Making an ulu knife from a circular saw blade – a visual tutorial

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Ulu knife by Russ McMullin

Ulu knife by Russ McMullin

I made this ulu knife about 10 years ago and it still gets used pretty often. It is solidly built and works great. Today I was looking through some old photos and found this sequence. I though it would be nice to share.

The Lorax – the new version is painful to watch – horrible

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We put the Lorax in our Netflix queue, thinking it was the original movie from the 70s. From watching the trailer I already knew I wasn’t interested in the new movie, but here it was, by accident, in our living room. I put in the DVD player and fired it up. It was all downhill from there.

The original Lorax movie was a simple and powerful story – incredible in its depth, and one of the most memorable from my childhood. The new movie is a disorganized circus of preachy songs and silly insulting dialogue, without a likeable character in the whole cast. I guess the producers thought they could do a better job than Dr. Seuss. I think it ended up similar to this…

After 20 minutes I reached my threshold and started doing something else. Cami turned if off not long after that. The original Lorax is in the Netflix queue now. I double checked to make sure it was the right one.

Excellent post on WetCanvas by Harley Brown – the importance of observation

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I found a thread called “Harley Brown’s eternal truths” and it was started quite a while ago on WetCanvas (the biggest and best art site that I am aware of). Harley Brown goes by the name of  ”makinart” in that thread and I was impressed with a recent post from 08-19-2012. It made an caught my eys because had a related conversation with my nephew not long ago. Here is the post:

 

THE NEWS IS GOOD………….8

The first sentence out of the instructor’s mouth, (and you’ve heard this one before)……… “the most important thing you will learn here is HOW TO OBSERVE.”

We thought, hey, we’re here to be artists; we know how to see! What’s with this observation stuff. Now, the instructor did put “weight” into his words to give them significance, but we were a smart bunch of freshmen and we thought, “yeah, okay maybe.”

Bottom line? I’m still working on this project of OBSERVATION. And I think it is one of those things in life that we practice and learn to the end. My sense of what I’m looking at has changed a bit over the years just as my physical and mental nature are not precicely what they were decades ago.

To fill you in on my understanding of observation, it is indeed complex and fully understandable at the same time. We look and see the world around us as does most everyone else. The difference is that over the years and years of using my eyes, I now by pure habit look with the intensity of an eagle scanning prey. Now, my eyes “own” what they are looking at…….to this level: understanding the subtle values, shadows, hues, shapes even as they move. It is, in two words, my life.

And how I interpret what I’m seeing has to do with the extent I’ve trained both my (1) acute observations and (2) ability to lay them on paper and canvas. The second part of that sentence doesn’t exists without the first. And the first part is what that great instructor mentioned that first day of class.

These days, I’m not nearly as smart as I was that first morning of art college. Now, I “get it” how we humans acquire knowledge and skills. Actually a better way would be to say, “getting it.”

Realizing that I’m in the process of “getting it” is the thrill ride of my life. Believe me. This is not an art tip or principle; this is one of those few “ground rules” as we walk on to that big welcoming field to to play our life-game.
-Harley-

 

Eventful Saturday with new bike and old bike

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Yesterday’s 10-mile bike ride was nearly perfect. The weather was warm, but not hot, and it just felt great. I haven’t seen a turtle on the greenway this year. Maybe next time.

I adjusted my seat so it’s set all the way back. It feels more comfortable and keeps me from shifting around. The geometry of this new bike is a little different. I’ve read it’s smaller and the distance between the bars and seat is shorter. If the bike were any smaller, I think it would be too small. As it is, I’m comfortable with it.  It does make me curious about other sizes. The bike shop didn’t measure me, and the last bike just seemed to fit. This is supposed to be the same model, but there are quite a few changes from the 2012 model to the 2013.

Cami has had an old mountain bike sitting around. I think it’s from 1994 or 1995. A search for “Scott Arapahoe” hasn’t yielded much information on the bike.  We have talked about selling it, or giving it to someone, but the brakes weren’t working properly. The brakes are Shimano Altus CT90 and their claim to fame is having a failure-prone piece of plastic that holds the spring. The spring puts tension on the plastic part, which eventually breaks the brakes. Mwah ha, so funny.

We debated whether we should put any money into it, but we decided it would have a much better chance of finding a new home if it were running. Even if we don’t make any money, it’s better than throwing it away and having it serve no purpose. A local bike shop had replacement brakes (CT91) that are supposed to have solved the problem.

