"the skinny" - chapter six - this is gonna take forever...

if you've been reading here for a while

you know that both mike and I like to jrink

I'd show up around eight thirty am and mike would hand me a beer

"yer four behind" he'd say

 Iusually spent the night in the ranch house on the couch

work a few hours sat morning and drive home

I think I finished planing all the butt strips

threw the tip strips onto the forms 

planed them to butt numbers

flipped the forms over and set for tips

and yer back for more

fuck my right arm was tired

fingertips on my left hand were marked by razor thin slices

taken by the edges of the bamboo

it was like handling glass only worse cuz you get cut

often

I'm not sure I finished planing those strips that trip or not

eventually they were done

if you have never seen a tip strip before it's glued up

you would not believe how fucking tiny that thing is

tiny as it is it carries the cross section of an equilateral triangle 

whippier than shit

it still kinda boggles my mind

could it be that we're ready to glue?

we are we're ready to glue!

make or break moment number one

wow - I've neglected to mention node staggering

easy

I go I - IV II - V III = VI

get it?  got it?  good

some will some won't and that's neither here nor there

I also didn't speak to mike's constant encouragement and necessary guidance

there kept me going as I was ready to quit

my right shoulder bicep forearm wrist and palm were trashed

I hated planing

fortunately things get easier and easier as you go along

now i think nothing of it and can plane a butt to numbers in a morning

tips take an afternoon

no physical wear and tear and (hopefully) no snags

glue day is simple and my goodness nothing else to do until tomorrow

may as well get jrunk so we do

wanna read about it?  

put the strips in order I II II IV V VI both strips

tape them into place

set the plane to red cunt hair depth and take off the apexes

mix glue - well that's what I go now

we use different glues mike and I so I don't remember if we mixed

smear w/ glue up down and back up the sections

jrink smoke

fold six pcs to hex shape both pcs

run through binder both directions

hang in cabinet

jrink smoke

the rest of the day was filled with waiting jrinking and smoking

I think that a chunk of hash appeared at some point

of course I sampled that

I'm asleep when mike gets up at two am as he does most every day

he strips the string and heat sets the glue

this glue is some kinda fancy expensive shit 

designed to glue the lining into aircraft windshields

I get up in the morning drink a couple cups of coffee and sand until my arms are ready to fall out

then I sand some more

holy crap this thing is finally starting to look like a fishing pole

I take it home w/ considerable pride to show my wife

things are coming together and I'm about half way done