I’ve been dealing with pain issues more than usual lately. I haven’t been able to understand why. I started thinking though about what I’ve been doing. What I’ve been doing a lot is things that according to my doctors, my wife, and my common sense, I shouldn’t be doing so much of.
I do enjoy doing the huge projects that impress some people so much when they walk into my shop and see it. I will be doing more of them in the future. But overall, I need to back up. I need to do less of these type projects and plan them when I’m at my best. I need to start considering my back when choosing projects instead of just going on a whim.
I had almost forgotten why I fell for scroll work so much in the beginning. I like scroll work because it’s something I can do even when I’m in pain. I used to enjoy projects that I could do mostly sitting down at the scroll saw so I don’t stand as much at one time and get myself to hurting. It made me think of what my uncle used to tell me, thus the name of the title of this post, dance with the one that brought you. If anyone doesn’t understand the meaning of that old saying, I will be glad to explain it. I think everyone can figure it out though.
Well, what brought me to this point then? It was scroll saw projects that I could do sitting.
What kind are my favorite? Clocks. So I wanted to do a clock. What clock did I wish to do? Well, I’d love to start on the Dome Clock. My funds haven’t been up to snuff though for me to be able to order that and the stand like I want. So I decided to do the largest clock I already have the plans for, the Iowan.
So I headed to town to get a clock movement. This wound up being a whole new problem. The local craft shop closed down about a year ago. After that I started buying simple clock movements at Wal-Mart. As I found out though, Wal-Mart no longer carries clock movements either. I could order one online. I don’t like starting such a project like this without having what I need to complete it already on hand. So what to do? I wasn’t going to be stopped that easily. So the search was on.
What I wound up doing was getting this cheap clock at Fred’s Dollar Store for four bucks and gutting it for the clock movement.
Now, last time I built this clock, I built it hollow. You could see through all the scrolled holes. It looked fine enough I guess. I wanted to do something different though. On this one, I building it out of mahogany and putting cottonwood behind everything for contrast.
Also, the last time I built this one, I didn’t put a finish one it. This was earlier in my wood working journey and I was still a little scared of finishes. Well, something Sheila said this morning about good projects sometimes not getting a good finish got me to thinking about that. So, I will definately be putting a finish on this one. This single thing will offset that contrast even more, creating a dramatic effect that I could never have thought of last time I done this.
So on with the Iowan. 
This is the first level of the clock.
This is not all I done today. I also made a bit of fancy firewood.
The second level is built on an angle of thrity degrees with a thirty eight degree bevel on the front corners. Usually in situations like this I cheat my butt off with my twelve inch disk sander. The reason I do this is becasue I have a piece of crap miter saw and a table saw miter guage that isn’t much better. Well, taking all this into consideration, I hadn’t considered how hard it was going to be to get the bevels and angles perfect enough for the cottonwood backing to work on that level like I want.
After building it twice, both times wrong, I decided to call it a day and do some thinking on that one. I will figure out something on it and get back at it as soon as I can.
I don’t know yet, but it may be Monday before I get back to the shop. Tomorrow I am taking the little ones to the Father’s Day kid’s workshop at Home Depot. If any of you have little ones and live near a Home Depot, you ought to take them. Here they are going to be building a little tool box to give Dads for Father’s Day. It gives the little ones a real sense of satisfaction to give Dad something that they built themselves. It isn’t nothing fancy, but hey, I’ll throw some screws or something in mine. It makes them feel good about themselves. I like that.
Then of course Sunday is Father’s Day. So all you fathers out there, in case I don’t get a chance later, Happy Father’s Day.