Peter McBride wrote:
> Scott asks .....a few questions that get long wordy answers...
> ...
> -------------------------------------
> Scott....the order of work is the key.
> Do the cutting of the recess first, with it clamped upright in a vice.
> When I make something that will have curves and fancy shapes on it,
> but will also have some applied decoration that will need good
> alignment, I will do the applied decoration first, then draw my
> guidelines from that part to my outline....much easier. My first rule
> of making ANYTHING is work from what I know to what I don't. Your
> question is how would I locate the shield on the shell. Well I would
> look to the whole job and see that that will be a difficulty, and I
> have the shield in my hand, and I have a blank knife shell, so put it
> in the location I KNOW will give me waste all around. It might be only
> a few mm all around the knife sides but I will have the front of the
> shell and the back of the shell co-planar, and if I lay it out right
> and scribe or draw a line through it I will have a LONG axis through
> the shield along a line of axis on the shell to match with the knifes
> axis...much easier to get right.
> So often I see the proud display of semi-finished work that will have
> the best efforts over cut with another one two or sometime even more
> processes later. It is a fault that takes away any reference points,
> lines or planes that are your guides later. I use those all the time
> to get things right.
> Best described like finishing a lever cap knob completely, and then
> doing the inlay in it. Machine making might make all this seem a
> little unimportant, but hand making stuff is all about not snookering
> yourself later. I'm always allowing a little in the seams to make it
> right later.
> Hope that makes some sense...???
> ---------------------------------------
>   
What's implicit in this is that first, you decide what's important! Then 
plan around that. In this case, having the decoration off-center would 
seriously detract from the appearance of the whole. So you adopt a 
method tohelp  ensure it ends up where you want it.

>> Oh one last dumb question.
>> Does the thimble need to be so close to your body? It looks pretty
>> uncomfortable bowing.
>> I keep wondering, if you used a longer shaft,..................
>> well, all I have seen, have very short shafts with the thimble right
>> up against you.  Does it need to be there for another reason I am not
>> seeing?
>>     
> -------------------------------------
> The pulling back and forth on the bow is pretty vigorous, and if for
> instance it was half way between the chest and the cutters the thing
> would be pulled from side to side. If you half that distance - 1/4 the
> sideways force at the cutter, half it again and so on until it is
> negligible when it is right up hard on the chest.
> I think I got that right from my studies in engineering 35 years
> ago....but if you had it in your hands for 1/2 a second you would've
> felt it have almost no sideways force due to the effective long lever,
> even though you were pushing left and right like crazy. All you get is
> rotation.
> --------------------------------------
Ergonomically, I think it's much better to keep your elbow in close to 
your side, especially for repetitive motions like this. In the long run, 
it's less likely to be painful!
Don
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