Today being Friday I did not need to take my wife to
Kamakura, and virtually all of my time was spent
outside my workshop, working on two pronged forks.
What is shown below bears that out.
I now want to talk a little about evaluation of these
forks while they are being fabricated. However, perhaps,
before that, I should talk about my typical fork shape.
Since I am not working with metals, my eternal concern about
forks is their structural stiffness. A, here, is a typical top profile,
and there is something here.
When you stick your fork into something, you do not want
resultant forces to split the prongs outward. Therefore,
the profile shown in A is my answer to such a problem.
Resultant forces make the prongs vend inward, rather than
outward, reserving the integrity of the system usefulness.
B, in the same illustration, is telling you something else.
This is the side profile of the pointed end of a fork.
If the top profile has been made to satisfaction, I could
form the pointed end along the dotted line.
If fabricated along the dotted line, then you have
pointed ends, as you might expect with metal forks.
Otherwise, if you choose to stay with the solid line profile, and
if you look at the fork end end on, then you will find a
crescent shape facing you.
Why all this?
Redundant, i.e., leftover materials do not come in
exactly the same thickness, width, stiffness and you
have to improvise the best solution...
Now, take a look at the following photo.
This is the largest wood deck I have constructed to date.
It is approx. 7.2 m X 3.6 m, and roofed for BBQing in
the rain.
Now, my mother is telling me that I have to construct a
shed for her washing machine. Fine, then, I will also go for
a much larger shed, even with my sleeping quarters in it!
The deck was constructed during the summer last year.
I and my mother were staying there for something like
two weeks in August.
Constrcution work was gruelling! 20 feet long 4X4 weighed,
easily, something like 25 kg! I am not going to repeat the
same process, with the sleeping shed (and the washing machine)!
My answer to the problem is shown in the following illustration.
My current idea is that I will first construct a frame
of the shed with metal pipes. Pipes used for scuffoldings.
You may think they are heavy, but they are not that heavy,
compared with wood pillars.
A is showing you a conceptual (oveall) structure, and B
is the ground rooting of the pipes. Once the pipe frame is
in place, then I can use ply woods to form the walls.
They will be fixed to the metal pipes, sandwiching them,
for structural strength!
Actual work will begin in May 2009.
Why not this summer?
Overgrown pine trees will be cut down in November. My eventual shed,
if constructed during the summer, will be destroyed by
the impact of the trees. They are monsters!
Kamakura, and virtually all of my time was spent
outside my workshop, working on two pronged forks.
What is shown below bears that out.
I now want to talk a little about evaluation of these
forks while they are being fabricated. However, perhaps,
before that, I should talk about my typical fork shape.
Since I am not working with metals, my eternal concern about
forks is their structural stiffness. A, here, is a typical top profile,
and there is something here.
When you stick your fork into something, you do not want
resultant forces to split the prongs outward. Therefore,
the profile shown in A is my answer to such a problem.
Resultant forces make the prongs vend inward, rather than
outward, reserving the integrity of the system usefulness.
B, in the same illustration, is telling you something else.
This is the side profile of the pointed end of a fork.
If the top profile has been made to satisfaction, I could
form the pointed end along the dotted line.
If fabricated along the dotted line, then you have
pointed ends, as you might expect with metal forks.
Otherwise, if you choose to stay with the solid line profile, and
if you look at the fork end end on, then you will find a
crescent shape facing you.
Why all this?
Redundant, i.e., leftover materials do not come in
exactly the same thickness, width, stiffness and you
have to improvise the best solution...
Now, take a look at the following photo.
This is the largest wood deck I have constructed to date.
It is approx. 7.2 m X 3.6 m, and roofed for BBQing in
the rain.
Now, my mother is telling me that I have to construct a
shed for her washing machine. Fine, then, I will also go for
a much larger shed, even with my sleeping quarters in it!
The deck was constructed during the summer last year.
I and my mother were staying there for something like
two weeks in August.
Constrcution work was gruelling! 20 feet long 4X4 weighed,
easily, something like 25 kg! I am not going to repeat the
same process, with the sleeping shed (and the washing machine)!
My answer to the problem is shown in the following illustration.
My current idea is that I will first construct a frame
of the shed with metal pipes. Pipes used for scuffoldings.
You may think they are heavy, but they are not that heavy,
compared with wood pillars.
A is showing you a conceptual (oveall) structure, and B
is the ground rooting of the pipes. Once the pipe frame is
in place, then I can use ply woods to form the walls.
They will be fixed to the metal pipes, sandwiching them,
for structural strength!
Actual work will begin in May 2009.
Why not this summer?
Overgrown pine trees will be cut down in November. My eventual shed,
if constructed during the summer, will be destroyed by
the impact of the trees. They are monsters!
