October 12, 2006
Here are a few pics of the progress I'm making with the oval boxes. The first shot is of the materials, consisting of blanks for the sides, tops and bottoms, all in cherry. What you see below is enough materials to make 10 sets of 5 boxes in graduated sizes. By the way, my materials were supplied by John Wilson. If you ever want to try building these, I heartily recommend him to you for all the wood, tools, and instructional materials you will need.
This next pic shows about half of the boxes after assembly and awaiting a finish. A lot of steps were performed to get from raw materials to a completed box. First, the swallow-tail fingers on the sides were marked, bandsawn and trimmed by hand. Then the sides were soaked in very hot water till they could be wrapped around forms, joined with copper tacks, and then placed on shapers to be dried. After the sides were dry, the tops and bottoms were cut and shaped to fit exactly, and then pegged to the sides with wooden pegs. Final sanding then made the boxes ready for a finish, some of which will be painted with old fashioned milk paint, and others which will be treated with a clear hand-rubbed oil and wax finish.
Windy!
October 12, 2006
Man, was it windy this morning! I looked at the weather forecast last night, and it called for some wind and a possibility of light rain, but I wasn't expecting 20 - 30 mph winds. Don't think I'll brave the open road in that kind of wind, especially with only a barbed wire fence to break the wind across the open prairie between here and work!
Cool Weather Riding
October 11, 2006
We got another little cold snap this morning. At 6:15 this morning the thermometer outside my kitchen window read about 43 degrees (fahrenheit). I’ve been looking forward to cooler riding weather so I could try out some of the new cool-weather clothing I purchased recently.
If you’ve ever visited this blog before, you may know that I commute to work by bicycle almost all of the time. Riding this summer has been a good way for me to stay active without taking up much extra time. Mornings are always nice, but summer afternoons in southwest Oklahoma are pretty hot. So it is with some anticipation that I’ve watched the temps drop as fall approaches.
Last winter I didn’t ride on the cold or wet days. If the temperature was below about 40 degrees I drove my truck because I simply didn’t have good cold weather riding gear. I had a light balaclava, a set of light tights, long-fingered gloves and a nylon windbreaker. So, the best I could do was layer with shirts or sweaters under the windbreaker.
This year I want to see if it’s practical to ride when it’s cold, windy or wet, I so I ordered knee warmers, arm warmers, a helmet cover, windfront tights, a light cycling jacket, a heavy cycling jacket, and a fleece balaclava. So far I’ve found out that the arm and knee warmers are sufficient down to about 45 degrees. Below 45 I need the light jacket over the arm warmers (I don’t own any long sleeved jerseys) and light tights instead of the knee warmers. (The knee warmers would be plenty warm, except that they leave my ankles exposed). I think this combination will be fine down to about 40 degrees.
I’m looking forward to lower temperatures; I think that my heavy cycling jacket will be very warm, and I can’t imagine wanting to ride at a temperature it can’t handle. The one area I don’t have covered (literally) yet is something to keep my feet warm. I really like the idea of winter cycling shoes (like the Lake MXZ301) but they are very expensive. I probably should try a set of shoe covers first, at about 10 percent of the cost of winter shoes.
However, I’m not looking forward to riding in the wet. I have fenders on my main bike (an 80’s vintage Nashbar Touring model with a 5-speed freewheel and downtube shifters), but I’ve fallen on wet streets and didn’t like it. Plus riding in the wet can be really dirty for me, the bike, and my clothing. So we’ll take it one day at a time.
By the way, I recommend you check out the IceBike site for great tips on cold weather riding and gear: http://www.icebike.com .
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