Renée Posted July 19, 2015 Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 Ha ha! Been there, huh? The imperfections? Absolutely. My life is one giant imperfection The chamfer you put on the ferrule feels similar to the chamfer I (deliberately) put on dovetails. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted July 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 The imperfections? Absolutely. My life is one giant imperfection The older I get, the more I realize that 'imperfections' can indeed describe all of our life(s) in many ways. Imperfections, for me, are the hallmark of trying, and trying is the hallmark, or the causative factor, needed for; either 'succeeding' or 'failing' in any and/or every facet of life. But trying is... the thing that one must do, in any (every) case. Because neither success nor failure can be had, without the effort of trying. Oddly, but truthfully? Success and failure, are almost incidental considerations for me at this stage. Did I succeed or did I fail? Who cares? If I tried my hardest, what more could anyone do? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 Ok, I'm bringing this foreword. Photos to come. Josh has me going thru all of the motions involved with making the frog(s) from scratch, so I'm in the middle of doing it now. Living also takes up so damn much time... I have to struggle a bit in order to keep everything Josh s teaching me, in mind as I go. It all makes sense when he is showing me the various steps, but then a couple days later, I sometimes really struggle to recall and apply it all. Oh well - such is life in the fast lane. Right now, I'm trying to get the ferrules installed on the frog blanks. I'm going to have to go ahead and re-make the one ferrule, that came out uneven or crooked, as, I don't like it and it is not as geometric as I would like - in order for it to fit correctly. The other ones are fine. I'll show the two that I've got fitted now, and for me this aspect of the job is very labor intensive. Very, very, little material is taken off at a time, but the fit is critical, and so, I am being extremely cautious. Probably too cautious - but there you go, that's me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 AAAAARRRRUUUUGGGG! I just f**ked up royal... Ok - I'm going to start two new frog blanks, #'s 2 & 3... and one new ferrule. The ferrule is the one that I spoke of earlier. Tomorrow I'll really try to show what I have done, what I have done wrong, and what I have done to come back from the void... This really is work. Delicate, intensive, work. No problems here. (except that I need to get it RIGHT!) And I can see where the beginning student, MAY have several tries before succeeding... at some of these attempts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brad Dorsey Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 ...Josh...uses a little piece of soap when fitting the ferrule to the ebony... I would still like to hear how he does this. Does the soap act as a lubricant or a marker? Or something else? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rue Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Waiting for those photos! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Waiting for those photos! Ok ok! I promise I'll get back to this, and I'll even post my recent mistakes and errors... as well as the things that turned out well for me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted July 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 OK, here's where I am now. That last ferrule shown, is the one that I am not going to use. The other three are my first three. On my first three frogs. Josh has me making four So, I'm going to re-make this last ferrule, since it is crooked, and fit it to the last frog -then and continue on from here. The "taskmaster" has me starting on another stick, since I've been making frogs for so long. So, I'll be starting another stick now ... It really has been a while since I worked on a stick... damn, now I'll have to think again! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rue Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 Cool! I can see that last one is off a bit. Good luck with the retake! Most of us appreciate a hard taskmaster...as long as they're fair as well! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted July 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 Cool! I can see that last one is off a bit. Good luck with the retake! Most of us appreciate a hard taskmaster...as long as they're fair as well! Yes, your absolutely correct. Josh is only a hard taskmaster, in that he wants to see it done correctly. Which I appreciate - since I want to do it correctly. And learning over the internet... well, it is a step away from the usual method of learning such a thing as this - I imagine. How Josh manages to keep his head, with all of my sometimes ridiculous questions? I don't know - you'll have to ask him. He IS a hard taskmaster, but an absolutely fair headed and friendly, accommodating one. Yes, I am simply a lucky individual. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2015 Here's the new ferrule... side by side with the old one. The old one was beyond repair so, I simply soldered up a new one. It's the proper size and geometry... And yes, that's silver. You can see where I heated up the old one, and tried to pound it into the round... all to no avail. Oh well, three out of four isn't that bad. As soon as I get it fitted to the frog - I think we'll be getting on with it. I am fairly slow on this project, and I talked a bit with Josh about my tardiness... it is ok with him, as he has a family and children also (I have grandkids to boot, and I'm a hands on grandfather) and it's fine with him, so, on we go. I promise that I will continue to show whatever progress I make, whenever I make it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 Just pulling this foreword... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Bump... Yeah, I know, I'm very slow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rue Posted August 19, 2015 Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 Haste makes waste! Hubby is pro at it . Measure once cut 2, 3 or 4 times. Use brute force as necessary. If brute force fails - resort to an arsenal of explicatives and then try, try again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2015 If brute force fails - resort to an arsenal of explicatives and then try, try again. Wow, Rue... Do we know each other? How on earth did you get me pegged so Godd@mn well? (Ok, sorry, if my wife finds out I'm being expletive... she'll most likely wash out my mouth. On the other hand, she uses alcohol to do it ... so in some ways, it just saves me time...) Ok, kidding aside for a moment. I'm finishing up the fourth frog, and getting a new stick in the wash... Josh has me making some alien looking bow making jigs and tools - which I will show here soon, I promise. One of the things that I have found to be (sadly, in some ways, not so sadly, in others) true, is that my personal life takes up an enormous amount of my time. My medical problems, my children, and grand-kids, my dog - everything. Thankfully Josh has kids, and animals, and leads an (apparently) complex life also. Which leaves me in the clear to do such things as this, where my wife has to tie me up and pour raw alcohol down my gullet (ok, just kidding) it leaves me in the clear to take some time getting this stuff all made. More photos to come. