The past week has been very full of events. The week has renewed energy into this project along with faith in people. I received word Friday that the back knives will presumably be ready Friday after Xmas. I should receive them sometime around the week of the new year, right on my hopeful track all along. there will still be finish work to figure out but the bulk of the stick will be able to be cut. I've also learned more about sharpening knives and gouges on my end. Ernie has said he will send info as to wheels I will need to sharpen everything I have. I'm feeling good again and positive as to the direction this is all headed.

My next job on the lathe, repair a leaking tail spindle hydraulic ram. John had sent the rebuild kits and they were waiting for me. After some questioning the ability to accomplish this, I made up my mind and pulled the ram out of the tail block, removed the hydraulic hoses, and brought the ram to the operating table. I had to figure out how to get the c-clips closed enough to remove one side of the cylinder. After fighting with it free hand for a bit, I finally decided to put it in the vise and utilize some strong hold. It worked, however I was very fortunate that I had my glasses on... oil shot out of the ram and splashed all around my eye, but not in it. Thank goodness!! After cleaning up I proceeded to remove the many O-rings in the cylinder. There were six or so and a couple gasket rings too. I had to use some old dental tools, that I inherited from my dad, to carefully remove the small O-rings from the aluminum housing. I got it all rebuilt and back in the tail block. It does not leak any longer.

I spent the rest of the week in the shop fine tuning the alignment of the die and the tail spindle. It is close... VERY close. I have turned two 3/4 dowels out of pecan. I've been using pecan for trials since, after much research, it is extremely close to the density of hickory. It is in the same family as hickory and many times even sold as hickory. I had to sharpen a bad roughing knife and it is now very sharp and true. I look forward to the list of wheels I need to sharpen. The right tools for the job!

I also taught my regular days of lessons on tuesday and thursday afternoon at Acadiana School of the Arts, along with saturday in retail at Scott's Drum Center. I've been helping my brothers out for the for the holiday season. Brad and I have been discussing getting my sticks in the shop. Everything is going very well. As soon as I have the product, they will be at the drum center. Keep an eye out in either January or February.

The coming two weeks I am on holiday from lessons. It will be very productive although very tight. It will be good to be around family and friends over Xmas and New Years. I'm finding that the presence of friendship and family is helping through my holiday blues. Lately, when I feel the blues of missin' my momma, I remind myself of how proud she was/is that I am doing what I chose in life and being successful with my life's endeavor. Music, Drums and Craftsmanship have been a powerful part of my life ever since I can remember. I am happy that I am finally bridging the gap to put all my skills together.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

'til later... HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Frank

The past month or so has been like the old saying..."hurry up and wait." Everything that has been happening has been moving slowly and the exercise of patience is once again coming into play. The "green elephant" is partially disassembled with the tail spindle removed. After much searching, I finally found an old friend of mine that was able to turn down the tail spindle to fit the .750 die for drumstick spindles. Thanks Dexter!

Also, finally received the the ram rebuild kits from Goodspeed. I was pleasantly surprised when i answered the door the week after thanksgiving and the UPS man handed me an envelope FULL of O-rings. There are evidently a bunch of o-rings in the rams. I'll be jumping into this later this week.

To top off an already fabulous end of the week last week, I spoke with Maynard about the back knives. After several revisions, I have finally come o a good design and Ernie seems to feel the same. They started production on the knives Friday and should be done with them before the end of the year. I am VERY excited! there will be several different "standard" BackBeat models. I will still have to figure out some finishing processes. I suppose I'll have to exercise more....you guessed it....PATIENCE! I'll figure it out soon enough. It gives me something to think about and ponder.

'til later,

Frank

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and had a chance to reflect on the many parts of their lives to be thankful for. I did. I got away from Lafayette and spend time with some family. I enjoyed it and was thankful for the company I was in. There was much discussion of the many facets of everyone's lives. I'm thankful for the health and well being of myself and all my family and friends. This has been a very trying year filled with several life changing events. I am working through them as best I can. Being joyously thankful for the the people that are still in my life helps to overcome the sadness of the losses that have occurred.

On the shop front, I closed up shop for the week of Thanksgiving while I went away to visit folks. It was definitely much needed break. The week prior I was having challenges getting things done. My mom was on my mind and I was missing her terribly. I did, over the past 3 or so weeks, get a few tasks accomplished. I replaced a dusk til dawn sensor on my outside lights, moved the pool table project into the front and rewired one of the dust collectors I picked up several weeks ago. the dust collector was a good challenge. The previous owner had it wired pretty weird and after some careful inspection I managed to figure out the color coded wires and wired accordingly. It definitely sucks! I also did get to take a ride with my brother and pick up that saw. A trip that had been getting postponed. It's not as big as I was led to believe, but it will be a worthy mid sized saw to cut stock for the sticks.....and it is in working order.

I have been talking to a lot of family and also some potential clients on the business end and everyone seems very enthusiastic and excited about what is happening. There is potential for a product in the market. I can't speak to much of it yet since I do need to do some homework to see if it would be a potentially profitable venture, mainly cost analysis. It would be a fun project that could touch many peoples lives. It is also a venture that kept a well known drum business in bread and butter for quite some time. I hadn't thought about it until the idea was brought to light and it is a good idea. Also, learned a lot about printing of sticks. With the help of my son in law Ryan, I was fortunate to meet with a very knowledgeable fellow on the topic of personalization. There are some options and one in particular looks very interesting with strong potential with a low cost for startup and long term maintenance. It also makes for some very cool options for personalization as well as designs and can be utilized for more than just printing sticks. I will post more as it develops.

Again, I'm very thankful for all my family and friends. All the people I've met lately regarding the lathe... John at Goodspeed, Ray and Ernie at Maynard Machine, and a BIG thanks to Jeff. Hopefully someday we will talk again and help one another as we have in the past. There is more to life than sticks.