See those cracks? Those aren't supposed to be there. I was bummed. I had hours of work into that piece, and it was a failure. The most important thing about failure though, is that you learn from it, and so I did. I decided to tear it apart, and redo the piece that mounts directly to the wall. I wouldn't just replace it, and make sure that I wouldn't crack it again, but I would make it better, than it was. I had a few things that I didn't get exactly right, because, I really don't have the right tools for the job, but I would find a way, and I did.
The biggest problem, other than the cracks, was the notch that I had in both pieces so that they would fit together. They weren't right, and the angles were a little off. I created a plan of attack this time, and worked at if form a different view. The easy and right way to create those notches, would be to have a drill press that I could set at height, and pass the pieces back and forth under it getting the desired notch and spacing. I don't have a drill press, so it was files, the Dremel, and a whole lot of delicate touches. It worked, I had both notches squared off and fitting tight this time around.
The next problem was working away so that I would avoid cracking the wood when I mounted to the wall. Part of that was making that piece a couple of inches longer, and adding an additional screw to it. That way I wouldn't have to get it so tight. The other part was creating inset holes for the screw to embed into, and then make a slightly bigger guide hole for the screw to go into. With that bigger hole, there was less material to get trapped inside the hole, and pressing outward from the center. That means less of a chance of cracking. Here is what it ended up as.
Just to prove that it works, I put the skateboard in it, where it now has a home.
It's looking really good. I also took pictures of it before I mounted it, so you can see the detail I put into the actual claw. It was a few days of hand sanding, and quite a few coats of stain to get it just the way I wanted. Oh, the wall mount part, is natural stain and yellow dye. I wanted to go with yellow, but I didn't want to paint it with spray paint of anything like that. I think it came out great.
With that done and out of the way. I have a new project in the works. It is another wand stand, and this time it is going to be for two wands. It is also, not for me. Elie and I went to Universal Studios yesterday, and she is going to get two wands of her own, and wants to display them. in her house. This one is going to be tricky, and I have to draw up some designs, as soon as I'm done writing this. She wants the wands to cross one another, and I know exactly how I'm going to do that. The other request is that it has to be tall enough to rise above the screen of her lap top, so we have to have a 10 in. rise height. I have an idea, but I need to get it down on paper, so that I can see it rather than visualize it. The idea is a big one, and I'm not completely sure I can pull it off. I'm going to do some etching and artistic cutting as well as the normal sanding and all of that other stuff. Of course we will decide between stain or paint, and what color or colors will be involved. It's going to be a big project, but I'm excited for it. This is going to be a whole lot of fun.
I got some pictures from Universal. Not with the camera though. I had it with me, but I never took it out. There were just too many people there, to get the shots that I would have liked to get. it was packed more than I have ever seen it before. It seems everyone vacationed in Florida for the holidays and decided to head to Universal on the last weekend before they had to go back. It was insane, but I did get some fun pictures of the dragon on Gringotts, and a nice picture of Elie and me on Hagrid's motorcycle. This is technically the fist motorcycle she has been on, since her accident over a year ago, and she looked like she belonged there. I know another bike is in her future, it's just a matter of time.
We had a really fun day, just walking around the park and seeing the sights. We went to Margaritaville for lunch, and it was the first time I really wanted to have a drink with my meal. I didn't of course, but Margaritaville is a location that I had a lot of good times, that involved drinking, so it was a natural feeling to sit there and want to have a boat drink while eating a Cheeseburger in Paradise, and watching the Margarita volcano erupt and listen to Jimmy Buffet songs over the speakers. In less than two weeks, it will be my two year anniversary of my last drink, and I'm going to make it there. That will be one more year down and a life time to go. Peace in and goodnight.
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