It arrived yesterday via FedEx, on time, but it was badly damaged. The delivery person stuck it in this corner with the worst of the damage at the bottom and facing the wall so it wouldn’t be seen.
It’s quite clear this thing had been dropped and otherwise abused repeatedly
This is what it looked like after opening the box.
Cleaning up the disintegrated Styrofoam packaging
By the time we were able to inspect and inventory everything the manufacturer’s offices were closed so this thing is going to sit untouched until they send new parts. I filled out a review at walmart.com and sent an email to the manufacturer.
I’ll add more when I hear back from either of them.
It could have been worse I suppose but the key parts needed to assemble it are all too damaged to be used. That includes the top, the two sides, the front and back kick plates, and two drawer sides.
UPDATE (02/01/2021)
I just heard back from the manufacturer and I am not happy with their answer:
TARRITA (Hodedah import)
Feb 1, 2021, 15:39 GMT-5 Hello,
Thank you for choosing Hodedah. We apologize, but at this time the replacement parts you requested, is currently out of stock. Please allow us 30-45 days for us to get the parts in stock so that we may serve you. Again, thank you for choosing Hodedah please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you. ______________________________________________
Asking me to wait a month and a half before they even get the parts to ship is pretty outrageous. I am not sure there is much I can do about it at this point tho.
A couple of years ago I laminated some African Mahogany and Walnut together to make this block.
This is my first attempt at high def pix of any of my projects. I definitely need to do more to set up the shots and some are out of focus. It’s a learning curve.
Clicking on the images below will load a large hi-def image. It may take a while to load depending on your internet connection.
It usually sits on the shelf in my office. The last pic in this series is a better quality shot of this view.
Remove the cap and you can see the magnets I used to align and secure it.
I also embeded magnets to secure the base to the cap.
There is another magnet embedded inside the sheath to hold the blade firmly.
It houses my very expensive damascus steel french knife.
A view from behind.
Back to Front.
Clearly I should have thought more about staging the area reflected in the mirror. Even this late in the year the sun here is just too bright. It created a huge hot spot in the shots that I tried to compensate for in Photoshop.
Yes, there is a lot I need to learn about digital photography.
I spent an hour resetting the new lights and adjusting the camera settings. I had my little HP laptop patched into the camera to view the camera screen and the resulting pix we were taking.
I set the camera to F5.6, ISO 100, and the shutter speed to 1/20. It looked great so we spent the next five hours shooting pix of 27 of Tammy’s pieces of art.
Then we looked at them on my main desktop (the MSI) with my two 24′ monitors. All of the pix were still too dark.
I can use them for the prints but I would have to do some major adjustments in Photoshop on each and every shot. I don’t want to do that. I want to do this right from the jump and take better pictures.
I ordered new bulbs so I have 5500K CFL Day Light bulbs in all six sidelights. I’ll spend more time adjusting the camera settings and check the pix on my MSI before I proceed to take all of them over again next Saturday.
I also had a lot of trouble with the really cheap plastic tripod I have. It was on clearance at Walmart for like $20 a few years ago. It was “good enough” for the little point and click cameras I had but was extremely clunky trying to use it with this much bigger camera. Just trying to frame the shot was a struggle and took way longer than it should have and every time I pushed the button to take a picture the camera moved. It was beyond frustrating.
So Tammy finally decided she was ready to start selling her paintings. To sell them online we need really good, as in professional level, photos of them.
First, we needed a new camera. Our old $40 cameras weren’t going to cut it. After some research and consultation with a couple of professional photographers we know I decided to get a Canon Rebel T7. I would have loved to spend a grand or six on a top of the line DSLR but it really isn’t necessary to break the bank for this.
Next, we needed good lighting. Lighting is critical for getting high quality pix if you want to sell prints of your artwork. I saw no need to break the bank for this either and I found a lighting kit for just under $60 delivered.
Finally, we needed a studio with a plain white background. I really didn’t want to just pick a wall in the house and paint it flat white so I decided to build a temporary wall. I made an 8′ x 5′ frame out of cheap 2″ x 2″ dimensional lumber and tacked an old white sheet to it. Then tacked the whole thing to the wall in the living room with just one screw.
