Re cut-off blades, reinvigoration, & my no nos

[gary grossman <grossman@zzzzzzzzz>]

Greetings Stoners, wow lots of things to talk about today <g >. Someone
mentioned masonry grinding wheels and these wheels come in a variety of
types I would guess.  I use both the very thin 1/8" cut-off wheels
(mentioned by Oscar) and 1/4 and IIRC 3/16" wheels.  These wheels are
available at any big box store (Lowe's, etc.) or other well-stocked
hardware store,and are commonly called masonry grinding wheels.  They're
right next to the wheels for metal, so make sure you read the label.

One blade that I've found very useful, although somewhat expensive, is
an electroplated ~5" diamond blade that has diamonds about 2.5" up the
side of the solid metal blade.  I can use this as a cutting blade or
with slight pressure on the side, as a carving blade.  You have to be
careful about applying pressure on the side of any grinder blade -- you
don't want to send it out of true. The diamond blade is so abrasive
though, that you can use it like a coarse sanding blade with very light
pressure. This blade/wheel works great on both soft and hard stone, and
has become one of my most used blades. It was about $150 American, IIRC,
but it's reduced my frustration level tremendously because it's so
versatile. Contact me via the back door if you want to know where I
bought it.

Jennifer, when I need that extra humph to get going I start looking at
my sculpture books or other sculptor's web sites. That gets the old
creative blood going for me and motivates my tuchas off the couch <g >.
I also use another technique and that is I always am carving multiple
pieces and I always stop carving before finishing what I'm going to do
with a piece (that didn't come out very clear) -- what I mean is that I
always know the next thing that I want to do with a piece and that also
helps me get up off the couch.  For some reason, it's always easier to
get going if you know what you're going to do next, even if it's just a
small thing.

Last, as far as net etiquette goes, I'm sorry that some people got their
hands slapped but I also feel that religion, politics and insults don't
belong on this list.  The list is for carving and carving alone.  At the
same time I've wished other members of the Jewish faith on the list
happy holidays in Hebrew -- sort of to see who's out there and figuring
that most folks wouldn't be offended because they didn't know what I was
doing.  So I suppose that I'm a minor hypocrite, but it also led to a
fascinating back-door discussion with a member of the list from France.

  I will say that I think that wishing everyone happy holidays is
different from making posts that essentially say "my god is the one that
made it all" which is an admittedly crude paraphrase of one of the posts
in question.  I understand that folks feel very strongly about their
religious beliefs but please make those thoughts universal (Christian,
Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist,Hindu, etc.) or send them privately.  If that
means we have less activity on the list, well so be it -- I'm here for
the stone carving info anyway.

atb, g

Gary D. Grossman

G. Grossman Fine Art
http://www.negia.net/~grossman

Distinguished Research Professor - Animal Ecology
Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources
University of Georgia
Athens, GA, USA 30602

http://www.arches.uga.edu/~grossman

Board of Editors - Animal Biodiversity and Conservation
Editorial Board - Freshwater Biology
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