Both sets of brakes now work great and it shifts smoothly. It’s a solid bike so it should last a while. Everything sounds nice and quiet now, but it wouldn’t hurt to tear apart the wheels and repack the bearings. The bottom bracket could stand to be looked at as well. There is a recall from Shimano on the cranks. Apparently they can fall off. The guy at the bike shop said we just need to bring in the bike so they can look at the serial number and Shimano will send replacement parts. Awesome.

“But If Not” – excellent sermon by Martin Luther King

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Several years ago I took a class in public speaking. Some of our assignments were to listen to great speeches and report back on what we had learned. One of the options was the “I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King. I listened to it and came away with a lot of respect for Martin Luther King’s public speaking ability, and his fearless defense of the things he believed in.

A few weeks ago I came across another speech by Martin Luther King. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I highly recommend it.

Saturday bike ride – super nice

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I’ve been riding casually for several months now, with the goal of getting used to the new bike and getting used to moving. Now that I’m in better shape I wanted a benchmark to work from so I took my Garmin GPS with me. It clips to the handlebars and shows me things like average speed, top speed, elapsed time, odometer, etc. I already knew the distance I would travel, but I wanted to know my average speed. There are variables I can’t control, like how many people are walking on the path, and how many of those people are walking four-abreast so the path is completely blocked and I have slow almost to a stop before somebody lets me pass. But, overall, I think it’s useful to know the numbers. I ended up going 10.44 miles at an average of 14.1 miles per hour. It took me just over 44 minutes to make it out and back. I’m not sure how I stack up against other people, but I was pretty pleased. It feels great to get out there and ride, especially when the weather is cooling down. It’s still plenty warm. I love it.

Cami and I were driving past what used to be Borders, and I noticed it’s been replaced with an REI. It’s probably been there for months, but I hadn’t paid attention. I checked prices on a new set of pedals and also a bike rack for the car. It’s been ages since I’ve been to an REI, so I wanted to see if they still had me in their system. Sure enough, they do. I could get 10% back if I make my purchase there. Woohoo!

Amazing bike ride in the rain

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I got caught in the rain on my ride this evening. I should have turned around earlier but I thought I could make it. It was totally unsafe, but a wonderful experience to ride with the lightning strikes off in the distance and thunderclaps all around me. The bike trail was deserted on my way back and the forest it bends through was dark, with just enough light to see all of the amazingly tall trees. Eighty degrees with light rain falling, fireflies dancing here and there. Thunder booming. It was amazing. I was thankful for all of that beauty and praying for safety from the lightning so I could live to tell Cami and Ellie about it.

Noisy brakes on Trek 8.4 DS – problem solved

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After quite a bit of waiting for the bike shop to do enough testing of the brakes, Trek replaced my bike frame under warranty. I understand that they wanted to make sure other options had been explored before going to that extent, but I was very glad when they finally decided to do it. I knew it would fix the problem because no amount of brake adjustment had made any difference. Several of their mechanics had worked on the pads and the rotor, and the noise kept coming back. After they would work on the brake, I wouldn’t hear any noise, mainly because there isn’t any friction between the pad and rotor at that stage. As I went through the bed-in process, the brakes would start grabbing more, and I would start hearing a slight harmonic sound.  The more I tested, the more I would hear the harmonic tone – not loud but it was there. Eventually,  I would get a loud harmonic honk when I applied the brake, as loud as ever, vibrating the whole frame.

Here is a picture of my previous frame. Note the position of the back brake, and where it bolts on.

This is the new frame, a 2013 frame. The brake is attached in a totally different place.

The braking is excellent, with no noise. I love the bike now and highly recommend it. Thanks Trek and thanks to Cycling Spoken Here in Cary, NC for helping me work through this problem.

Bike in the shop

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A few months ago I got a new Trek 8.4 DS. It’s a hybrid bike, although it looks a lot like a mountain bike to me. The tires are thinner than mountain bike tires and it seems quicker than any previous bikes I’ve owned. I love the bike except for one thing – the back brakes. From the beginning they were noisy, but I thought the noise was something that would go away with time and use. Instead it got worse. I finally took it in to have the bike shop look at it. The tech worked on the back brake and thought he had it fixed. I took it for a test ride while he waited on some customers. When I came back about 5 minutes later it was making the noise again. So, I’m waiting for them to find a solution. Hope they fix it soon. I really do enjoy the riding.