The best laid plans...and a snowstorm of "historic proportions"!

There is a saying in the military: "Plans rarely survive contact with the enemy."  In that world, one hopes that the enemy is a clearly defined entity.  But in the world of the shop (that of the eager hobbyist or the busy professional) what is the "enemy"?  I can only speak to my own experience here, but I am confident that many of you will at least partially agree with my own assessment.  Oftentimes, the enemy can be time.  For me, as a hobbyist, it is a constant challenge to find the time (especially relatively uninterrupted time) to devote in the shop.  Life outside of the shop is a huge factor.  Of late, my family and I have been struggling with this to a far greater degree.  My wife suffered a major injury this past November.  While she is progressing steadily, we all have to pick up some of the household duties.  Also, my shop is a basement shop, so the sounds of family life are easily transmitted through the ceiling above me, a constant reminder of the daily activities that I miss while I am engrossed in my work.  Concentration is another issue, probably exacerbated by the prior issues.  Can we truly "be in that moment"?  How much of the time spent in the shop is truly dedicated to the task, or tasks at hand?  Are our minds preoccupied with other thoughts or happenings?  How does the work suffer along the way?  What are some of your enemies in the shop?

A busy tin shop.

I bring this up because this has been the story of my past five days.  Last Saturday, I had hoped for a decent amount of shop time and focused productivity on the +Tom Fidgen designed bedside table I have been working on.  Of course my plans were formulated forgetting a birthday party one of the children was invited to, things on my mind, and other important tasks around the house.  While I could have taken this in stride, determined to make the most of my time, I instead set about re-learning one of the most basic tenets of the shop.  "Haste makes waste."  The few hours I had in the shop were spent looking for ways to do things more quickly or easily.  The result?  I ended up having to start over on the bottom side stretchers, and by the time I left the shop, I hadn't even gotten back to the point that I had been at.  Lesson Learned... I hope.

One stretcher.  All I have to show for a Saturday in the shop.

So when Sunday rolled around, I decided I could use a little change of scenery.  I would take a day off from the table, re-calibrate my brain and pick up another project awaiting my attention...the lantern I promised my wife some time ago.

The lantern panel from a past post.

Panel bent around a shop made form, also from a previous post.

Panels bent, spacers made, yet again, from a previous post.

Now that we are caught up photographically, we can move forward with my progress.  The next step was soldering the spacers to the lantern body.  A fairly easy task to accomplish, but it is an art to do it well.  And in this age, the selection of solder greatly influences the final result.  Historically, a 50/50 combination of lead and tin would have been used.  For the sake of safety, I do not use lead.  But if you want your solder joints to look "right" by period standards, I wouldn't suggest any of the home center solders.

Solders complete.

A little closer look.

With the bodies completed, all of the remaining joints will be mechanical (no solder) until we place the hinges for the door at the end.  To attach the bottom and top, the edges of the body must be burred.  Burring, is turning the edge 90 degrees to the existing piece.  In this case, I will use a rotary machine first patented prior to 1810.  My machine in particular, dates from the second half of the 19th century.

Burring the bottom in progress.  My flesh powered burring machine.

The completed burr.

I can now move on to the bottom.  This particular pattern is new to me, so I will have to experiment with the diameter of the bottom.

Laying out the bottom circle with dividers.

Circle ready to be cut on the right.

After a couple tries, I found the right diameter.

Ready to burr the edge.

Once the bottom is installed, it will never come off and working space inside is extremely limited.  That being said, now is the time to make and install the candle cup onto the bottom.

Tracing the candle cup pattern onto tinplate.

Candle cups cut with top edge folded and set.

Forming the candle cups: first curving the ends with a rawhide mallet over a candle mold stake. 

Bending the cups by hand around the stake.

Marking the position of the cup.  The holes for the legs will be cut with a cold chisel.

The legs are pounded flat on the outside of the bottom with the rawhide mallet.

Bottom and candle cup finished.  The edge of the bottom is burred in this photo.

At this point, the bottom is ready for installation.  The burr on the bottom is snapped tightly into place over the burr on the bottom of the body.  When i turned the burr on the bottom, I went further than 90 degrees.  This will make it easier to hammer the burr on the bottom flat onto the burr on the body.  There is a setting machine for accomplishing this, but I find it more satisfactory to do this by using a setting, or paning hammer.  It also allows me to make small corrections as I go, achieving a more perfect bottom circle.  Like most things hand tool, it goes a little slower, but it allows for a better feel for the process and achieves a much better fit and finish.  The hand of the artisan is far more skilled than the machine.

First bottom installed, with the candle cup inside.

I had hoped to have these finished prior to this post.  But as the theme goes...I spent a long day at work on Monday preparing for a snowstorm of "historic proportions."  Monday night, I made the same preparations at home and began shoveling periodically in an effort to avoid shoveling feet of snow all at once.  By midday on Tuesday, it became apparent that the 40+ mph gusts of wind were going to foil that plan.  But after a few hours spread over the last three days, I am pleased to report that I think I am done digging out.

Hopefully My remaining weeknights can be spent working on these lanterns.  And this weekend, I hope to return to the wood side of the shop to keep going on the bedside table.  Hopefully I will return a wiser woodworker for the experience gained last Saturday.

Wish me luck, and as always, thank you for visiting.