Ben Stark asked me the other day about making the bat pin holes in the bats I made, so I thought I would show you super fast what I did. I think the entire process is easier if you start out with plywood that you have ripped into squares. Using a long straight edge, mark the center of the board.
Then, and this is important, measure out from the center the distance of your batpin holes. Measure the distance of your batpins on center. Not to point out the obvious to those who know what that means, but to those who don't, on center means from the center of the spot (in this case the bat pin) to the center of the other spot (the other bat pin). Now transfer that measurement to the wood. In my case, my bat pin holes are 10" apart on center, so I just lined the ruler up with the five inch point, and measured out five inches from there. You can see where I put my little x's.
I took a lot more photos, but then decided to skip the demos of obvious things. One photo I should have kept maybe was that I then took a compass and holding the pointy edge in the middle of my large center X, drew a nice circle inside of the square.One little tip. I found that occasionally the drill liked to drift a little when drilling the hole, so once I had one hole drilled I fitted it onto the bat head and with a hammer tapped down to mark where the other one would end up, just to make sure I hadn't drifted too much and so I could adjust the drill point if neccessary. You might ask: why not just take the circle and put it on bat head and mark the holes that way to begin with? I would answer because we are not monkeys, that's why. We can use tools and math and resort to monkey-like behavior as a last resort.So, it's about 2:00 now. I now realize that I am not just over-tired from not sleeping, I am sick. So, I spent the morning cutting the bats and cleaning up a considerable mess (should have done it outside). My last goal of the day is to attach the bottoms to my new batch of square casseroles, put them under plastic and call it a day. I will attach the handles tomorrow. I am like a walking zombie right now. You might ask if it was safe for me to be using power tools given , my mental lethargy, and I would answer that if I can manage to seriously hurt myself with a jigsaw, then that is natural selection at it's finest.
10 comments:
You really having me laughing out loud sometimes. I really enjoy your blog -- though I do hope you feel better soon. We don't want that natural selection thing happening before it's time!
I need some big bats & since I'm math challenged your demo helps a lot. Thanks!
And I make those squared dishes. A fat bottom & a sureform help!
Thanks for the demo! Being the highly intelligent person that I am, I probably would have made the circle first and had considerable difficulty finding the correct position for the holes. Those square casseroles are looking pretty sweet!
Thanks Judy. I think the worse I feel, the easier the sarcasm comes. I have never used a rasp on my pots before but I am going out to buy one in the morning. What a brilliant idea! There are all these spots where I wish I could take a little more off. They're all still under plastic, so it should work. Thanks!
Ben, the reason I know to mark the holes while they are still in the shape of a square, is because I did not do that on my large ones, and spent a lot of time trying to figure it out, before I finally just put another bat in the "middle" and traced the holes. I try to learn from my own numerous mistakes.
Love the square casseroles. I think square casseroles fit on a table better than oblong ones, when all the dinner plates are set there too. Great math demo.
I have to send this one to my mother- who is 80 these days but a math teacher in her past life.
She still works in the schools and asked me how we use math in our work; she tries to prove that math is valuable.
And ta da- it is.
I am amazed- I keep a handy man here who does a lot of the measuring and cutting for me.
I love your independence and please don't cut anything off!
We use rasp of differnet sizes- I even have a favorite which is broken from a larger one- it is one which I looked for after the fire. Funny how attached you become to your tools
M
Thanks Linda. I'm hoping this clay works well for the oven. Once I get one finished I'll have to start using it to test it out.
M-sometimes my independence is a little too independent. When I was cutting the 24" circles, for a moment I almost didn't want Adam's help holding the wood. I'm thinking, I don't need any help-I can do it on my own-then I thought, what am I nuts?
It is nice to have the second set of hands around.
I am practiced at "hold this".
I try to work things out myself until Mark walks in the room and gets this "we don't have enough money or insurance" look on his face.
M
Hi Deborah, when you test your casseroles, are you testing to be sure they don't crack in the oven and put them through a dishwasher and such? Just wondering, I should probably be testing my stuff more too. Whenever I write something here, I am tempted to write Hi Deb - do you ever go by a shortened form of your name or not?
Great demo and tutorial! I don't think I've ever even thought to attempt making my own bats - but maybe I should.
Hope you are feeling better soon!
Hi Linda-I'm just wondering how they will hold up in the oven. Especially just placing them directly into a preheated oven. I know my clay and glazes hold up well in the dishwasher because I use my own pots all the time. You can definitely call me Deb if you want. Most people do-even people I have literally just met moments before (I always find it a little weird).
I am feeling much better today Cynthia. I worked in my studio for about 3 hours yesterday. Some things I think aren't worth making yourself financially, but with bats, I think you come out way ahead. If you have a band saw it will be way faster too than a jigsaw.
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