Potpourri starting Jan 10, 2010

[robinson46176]

Due to a problem our oldest daughter had we spent 17 years in doctor and hospital waiting rooms. Some hospitals had stuff like popular mechanics etc. In one yuppie plastic surgeon's waiting room (out north of Indy $$$$) there was nothing but a couple of sports mags and a herd of yuppie wall street stuff. It was all new stuff so I guess he thought all of his clients were yuppies too. Actually thinking back it was probably the office staff buying the mags and several of them were obvious and pretentious snobs. Thankfully very very few are like that. I took a hand full of woodworking mags in there and left them. The next week they had them all bagged up and waiting for me. The office girls actually acted offended that I had left those things there. That was many years ago. Today I try to point out to office girls that even many top executives and professionals like to relax with woodworking and not everybody wants to read nothing but wall street stuff and sports. Some listen and some don't (shrug)...
If any of you have an office environment with a waiting room do you have woodworking mags there?
Most of that wall street stuff is out of date before it hits the printers but a good woodworking mag that is 20 years old is still valid.

[------------------------]

This is a totally random question, but one that caused a lot of discussion at a family christmas party. My brother re heated a cup of coffee in the microwave and the handle burned his finger! We have several coffee mugs that after several years of use get to hot to touch when placed in the microwave. This is not convection from the water, I've heated water and put it in the cup with no hot handle. I initially thought that it was the color or finish, but we now have several others of different colors and finishes that are doing the same thing. I can't find any obvious holes in the finish. Not important, but a "puzzle-ment" none the less. I think there has to be water getting under the finish. I'm always up for a good mystery, anyone have an idea?

Perhaps there is wire in the handle as support? Bust the worst offender open!
Mark

[robinson46176]

Perhaps there is wire in the handle as support? Bust the worst offender open!
Mark

You guys do know that not all glazes are all glass. Some contain metallic based pigments too...

[JPG]

Not all 'china' is micro wave 'safe'.

FWIW I do not like burned lips either! So I heat the water/coffee/tea/whatever in one cup, and transfer it to a 'cool' handled/rimmed one for consumption.

Farmer: You were obviously not the client the office staff/principle was promoting. Sadly, their loss! Doubt they spoke yer 'language' anyway!:rolleyes:

[mckenziedt]

Don't discard those because they are old. There is a lot of very interesting reading and a few projects that might be fun. You'll also find a lot of good tips on how they did quality wood work before dial indicators and digital calipers.

A big business on eBay now is tearing out or photocopying the 2 to 5 page "How to build a ???" articles from old 1930's to 1960's magazines like Mechanics Illustrated (you do remember that one and automotive writer Tom McCahill don't you?) and selling them for 4-10 dollars an article. I've bought a few myself that are still relevant to a 21 century home workshop.
Don

[kameljoe21]

Alot of the mugs that are got at discount stores are cheaply made
when they fire them there at a lower temp this cause the glaze ( and the type of glaze ) to not compleatly finish so after several heating they form hair line cracks or pits in them and this cause the clay to be super heated ( this is the handle that happens first most times) due to some places that fire them seperate from the mug and then molding them on afterward then do the glaze process, this cause the clay to be fired at diff temps, so then during the glaze process they are fired again at 2 types of items ( cheap way )
best mugs are ones done at the same time last for years
im in the process of gathering the items to make my mother a kiln
so i know a little about it ( not much but some)

[robinson46176]

Alot of the mugs that are got at discount stores are cheaply made
when they fire them there at a lower temp this cause the glaze ( and the type of glaze ) to not compleatly finish so after several heating they form hair line cracks or pits in them and this cause the clay to be super heated ( this is the handle that happens first most times) due to some places that fire them seperate from the mug and then molding them on afterward then do the glaze process, this cause the clay to be fired at diff temps, so then during the glaze process they are fired again at 2 types of items ( cheap way )
best mugs are ones done at the same time last for years
im in the process of gathering the items to make my mother a kiln
so i know a little about it ( not much but some)

My mother got all hot about ceramics (pun intended) so I built her a kiln back in 1960 (I was 18 in 1960) from scratch, completely from scratch. I used a drill press and a ball cutter to make all of the coil channels in the special soft fire brick and used a metal lathe to wind all of the nichrome wire heating coils. Little was available locally so I had to find companies and send off for most of the stuff like the wire, the thermocouple and the pyrometer as well as the special firebrick (not the same stuff as in a woodstove). The frame and case I made all by hand as well as the control panel. It came out really nice. Then she "cooled off" ( I had to say that) on ceramics and it was never fired. Not the first pot... I still have it sitting down in the basement, never used. There are heat cones, glazes and other supplies still stored around here in various places... BTW, that control panel on the back is full of evil asbestos insulated wire. I don't think it will crawl across the internet and get anybody.
By 18 I was already a pretty good metal fabricator.
It's a little scary to realize that it has been 50 years...

-
Just before the kiln I made her a maple coffee table and she transferred the blue willow pattern to a tile top from a Homer Laughlin plate and had a friend fire it. I have that coffee table out in my solar room in front of a couch there.
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[dlbristol]

Apparently your varied and considerable talents did not arrive late in life!:) That is a nice piece of work, for anyone, let alone an 18 year old. Mom had some talent too.

[dlbristol]

Due to a problem our oldest daughter had we spent 17 years in doctor and hospital waiting rooms. Some hospitals had stuff like popular mechanics etc. In one yuppie plastic surgeon's waiting room (out north of Indy $$$$) there was nothing but a couple of sports mags and a herd of yuppie wall street stuff. It was all new stuff so I guess he thought all of his clients were yuppies too. Actually thinking back it was probably the office staff buying the mags and several of them were obvious and pretentious snobs. Thankfully very very few are like that. I took a hand full of woodworking mags in there and left them. The next week they had them all bagged up and waiting for me. The office girls actually acted offended that I had left those things there. That was many years ago. Today I try to point out to office girls that even many top executives and professionals like to relax with woodworking and not everybody wants to read nothing but wall street stuff and sports. Some listen and some don't (shrug)...
If any of you have an office environment with a waiting room do you have woodworking mags there?
Most of that wall street stuff is out of date before it hits the printers but a good woodworking mag that is 20 years old is still valid.

I am on our local clinic board and we have hunting mags, NRA stuff, kids mags, all kinds of mags in the office. Like most of us I suspect, I don't get rid of wood working stuff often, but I did put a few of my older WOOD magazines in the waiting room a year or so ago. They disappeared! That said, to return a gift like that is not very cool. I spent my whole life earning my living with "my head rather than my hands", but I never lost the respect for those who can and do work with their hands. After 4 years of this hobby I have gained a lot more! I will say this, based on the work I seen, the help I gotten, and the fun I have had, from you and the forum, those young people are much the poorer for rejecting your offer. Just a thought here, I have to think a plastic surgeon is enough of an artist to appreciate the work you do, maybe its just the office ladies. But as a gesture of support, I'll put a few more of my "treasured" magazines in the lobby. ( I'll copy the best articles first!:D )

[navycop]

I have a question about veneer. I was going to make a cabinet. But I don't trust myself messing up a good piece of oak board. I was going to use A1 ply and cover it with veneer. What are your thoughts on this. Maybe stain it and use the veneer for the face frame?