Post by Saionji Shonagon on Apr 11, 2013 1:16:37 GMT -5
Maybe it's the giri of being a Laurel and all, but I participated in a rapier tourney last week and I was more than mortified that I was contributing to the inevitable unsightly piles of equipment next to the tourney field. Particularly the necessary but glaringly hideous gallon water jug I unsuccessfully tried to hide under my hat.
So I headed over to the Caning Shop in Berkeley to choose a gourd. They have several large bins under a display case, loosely sorted by size. I quickly pulled out three or four decently sized double lobed gourds, picked the one I liked the shape of best and paid the nice man $9.50. If you're considering ordering via the Internet, the place has a lot of gourd-craft on display, from canteens to musical instruments to an ornately carved lamp base. They also sell various tools, which you may or may not care to use.
I took my purchase home, used my little pull saw to slice the stem from the top, then drilled a hole in it. I used my old pocket knife to carefully widen the hole, did some interior scraping with a long screwdriver blade then shook that sucker over the compost can for several minutes until it stopped rattling. Gourd seeds are quite large, so this took awhile. I rinsed it again several times and upended it in the dish drainer overnight.
This afternoon I threw a handful of hex nuts inside, gave them a good shake for several minutes, then shook out the contents of the gourd. (This produced one largish flake of debris and some dust.) I then cut a piece of poplar dowel, whittled down one end to taper, drilled a hole for a cord and then used a file and an emery board to shape it into a plug and smooth the hole in the top of the gourd until everything fit.
With the exception of the drill, I've done everything with hand tools I had in the house.
The only reason I didn't seal the inside today was that it was unseasonably warm and I didn't want to fire up the oven. I'll probably do that tomorrow.
Ishiyama-dono's instructions at www.ee0r.com/proj/suito.html were extremely useful.
So I headed over to the Caning Shop in Berkeley to choose a gourd. They have several large bins under a display case, loosely sorted by size. I quickly pulled out three or four decently sized double lobed gourds, picked the one I liked the shape of best and paid the nice man $9.50. If you're considering ordering via the Internet, the place has a lot of gourd-craft on display, from canteens to musical instruments to an ornately carved lamp base. They also sell various tools, which you may or may not care to use.
I took my purchase home, used my little pull saw to slice the stem from the top, then drilled a hole in it. I used my old pocket knife to carefully widen the hole, did some interior scraping with a long screwdriver blade then shook that sucker over the compost can for several minutes until it stopped rattling. Gourd seeds are quite large, so this took awhile. I rinsed it again several times and upended it in the dish drainer overnight.
This afternoon I threw a handful of hex nuts inside, gave them a good shake for several minutes, then shook out the contents of the gourd. (This produced one largish flake of debris and some dust.) I then cut a piece of poplar dowel, whittled down one end to taper, drilled a hole for a cord and then used a file and an emery board to shape it into a plug and smooth the hole in the top of the gourd until everything fit.
With the exception of the drill, I've done everything with hand tools I had in the house.
The only reason I didn't seal the inside today was that it was unseasonably warm and I didn't want to fire up the oven. I'll probably do that tomorrow.
Ishiyama-dono's instructions at www.ee0r.com/proj/suito.html were extremely useful.