Sawdust and Sand

Posted By James Leach on October 3, 2009

Okay, so it has been a long time since I have added anything to my web site. Here is the reason - I am a grandpa. I visited the mainland from my home in Hawaii at the end of February and beginning of March. I went to see my daughter and family in Virginia and my other daughter and family in Wisconsin. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you are missing out on until you get a taste of it. I realized after returning to Hawaii that I needed to relocate to the mainland so I could be part of my children’s families. I have nine grand kids whose lives I wanted to be a part of.

So I relocated to Virginia and have been setting up a shop in my youngest daughter’s basement. Let me show you a few pictures.

I am now set up to produce some work. I also have been harvesting some oak and maple from some fallen trees on the property. So you can see I have been busy. I hope to do a better job of adding to this web site in the future.

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Posted By Bekah on July 16, 2009

Plot owned by A. Fowles

I’ve tried and failed twice this week to access the Kewaunee County Historical Society office downtown, but this afternoon I noticed the website on the sign in the front window.  From the rootsweb.com site I have discovered a plat map from 1876.  Our property once fell within the plot labeled here as belonging to A. Fowles.

Algoma Newspaper Obits, 1873-1922

As luck would have it, there is only one A. Fowles listed in the obituaries of the corresponding time period.  Lucky, since the neighboring plot is simply labeled ‘Fowles’–a father, or brother perhaps?–which would deepen the necessary research.  However, if you check the family obituaries, it seems that this particular family fell victim to multiple tragedies, which probably accounts for the lack of significant presence in the newspaper and other geneaological records I’ve quickly scanned today.  In fact, there are only a sprinkling of Fowles in the obituaries to follow this time period, not even enough to consider a handful.   Tomorrow’s goal:  head to the library for a printed copy of the obit in question.  Perhaps we can track the development of the property through the history of the family.

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Posted By Bekah on July 15, 2009

I’d like to take a brief moment to introduce myself and a new category for this website.  I am Jim’s eldest daughter, Bekah.  I am the responsible party for the current design and administration of this website, and now I’ll be adding some entries now and again as we delve into the newest project, bound to produce much Sawdust, plaster dust and drywall dust, too.

My husband, Brian, and I have a large family of six kids, the eldest of which is Ben, 12 years, who will be contributing some of his own sweat to the project.

(left to right) Myself, Eliza on my back, Paul peeking under the bridge, Simon and Oliver in front of Ben, Jim's younger daughter Deborah with baby Annabelle, Sadie, Deborah's other two children, Leah and Noah, and Jim

Some years back we bought a 1920 or 30’s era fixer-upper in a small community of Algoma on Lake Michigan’s Wisconsin lakeshore.  We’ve done some minor things here and there, like moving the laundry from the dungeon-esque basement to the first floor, but the house suffers from a history of vast remodels, originating as a one-family, being transformed to a two-family dwelling, and back again under previous ownership.  The upper floor plan is laid out strangely, with only a half bath currently, with the full bath being downstairs.

The Project House

My father, owner and creative genius behind Sawdust and Sand, will be spearheading the construction, and we will be documenting the process here under the “Renovation” category.  One of our intentions is to investigate the possibility of having the home declared a historic site, and also see if there might be a potential to get special loans or grants to restore the home.  I hope that documenting our journey will be an interesting feature on this website, and potentially helpful to others embarking on a remodel or restoration of an older home!

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Posted By James Leach on May 23, 2009

I will be hosting a booth at the King Kamehameha Day Celebration on the Historic County Building lawn in Lihue, Hi on the island of Kauai.  I would love to meet you in person and show you what I’ve been working on lately.  For more information about all the festivities, see the festival homepage.

A legendary king, somewhat reminiscent of King Arthur, King Kamehameha is honored as the great uniter of the Hawaiian islands.  You can learn more about his life at Aloha-Hawaii.com.

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Posted By James Leach on May 20, 2009

I collected some large Norfolk Pine logs about nine months ago. I have just started turning some of it. One of the logs had a large growth called a burl on it. Burls are known for having very interesting grain. I was into turning lamp bases and decided to try turning a lamp shade out of Norfolk Pine. When turned quite thin, Norfolk Pine will glow if light is passed through it. I thought this might make a spectacular looking shade.

I cut and mounted a blank on the lathe. Right off the bat I knew it was going to be a challenge. When I cut it I attempted to make the blank symmetrical so it wouldn’t be off balance. Off balanced blanks in combination with centrifugal force can make my 500 lb lathe jump around like a cricket. At first I had the speed set at 600 rpm. Usually this is slow enough to begin the turning despite some shaking. This blank was obvious more off balance than outward appearances made it seem. There were a few seconds of violent shaking and then it flew off the lathe and fell at my feet. It turns out that on one side of the blank the wood had deteriorated while the other side was solid. I set the lathe speed as low as possible, 450 rpm, remounted the blank, and tried again.

I turned the outside and the ends. Usually the shaking becomes minimal once the outside and ends are turned evenly, but this blank had a mind of its own. It kept shaking, however I was able to turn a spigot on the end so I could mount the emerging shade to my Nova chuck. I thought it would settle down once I removed some of the interior wood. Think again. The turning actually began to shake increasingly as I continued cutting.

Shake has the consequence of producing uneven wall thickness as more material is removed from one side of the interior than the other. Another development occurred that exacerbated the problem. There were places were the wood gaped. When you have voids such as this you have to cut with a very soft touch or the tool tip will fall into the gap between wood edges and case a catch which gouges out pits of material. Then, too, the more deteriorated material began to have tear outs so I decided to soak the blank in a finish that is a combination linseed oil, polyurethane, and mineral spirits. After soaking overnight I removed the blank and allowed it to sit for about a week to dry. The intention was that the poly would fill the deteriorated wood cells and support them so they would cut instead of just shredding.

In order to save anything of this turning I realized I would have to allow it to keep thicker sides than I had intended. So this piece was not going to be a shade after all. But I hate to give up on a turning, so I decided it could be a bowl if that was what it wanted to be.

Sanding an irregular bowl is challenging to say the least. This turning required considerable hand sanding off the lathe. It was a lot of work and certainly not perfect, but the result was visually appealing. Despite the frustration brought on by its uncooperative nature, the final result was pleasing to me - see what you think.

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