Lots of travel for work, just backpacked Mt. Langley (14,042'!) on a three day trip and oh yeah I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!!!
So I'm excited.
Anyway. The backpacking was fun. Three day trip with a buddy and his college friend in the beautiful Eastern Sierras. Hiked to the Cottonwood Lakes on Day 1, round trip from camp to the top of Mt Langley and back on day 2, and hiked back out to the trailhead on Day 3. We were a few miles and about 500' of elevation below the highest point in the lower 48, Mt. Whitney at our peak. See if you can spot it in the pictures below...
That mountain was a beast to climb. Lots of loose sand, long mileage day (14 or 15 by our reckoning), and altitude did their best to kill us. I got a sunburn on the back of my elbows that was purple by the end of the day. That's the price I pay for stupid I guess, and for not refreshing my sunscreen throughout the day...
I went to an estate sale yesterday with a friend to look at the tool selection, and happened upon a small set of wood turning tools:
Nothing fancy, just a parting tool and some gouges, but it should be enough for a beginner like me. I recently acquired this little beauty as well:
It is a 1946 Logan with a Montgomery Ward manufacturer's plate on it. It has been kept in excellent condition and runs like a charm. Again, nothing fancy but good enough for me! I bought it for metalworking (I may have mentioned before that I have ambitions to build several types of engines in my garage), but the missus loves when I make her furniture and other household items out of wood. If I could turn wood items on the metal lathe I'm sure it would promote marital harmony. Five minutes of research turned up this enthralling discussion:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/cutting-wood-metal-lathe-ok-not-232504/
And I'm gathering that it's ok to turn wood on a metal lathe so long as you clean up after yourself, perform periodic maintenance, and avoid getting sandpaper grit on the ways. Away I will go!
Anyway, I needed a way to keep the new tools semi-organized (ref: marital harmony), and decided to build a quick little toolbox for them.
The tools stay in solidly after putting them in the rack and rotating slightly. I made the rack by drilling undersized holes and then filing them out to size. It's all glued together with dado fits, I didn't bother with fasteners. Nothing fancy, but it provides a nice little way to keep these things together!
Also:
This was a low-hanging branch on the tree in my front yard. Turning is fun!
