Turnin' on the Screw

Today marks my first "vent" post. 
Not bad, only 4 days...back in my college days (boy, does that make me feel/sound old) I've felt like venting after only a few minutes, but that was then, and I'm not the only one frustrated with the events/situations of the day. I get to take solace in that.

My first clue that today was going to be "one of those days" was when it was 80 degrees at 8:30am. 
Clue #2 was when, even though I had woken up early and had all of my stuff together on time, I still managed to almost be late for class...I'm still lost as to how that happened.
Clue #3 was after I had finally had my chisels and block plane blade backs approved for grinding and I had also finally gotten my "how to grind the blade bevel" demonstration, by the time I had signed up for the grinder waiting list, I was near the bottom and I had run out of class time to grind my blades. (2 hours doing pretty much nothing except reviewing my study guides and taking 120 grit sandpaper to the unnecessarily sharp edges of my sheet of plate glass. NO MORE PAINTER'S TAPE!)
Clue #4 was ever though I was certified in my use of the jointer and planer, I was in the group that ran out of class time to actually be able to use those machines today, AND I wasn't able to use the grinders in the second block of time because that is when all of the other guitar kids in the other section were allowed to use the grinders. Really, if it wasn't for 40 odd kids (60 if you include the violin kids, also) needing to use the 5 grinders, I would be moving along swimmingly. I know other people are in my same situation, but you can't help but feel frustrated. 

ALL THE GRINDERS ARE TAKEN!!!

 

 It sucks being motivated and wanting to progress along, but being forced to wait your turn.

Clue #5 was returning to your room to find that your mirror had fallen off the wall and broken its frame...nothing a little super glue can't fix, but still, when it rains it pours...


Now I need to go study for another safety test (table saw this time). Hopefully I can get my plane blade ground, honed, and approved tomorrow so that I can work on a small "shop assignment" over the long weekend. I will be given a small piece of mahogany stock and, using the block plane and squares, plane the 4 faces square to each other...a seemingly simple task, but I could see myself needing a few days to do it. Let's hope tomorrow is not like today...   

We be super disco breakin'

Fear not, "loyal" readers...I type in front of you a man that still has all of his fingers, at least for now.

6 hours of tools with a hour for lunch in the middle is kind of a long time to cover one subject, but at least in the mornings when I have my hand tool portion of the class and I actually get to do stuff, it isn't so bad. It's the after lunch, power tool portion of the class, which is primarily lectures/powerpoints, sitting around because we aren't qualified to use the uber-scary-spinning-wheels-of-dismemberment yet. 
I shouldn't say that the whole afternoon portion of the class is all that horrible; its kind of like a study hall in the sense that I can work on some of my other guitar-related homeworks. I am actually taking advantage of my time!

This here be my home away from home...away from home: My workbench for the next seven weeks, until I have to be transplanted into the other guitar lab where I work on other guitar-related subjects (I'm too lazy to look them up right now).

Here, I can be as anal/OCD as I want to be about where and how my tools are kept. 
Yes, all of those drawers on the right are labeled (my tools are all engraved with my initials, too), and no, there is absolutely ZERO leg room for my giant legs to go under the bench in ANY way shape or form without smashing either my knees or my shins on something. I have to either sit legs spread eagle, or if I am feeling like a lady, legs to one side.

Any way, what I was doing before I decided to snap this photo:

1. using a piece of self-adhesive micro-film sand paper on my newly "safety-edged" piece of plate glass (thank goodness for painter's tape) and the two whetstones (in the container on the right), 

• I was to flatten the backs of my block plane blade, along with the backs of the two chisels (seen in the photo)
• verify their flatness with my squares. 

This is a HUGELY important step because, along with grinding the beveled edge (I'm doing that tomorrow), this allows for your blades to make cleaner, easier, more accurate cuts. We are doing projects where the tolerances are 1/32 - 1/64th of an inch, and a dull-ass blade or chisel won't be able to make that cut. 
Flattening the backs of the chisels and the plane blade took about an hour, each, to do (I still have 3 chisels to do). 

I also had to flatten the bottom of the block plane, itself, and check its flatness, too, but that didn't take much time at all.

For the power tools, I theoretically am able to use the Jointer, and probably by Friday, the Planer. These machines (along with the table saw) are used to make your piece of wood stock totally flat and square. No one wants to work with wonky wood (alliteration is awesome!).

Needless to say, I've need a nap after each of these class days (9am-4pm). Add in my written homework for these classes (tool safety study guides), it's like, where did my day go? I am still loving every minute of it, though. 
The most frustrating part is the constant running back and forth between wally world, menards, and target for things you didn't think to bring with you (like a longer than 6 ft tape measure, exacto knife, box cutter, lunch box because cafeteria food is pretty damn expensive, etc.) But if my previous college experience was anything like this, I probably would have been a much better student...

