions."

The radio cackled and a distorted voice came over it:

"Alaska zero bravo romeo, sorry about that. On eight mile final for ILS, runway three four left."

I glanced apprehensively at the two small aircraft flying the pattern. I consulted the radar. Yeah, I can make this work.

"Alaska zero bravo romeo, fly straight in ,runway three four left, clear to land."

I wasn't off the hook yet. I called the small aircraft that was to land next:

"Zero papa charlie, traffic is a 737 inbound for three four left, caution wake turbulence, extend down wind pattern, will call your base."

"Roger, traffic in sight. Will wait for your call."

I took a deep breath and leaned back in my chair. Everything was on track. In two minutes the 737 landed and the other aircraft continued their pattern as normal.

This story isn't fictional, but the aircraft were. I was in training for virtual air traffic control, though a dedicated organization that provides life-like ATC services to flight simulator pilots. Unbeknown to most the "real world", the virtual airline industry is booming. Every day there are thousands of online flights flown by as many pilots, usually guided by hundreds of virtual air traffic controllers. Imitation (Virtual) airlines have staff, training courses, and schedules. Pilots range from young gamers looking for a little realism for a change to retired commercial airline pilots keeping the dream alive.

Yes, it's true; even the big boys who have spent their whole lives doing the real thing seem to derive great enjoyment flying their old routes on their home computer. There is even a small dedicated group that build life-like cockpits in their basements and garages. Some pilots use simulators to fly things they were never rated for in real life. For instance someone who was rated to fly commercial twin engine props might enjoy flying some of the heavy jetliners in the simulator. The presence of these professional pilots online has helped raise the standard for expectations of skill and professionalism of pilots online.

Virtual air traffic control is even more demanding than piloting. It usually takes a dedicated recruit two years to reach senior controller, often longer. "Why..." you may ask, "would someone volunteer to put themselves for that? Isn't air traffic control one of the most stressful jobs in the world?"

The common answer you'll hear from most virtual controllers is the same as mine: it's about the challenge. Its like a 3D puzzle that is in motion. Why does someone sit down with a Rubik's Cube? Why does someone build a 10,000 piece puzzle that is all white? While some people depend on thrills like bungee jumping and skydiving, others need high mental challenges to stay sane.

We have a few advantages over real life in that if we mess up no one dies, and our traffic is generally much lighter in real life. For example Seattle Tacoma International may have 50 flights in and out in an hour, but SeaTac online may have 50 flights in and out in a day. We also derive satisfaction from knowing we're making the experience for pilots better. They appreciate it, and they tell us so.

So when you're ready to learn how to fly, but find your budget is more like $100 total rather than $100 an hour, there is a whole world out there to be flown in the comfort of your home. Or if you like a little power and a huge challenge, join VATSIM as a controller and start training, and training, and training...

My Shave Horse Project - Part 1

It looks like we'll take a hand at Civil War Reenacting as civilians this year. I've been reenacting as a soldier since I was 14. Now with health problems and a prevailing desire to be near my wife at most all times, the civilian option looks like the right option, and if I'm going to miss out on the glories of soldiering then I'm going to try to do a right good job at being a civilian.

But every civilian man needs a trade or occupation of some sort. I've perhaps naively am going for a traveling Cooper impression. Reaching cooperage of the mid to late 19th century has been difficult. Seems most Coopers are 18th century, or modern. So I am doing my best taking the "timeless" tools from the 18th century, and the craft and technology of the 19th century in an attempt to guess as accurately as possible what to do, what to have, and how.

Probably the most important tool at least initially is the shave horse. For those of you mercilessly trapped in the 21st century, a shave horse is a sort of bench that you sit on, lengthwise, and by depressing a pedal with your foot, a claw depresses on the bench making a fast clamp. By this means you can hold, in my case staves of wood, tight for fashioning into barrel staves. Shaving Horses have many other uses by Wheelwrights, Furniture Builders, and Carpenters in general.

