Rings

Soooooo, the first ring we made for my metamour was a surprise for her, so we guessed on the numbers and made it a bit too small. Attempt two fit perfectly, but it broke while my wife was sanding for the very last coat of finish. Attempt three starts this week! When we were doing attempt two we cut and prepped about four blanks, and since the ring fit great we already have the dimensions to make it to and the appropriate collets and mandrels. I will attempt some progress photos this time through. I don't think in practice the rings will be that fragile, but we will see what happens! The two failures we've had have been failure in tension -- one from being expanded too far on a mandrel and the other from excessive pressure while sanding the inside of the ring. When you're wearing them, though, most of the bumps and knocks on them should be compressive, which wood handles a lot better.

Sewing

My metamour recently acquired a sewing machine and the two of us intend to do some projects with it. I eventually want to get into tailoring but we're going to start a bit easier first. She wants to make a vest for my wife for their wedding so we are going to go pattern and fabric shopping here soon!

A small diversion

Saturday morning I was grinding coffee and this happened:

The pin the handle turns on is just swaged on, kinda like a pop rivet. Over time, the forces from grinding worked it loose, allowing it to turn and machine its own end off:

So I made up a new one out of some stainless stock I had sitting around. It was a fun little lathe project: turn the end down for a 10-32 threading die, then a slightly bigger diameter and shoulder above that to press fit into the hole in the crank pin, then a bigger diameter for the knob to turn on. I don't have a milling machine, so I cut the screwdriver slot with a hacksaw and I am incredibly pleased with how well that worked out.