R.I.P.

(ca. 2004 - Oct. 11, 2009)

I knew this day was coming, but happening now was not a good thing! Guess there never would be a good time, now that I think about it. Above is my now-deceased Delta router-shaper table that I used to hollow out my flute blanks. The built-in motor is underneath the table, which I raise and lowered with knobs.

I did add the Pro-Dog fence on top, which made my work easier...and if you click to enlarge the pic, you will see a box and several wires hanging below the unit at the bottom. That's the whole starter switch box...one of the design flaws was that dust was able to get into the on-off switch and would eventually prevent the unit from turning on...and taking the unit out and apart to fix that was a pain, so much so that I just let it hang...which actually stopped the dust infiltration! Go figure...

Well, I was running the largest bit I use, a 1.5" diameter bulletnose bit, which upon seizing a third time in a piece of figured Oregon Myrtle (I'm guessing what happened) made the bearings seize and the whole motor, coils, etc. start to smoke heavily. No fire, but this unit has been hobbling from pieces taken from an older table and yesterday was the day it went belly up.

Normally, not a big issue except the 'grrrrrr' factor of having to go to a store and get another one and spend money you either didn't anticipate or have, something we can all relate to in one way or another, eh?! Here is the biggest issue of all: it's neither made nor available anymore. Hasn't been for a few years, apparently; so I've since found out, Black & Decker bought out Delta and decided to drop that tool, and there is not one single other item out there like it in the prosumer market.

There are routers and tables that you add a router to to use, but not a unit with a built-in motor. Saw one for sale on eBay but it went for more money than I wanted to spend...I'll snoop Craigslist and see what I can find, but I was unaware the machine was a dead horse heading for extinction. The bottom line is, I'm screwed after I finish up what flutes are already glued and ready to be tuned and sanded.

This a day after the 26th Annual Church Street Festival in Waynesville Saturday...the sporadic showers didn't help, and I'm sure the economy didn't help, and it is a show that I've decided to drop next year unless I do move forward on my creative ideas to get back into watercolors and create wooden sculptures with non-flute pieces of wood. One day shows are hard to set and break down for just 7 hours of customer time, as well.

The same fair last year was a rather poor sales day for me, as well; however, I had the surprise of my special dragonfly drone flute winning 3rd place AND the flute sold 15 minutes later...made the day look good on paper. I was hoping that might happen again, and prepared a nice solo display of the Green Heron, complete with the photos I'd taken that inspired the flute, and some descriptor cards explaining the creation, the Grandfather Rocks on the flute's foot, etc. Vendors were to put the yellow ribbon seen by the work to be judged...

The first two judges that happened by with a clipboard could not have stopped for more than 2 seconds each, honestly...like a rolling stop at a stop sign most of us make when no one is in sight. They made a check in a box and kept walking...didn't inspect, didn't ask for it to be played, nada, zip, zilch. In fact, only one of the judges that came by truly inspected it and asked for it to be played, so not a good sign in the monetary prize categories. Nary an honorable mention by show's end.

And so it goes...glad, now, that I accepted 4 days of fill-in work at News 14 this week! I do have a two-day show in Tryon, NC next weekend, and given that's one of my former stomping grounds with family there, I'll at least have lots of company and free lodging! :-)

And, gee, wouldja look at that...more rain coming in! Sunshine has been hard to buy in parts of NC the past, well, weeks...and now there is more incoming. Should give me time to stay indoors and research whatthehell I'm going to do about a new routing system for my flutes...

Delivery day!

(click pics to enlarge)

I think I could tweak and tweak and tweak myself into trouble with flutes...the more you look closely, the more you can see you want to diddle with, seeing things that 999 out of 1,000 pair of eyes would never ever see! Alas, gussying up the 5 flutes to take to Asheville today, Tuesday, for judging later this week,for potential membership in the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Too, yesterday was a squirrely one that I won't go into detail about...except to say when you're looking for a break for things to slow down so you can catch your breath, that's when a bevvy of other things flare up like a California wildfire! Can I get an "AMEN!" from the choir???!!!

For today, I'm posting detailed pics of just the freshly finished Green Heron flute (low E), complete with carved creek and trio of Grandfather rocks. The body is figured Black Walnut, and the block is a single piece of Basswood (plus the glass eyes).



What's peculiar about photography sometimes is how certain colors don't translate exactly; while the Heron's head looks rather light and blue, it's grayer and darker...tweak as I might I couldn't get a great match, but you get the idea!

Lastly, I took a group shot of the 5 show flutes I'm turning in:


From top to bottom they are:

1. "Praying Hands" (mid F#) in Papua New Guinea Walnut, Dogwood and Bloodwood
(loaned from private collection)

2. "Jonah and the Whale" (low E) in Makore with a Galilean boat of Peruvian Walnut
(loaned from private collection)

3. "Great Blue Heron" (low E) in Quilted Maple, burl caps, dragonfly inlay and Poplar head
(loaned from private collection)

4. "Green Heron" (low E) per above

5. "Thunderbird" (mid G) in figured Black Walnut and Claro Walnut T-bird w/ turquoise

I'll show some of the details in other flutes in forthcoming blogs shortly. For now, I've been burning waaaaay too much midnight oil during the daylight hours so I'm going to go pull my plug. Y'all be good now, y'hear?!