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 I would still like to hear how he does this. Does the soap act as a lubricant or a marker? Or something else? Sorry Brad, reading this thread over I see you have asked this a couple of times and - I had thought you had it, but I didn't really "have it" all that much yet myself, and so I'll answer you now. Cool? He uses the soap as a marker. The soap get rubbed (or scraped) completely off, where the ferrule is hitting the wood, and it (wood) needs to be removed where the "rub" shows. Where the soap gets scraped off. The very first book I read, if I recall correctly, was not very exact with this aspect of the make, but Josh... the 'taskmaster' is. And for Josh, this part of the build seems to go very quickly and accurately - as I have watched him do this to a frog blank ... In his view, the ferrule tang on the frog, is made with a sort of teeny tiny faceted face. very close and very exact handiwork. And it fits first at the outer part of the ferrule and goes on slowly as the ferrule reaches the correct proportions and the soap helps this aspect of caving... So the ferrule is tight fitting and "square" on the 'tang' . In fact, I have developed several of my own 'gimmicks', in order to make this aspect of the build go right and much more quickly and accurately for me. I think that sometimes, I am slower than most people, with certain aspects of building - and sometimes, I need visual cues where others simply go ahead with the cues that they can accurately hold in their mind's eye... Oh well, such is life. One of them, is that I will hold the silver ferrule in position on the frog blank, where it goes, at the start - and mark out the arc that it makes, in the correct position, so that I can remove the excess wood quickly and accurately. I started out just marking around the outside of the ferrule since that was easiest and most readily available ... but now, for this frog, I hold everything in place, and mark around the inside, AND the outside curvature on the outside facing surface of the tang... This has been the most intricate and difficult (careful) aspect of making the frog yet. Really... really cool. So Josh, the taskmaster, has me making another stick, and yet another "tool", one for shaping the silver slide that goes against the frog - the one that sits between the frog and the pernambuco stick... to take my obsessive mind off of the frog making for a while... I must admit that, even though I rarely post here on this subject lately, the stuff that I am doing is continuous and challenging... I do most of the actual work in the mornings before dialysis, and after my routine housework & etc. My thanks once again to "the taskmaster", for taking me under his wing, and showing me the ropes when he absolutely did not have to. My thanks Josh - for everything. Yeah, ok, onward. Some photos to come - for those following, for whatever reason(s). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
uncle duke Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Can you show photos of routine housework? I believe in you C.T., I hope this bow making adventure turns out well for you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Can you show photos of routine housework? Hah! But remember - you asked for it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 ok, ferrule #4... finally done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 And in the picture - I included the "bad" ferule. The one I had to make over again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rue Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 New one looks nice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Ahh, thanks Rue. We'll see, as the build progresses... So far I'm satisfied with my slow-ish progress, and Josh is going exactly the same speed I'm going, which helps me tremendously. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 Can you show photos of routine housework? I believe in you C.T., I hope this bow making adventure turns out well for you. Here's the newest household member - that requires careful watching... by me of course. I'm a big dog person (my last dog, a purebred Great Dane ... ) but this, fully grown, 5 pound sweet-hart was found wandering... so now she's the latest family member. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brad Dorsey Posted August 21, 2015 Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 ...I will hold the silver ferrule in position on the frog blank, where it goes, at the start - and mark out the arc that it makes, in the correct position, so that I can remove the excess wood quickly and accurately. I started out just marking around the outside of the ferrule since that was easiest and most readily available ... but now, for this frog, I hold everything in place, and mark around the inside, AND the outside curvature on the outside facing surface of the tang... In the IPCI bow book, David Forbes describes how he marks the ferrule outline: "...turn a slight burr in the bottom inside edge of the ferrule with a needle. ...[The burr] will hold the ferrule in position while the needle is used to scribe the inner outline of the ferrule on the tongue. A quick swipe with some chalk fills the scribe line, creating a clear and accurate line..." I haven't tried it like this yet, but it seems like a good idea. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Craig Tucker Posted August 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2015 In the IPCI bow book, David Forbes describes how he marks the ferrule outline: "...turn a slight burr in the bottom inside edge of the ferrule with a needle. ...[The burr] will hold the ferrule in position while the needle is used to scribe the inner outline of the ferrule on the tongue. A quick swipe with some chalk fills the scribe line, creating a clear and accurate line..." I haven't tried it like this yet, but it seems like a good idea. Yes, it does... I'm going to have to try doing the inside scribe this way. I have to say that before the ferrule is fitted to the "tang", (what I have shown above) there is a slight scribe on the inside edge of the silver ferrule taking any thing protruding, off of the inside edge of the ferrule... this is before fitting it. - another thing that I must remember the proper sequence of, as, these things are in a specific order, to make the build work well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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