Using Google Sketchup I began designing my own shaving horse. To assist me, I imported a model from the Warehouse to compare to. You can see the imported model in the background, and my incomplete model in the foreground. The almost-level shelf on the bench is an idea taken from the shave horses at the Cooperage at Colonial Williamsburg. I'm not sure why they chose that design, but my suspicion is it allows you to put more weight on top of whatever you are working on. That is only my guess, but in the case of stave making, it makes sense.

The next problem was that of where to find the wood. I didn't want to use common limber from the lumber yard because it is cut to demensional lumber measurement, rather than true measurement. The December snow storm solved that problem for me. A very tall Pacific Madrone fell over, and a fine straight section from the trunk made a perfect potential for my saw horse.

I cut a section 66" long. Wet Madrone is said to weigh 60lb a cubic foot. This log was insanely heavy. Pacific Madrone is a rare-ish wood, a hardwood, but one that is shockingly pliable by machienery. My sissy chainsaw cut right through it, yet a branch is diccult to break by hand. Esentially it is a hardwood that cuts like a soft wood. Looks like it will work for my shave horse.

Then I faced the perplexing question of how to cut a plank out? I pondered many ideas. I have a friend that has a bandsaw mill, but I don't really want to bother him with this. I didn't want to split it like you would to split a log in half, or for rails, for fear the split would be terribly jagged and ruin the log for my purposes. The only other way they did it in the old days was a two-man hand saw, but I don't have one, and they tend to be expensive, not to mention the work involved once I got my hands on such a saw!

I came upon my solution by accedent. Today I dragged (with great effort) the log out and set it on a cradle. I thought I should cut it with the chainsaw. You realy aren't supposed to cut along the grain, but I figured how much worse could that be than doing the same with a two-man hand saw?

As a background to this story, yesterday I was reading in a book about how advanced the ancient cultures were: the ones that built Babel, the Pyrmids of Giza, the Stonehenge, etc. With such imspiration behind me, we now return to the story.

My next though was to simulate a mill by clamping the chainsaw to something, and rolling the log through it, via wheels of some sort. I am horribly limited on tools, so I didn't have anything like a shop cart to roll, and I don't have any clamps. Then I considered the opposite, making a jig to guide the chainsaw obver the log and cradle. I ran with this idea.

Using my pocket knife, a square, and a long piece of wood as a straightedge, I made my measurements for taking a 3" board right from the middle. Then I laid 6' steel "T" posts on the arms of the cradle to serve as my guides. Finally using boards and shims I elevated and rotated the log until my scribed measurements matched the "T" post jig.

Then, carefully, I started the chainsaw through the log, carefully maintaining about 1/2" above my jig at all times. The result is very satisfying!

One third of the way through each cut I stopped and made a top-down cut so that the weight of the top pice wouldn't cause it to sag and pinch my chainsaw bar. Even those little 1/3 sections are heavy! On the final third, I pounded a wedge into the open end to keep it from sagging at the end of the cut. It worked perfectly.

The other side was easier. I added more boards to the cradle to elevate the now-thinner log to align with my jig. I repeated the same process, and now I have a 3" x 11" x 66" plank that I can dry and eventually smooth and use as the bench for my shave horse.

Prolouge

It's happened over and over; I think I'm just talking about life until I realize I'm the only one talking, and I've been talking for a long time. It usually happens when I am sitting at a dinner table, or in someone's living room, something trips a memory and like a old-timer in a nursing home I just start relating past experiences, and to my surprise people are rarely bored!

I've never thought of my life as especially interesting, but others seem to think otherwise. Another thing that mystifies me is I am not a master of story-telling. I've met them: they're way out of my league. Nor do I resort to frequent exaggerations as some people feel the need to do. I don't know how to summarize it, but I guess God has made me the way I am, and that way seems to captivate audiences.

This blog will be a mish-mash of things that don't fit elsewhere: my current doings if they are interesting enough to write about (I will not write just for the sake of writing, not here). A burning spiritual topic may suface as the need arises. Past stories as they come to mind, and maybe a sprinkling of news and politics here and there.

I take much more satisfaction in telling of life-experiences than writing them, but who's to say I'll always remember them. In fact it is disturbing how fast I'm forgetting some of them.