Violin Forum/Message Board

ollieken · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:38 pm Post subject: Quiet here

Awful quiet here forced to look at maest.. net & not a lot interesting
there. Maybe all hibernating for the winter (I am thinking about it) , or all busy making violins with no problems ?? Ken

Bob Sp · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:58 pm Post subject:

Quiet - Yup. Except for the sound of the trees cracking in the deep cold. Father-in-law has got a huge poplar with a new crack 15 feet long you can put your hand into.

Most of the wood I'm handling is going into the wood-stove. Shocked

L P Reedy · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 7:00 pm Post subject:

I'm nearly hibernating. Can't seem to get interested in doing anything productive. I'm not too sure my making activities are productive anyway.

Lyle

Michael Darnton · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 9:51 pm Post subject:

I've been getting excited about other things lately:
http://flickr.com/michaeldarnton
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kubasa · Member Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Posts: 212

Yes, it's quiet here in my neck of the woods with temps reaching -20 F at night. I'm hoping for a wood stove like Bob has someday. My natural gas furnace provides nice even heat but I miss wood heat since that is what I grew up with as a kid.

Michael, looks like you've been taking a a few photos. Really nice work. Say, you have a photo called "Spinner". At the risk of sounding really ignorant, I have to ask what is this object? If you want, I'll ask my wife to smack me upside the head on your behalf if this is something blatantly obvious that I'm not catching onto! Very Happy

Chet Bishop · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:38 am Post subject:

I had anticipated doing lots of lutherie related things during the time I took off from work between Christmas and New Year, but about December 7th or 8th, or so, we received an announcement that our eldest son intended to marry on January 2nd. He and his intended had been engaged for about a year, so that was not a surprise-- but the short notice really was.

So all the time was spent getting ready for house-guests, repairing, rearranging, etc. Our daughter flew in from Switzerland and was a huge help. She and Ann took me shopping for a suit. (Grumpy old man on the rise!) I went out a day or so later and found an appropriate suit on my own, so that solved the problem...they even approved of it. (I did not remove any tags until they approved it...I'm not stupid.) Wink

Anyway...went back to work today, working eleven hour days, which means I get home and pretty much start heading for bed...except tonight I spent time helping repair a sewing machine.

Weather is a balmy 51 degrees...and wet. Sorry about the cold snap the midwest is having. We heat with wood, too, so I can relate to the fact that every bit of wood we touch is headed for the wood stoves.
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Chet Bishop
https://bluefiddles.com
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Michael Darnton · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 8:16 am Post subject:

Spinner--that's a glass dome with an antique machinists' surface gauge under it, the gauge having a paper umbrella on the top.

One use for a surface gauge: http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/surgau1.htm
I use them for setting necks.

I remember when wood was used for heat! Darnton house, c 1980. It was a tiny house--there's three or four years of heat in that photo:

_________________
new blog at my site! http://darntonviolins.com/blog
my work sites: http://darntonviolins.com and http://darntonhersh.com

kubasa · Member Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Posts: 212

Chet, you certainly have been busy. Congrats on the wedding. Sounds like a whirlwind of activity!

Nice photo, Michael. That definitely looks like our backyard when we had wood unloaded as well. My Dad did the chainsaw work and I split the wood. Even though I was a kid, I really enjoyed splitting wood. I still have all my toes too! Thanks for the explanation on the surface gauge. The link was really helpful for my visual mind.

James

ollieken · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:51 am Post subject: kubasa

Kubasa Where are you located it was -22c here with high wind that is about 8 below 0 FH I can remember 3 feet of ice on the river`s & trucks hauling logs instead of using the road lots of snow then 25 below 0 Fh was common & you did not stay & read sears catalogue when you went to the out house in the morning .
Mike bet there was one at the Darntons place nice picture of the homestead.
No one was ever sick with the flue like today .
Chet. Right!! keep the tags on Mrs Bishop raised no fool eh

Thank you all for the reply`s Ken

Michael Darnton · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 11:07 am Post subject:

Sears..... The internet of 1892 to 1995, at least in terms of time wasting entertainment!
_________________
new blog at my site! http://darntonviolins.com/blog
my work sites: http://darntonviolins.com and http://darntonhersh.com

kubasa · Member Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Posts: 212

Hi Ken - I'm in northern Minnesota. Our -20 has been at night and not during the day like some places. Growing up, we lived in the NWT for a while. That's where we had highs of -20 and lows of -40 or -50 without the windchill. One time we hit -74. I can't even begin to describe how brutally cold that was. Needless to say, as I've gotten older, I've become a wimp! I'm looking forward to retiring someplace warmer than here but I have some years to go yet.

James

Mat Roop · Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:29 pm Post subject:

Great photography, Michael! ... Thanks for posting
My Dad was a portrait photographer and greatly admired the work of Yousuf Karsch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yousuf_Karsh. He tried to inspire me to carry on his passion, so I did take a college course in photography in the '60's, but somehow talent did not exude. Now, I miss the days of film photography..work with film speed, f-stops, exposure and lighting...pretty simple. Last year my son loaned me his DSLR and the variety of buttons, settings and adjustments just blows my mind. I'd need a 2 year course on just how the camera works!
Compared to last year at this time, violin work is slow, but I am filling in the time with a daily dose of shovelling snow, cleaning up old tasks and getting ready for the sunny south.
All the best & Happy New year to all.
Cheers, Mat