My sister sent me a Fraggle.

First Day o' School

Well, it turns out that that first days can be chocked full of little surprises...

My fear of sleeping through my first class was completely unfounded; actually I was awake 45 minutes before my alarm even went off. Excitement? perhaps...or maybe its been some of the problems sleeping I've been having since my move here, but that is another story for another time...

So, needless to say I made it to my first class without a hitch; one class in the morning (Guitar Overview) and then I had most of the day to myself to look over all the new toys...excuse me, tools I had to buy until my next class (First Aid; funny how that works, right?) at 5:30pm.

Or so I thought.

I completed my Guitar Overview class and then my Professor proceeds to start lecturing for the next class (Guitar Acoustics), without pause, until he remembers to take attendance a few minutes into his lecture. Cautiously, I wait to hear if my name is called before I decide to bolt out the door, and lo and behold, I hear my name. What the heck is going on?

Once lecture completes and we have deposited what tools we wanted at our newly assigned workstations, I head back to the house to figure out what in the world is going on with my schedule. Let me tell you, Red Wing does not make it easy on you to look at your schedule. It took me 2 hours to figure out my schedule and discover that I was enrolled in 4 classes (Guitar Acoustics, Acoustic Guitar Neck Resets, Electric Guitar Set Up, Fretwork; which I remember signing up for now that I look back on it) which were suspiciously absent from the printed schedule I received on orientation day back in April. It then dawns on me that at orientation, I only received one page of my TWO page schedule. So now, my class schedule, which was fairly open later in the semester (along with my hopes of getting a part time job), suddenly fills up quite a bit. 

Damn, and I was looking forward to having Fridays off...

Anyway...This is the loot I got today (along with some of the stuff I bought earlier):

Take particular note of the Japanese Razor Saw in the middle-left there...and the 12in rule right next to it. Also, the clear tub on the bottom-right is also filled with stuff, but my professor didn't want the class going through them yet (in case there were things missing).

What isn't pictured is the 12in x 12in piece of plate glass that was included in tool purchase #2. Don't worry, I didn't break it. It broke me: 

Evidently the edges of the plate glass are CRAZY sharp. Good thing my mom loves me and packed a whole mess of Band-Aids and Neosporin.

Other than that, I am forced to sit through my First-Aid class, despite my certification having expired this past March. The school won't let me test out for whatever reason; so now I have 2 hours of First Aid every Monday evening for 6 weeks. A bummer, yes, but my classmates are all instrument repair kids, which is kind of fun.

Tomorrow has 7 hours of power/hand tools in store for me. Why do I have a feeling I am going to need to stock up on more Band-Aids?

And so it begins...

Whelp, after much feet-dragging, I have finally found the motivation to start up the blog which will serve as my chronicle of my time spent in the Guitar Repair and Building Program.

The night before my first day of guitar school... 

Well, really I should start with my trip on over to my new city and new state of residence that is Red Wing, Minnesota (population a HECK of a lot smaller than what I am accustomed to). Who would have thought that I would move from a town famous for a clothing line that no longer is made there (b'gosh!) to another town where their claims to fame are work boots, pottery, and apparently this instrument repair program?

I really shouldn't rag on this town too hard; I've only been here 4 days...however, everyone here drives UNDER the speed limit and I have to get all of my booze in liquor stores as opposed to gas stations or groceries...

Anyway, my pilgrimage wasn't particularly difficult, neither was the move into my new place, for that matter...emotionally, well, that is probably where it was the hardest, but that is to be expected when you are moving 300 or so miles away from everything and everyone you know. I'm a complete wuss about this though, because my roommate moved here from Texas, so he's got me beat on the far from home argument.

For the better part of my 4 days here, I didn't leave my place much. Mostly due to the unpacking, organizing, a frustrating 2 hours getting my amp to work correctly, and just getting everything settled, but I finally ventured out into the unknown and got a feel for my surroundings (as well as groceries). With the town as small as it is, getting lost is very difficult to do...theoretically. I don't have a story about getting lost, but as I stated earlier, I didn't get out much.

But now, I stand on the cusp of my first day of guitar repair and construction school, something I have wanted to do for so long, and right now my biggest fears are sleeping through my alarm, cutting my fingers off in a freak table saw accident, and not being good enough to advance in the program. All completely senseless fears and worries, well, minus the sleeping through the alarm bit...I know I will be fine and so many people have faith and belief that I will do well and succeed, but still, a bit of anxiety is still normal. 

I don't want to go back to slinging cinnamon roasted nuts, so really, I HAVE to succeed at this. There is no other option.

All I know is that it is getting late, and I've exhausted all of the interesting bits from my first few days...Tomorrow is when all of the cool stuff starts, and I will try to keep all of you in the loop.