Well. Fencing practice was invigorating. I practiced and free-sparred in my current harness (three-quarters plate armor — everything but the greaves (shin protection)) for the first time. Pretty enlightening — and burdensome.
(Keep in mind that this entire entry refers to an activity which takes up at most 3.6% of my average week, where sleep and work take up about 30% each, and school about 13%. Just a geek’s way of putting things in perspective for you, dear readers who may question my sense of priorities. The average Joe probably puts 35% in sleep, and 24% in work.)
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Ξ January 13th, 2005 | → Comments Off | ∇ Metalworking |
I woke up late for work today (grr!), but I finally made some headway last night on a project long on the backburner.
David’s had this hefty block of compressed wood for a while, and he offered to let me use it for making a swaging block. So last night, we marked circles and drilled center holes down to the desired depth of each bowl-shaped depression (used for bouging steel work pieces). 4 bowls, each with depth of 1/3 diameter: 1″, 3″, 5″, and 7″. I’ll reinforce each bowl by bouging a piece of 18g steel into it.
a sharp saddle and rounded saddle are next up, but they may be a bit complicated to cut out.
Mark got antsy and ordered a dishing bowl of (my estimate) 9″ diameter, so I didn’t measure one out for myself.
After 8 months!!! I can expect to begin armoring again in a few weeks, and with better lighting and tools than ever before. I’m excited. Now to find the time..
Ξ January 12th, 2005 | → Comments Off | ∇ General |
Went shopping for a thank-you gift with Grant. He wanted a poster, but we ended up looking at some calendars. I found one featuring the art of Gil Elvgren, but he wasn’t too keen. I, OTOH, thought that there’s a certain amount of .. I dunno. I like it, even if it pushes no boundaries and I”m sure someone out there will call it degradation of females. Ah well. So I found this gallery of his art. In my defense, my other portrait / painting browsing has been on things like this.
I have two families. One I was born into, and one I’ve fallen into.
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