And then took a few test shots of one of her paintings.
I think this is pretty good for a first attempt with the camera on a semi-automatic setting. I’ll be doing more research to find the ideal non-automatic settings as time permits.
So it turns out this is not going to be quite as easy as I thought. The painting below (On the Beach) is probably my favorite of her abstracts. And definitely my pick for favorite frame that I’ve made for her paintings.
As you can see the shot is not level, appears to be taken a bit from the left, and most troublesome is that it looks a little like a a fish-eye lens was used. I know the frame is straight, so I’m going to have to look to see what it is with the camera that is causing it to balloon the shot like that. (Spoiler Alert, I figured it out, see below, and wow have I forgotten a lot about photography!)
It also looks like hanging the paintings isn’t going to work. I can’t guarantee the painting is staying perpendicular to the camera making it look like I am taking the picture more from one side than the other.
THE NEXT DAY:
Well, I added a shelf to the screen wall and it has eliminated a lot of the issues I had with trying to hang the art. Now I just have to figure out the correct ISO, F8, etc settings on the camera.
LATER THAT SAME DAY:
OK, I’ve gotten the Fish-eye issue under control. I have limited space to work so I had the camera pretty close to the subject, with the lens set to anywhere from 24mm-35mm. I’ve made more room and pulled the camera back so the lens is set to about 50mm.
My lights aren’t quite bright enough to do an ISO of 100 @ F8 so it’s now set to 200. A little adjustment of the WB (I still used the wrong setting) and here is my latest attempt:
It’s better but I still don’t have quite enough light so I ordered another, much brighter, set of light stands. They will hopefully be here Thursday, Dec 3rd.
TWO MORE DAYS LATER:
The new lights came in Wednesday afternoon so as soon as I was done with work I put them together and set up a new shot. I set the ISO back to 100 but that was the only change I made to the camera.
The difference is subtle but the lighting is much more even. I probably should have tried this with a little more colorful piece. I think I might try one more shot at ISO 200 just to make sure but I think I’m ready to go.
The only thing that might improve things at this point would be a good light meter but I’ll hold off on that purchase for now.
Well, I found out a little over a week ago that I was getting a new 27″ iMac. Of course, I did not know that when I built the riser. The new iMac is three inches taller than the 21.5″ model I was using so I either had to either add three inches in height to the riser and build a 3″ riser for the second monitor or somehow shrink the new iMac so it would fit under the third monitor as it was now configured.
I really did not want to raise the height of all three monitors. I prefer they are at or below my line of site. Though I have to a bit for the third monitor, I prefer not having to crane my neck back while working. On my home workstation the top of monitors are just below my line of site and I rarely get neck or eye fatigue with that arrangement.
At this time I can’t really do that with my work workstation. I don’t have enough room horizontally for all three monitors. I’ve been tempted to buy a second mounting arm and re-orient the two extra monitors vertically. This would solve a lot of problems but it would still be a really tight fit horizontally and I would need to move the shelf about a foot to the right or raise it about four inches to get it all to fit. While that would probably be the best option it would cost another $30 and it would be a lot more work.
For now I have chosen to dust off my trusty monitor shrinking machine (Patent Pending) to try and get the new machine to fit into the current space. Kidding, anyway I found the dimensions for the 27″ iMac online, took more measurements and built the “under shelf.”
Put together with
Glue and Brads
I eased all of the edges and sanded it. I also added a couple of coats of Teak oil and wax before mounting it.
Marking the holes.
3″ cabinet screws
It turns out I mounted this just barely far enough to the right for the monitor to fit. I probably should have spent a little more time looking at this before mounting it, but it worked.
There is just an 1/8″ between the desktop and the iMac (when fully perpendicular), and between the iMac and the upper monitor.
I’ve made many frames for my wife’s paintings. Here’s one for a 20″ x 24″ abstract she recently finished.
It was pretty simple. I cut a 5/8″ dado into some 3/4′ x 2-1/2 primed stock on my router table. Then I used the router and a chisel to cut out the areas need to interlock it all together. I used a little glue and some 1-1/4″ brads after squaring it up.
After using the riser for a week I decided to maker a couple of small changes, then sand and finish it.
Pass through holes for cables
For both above and below the desktop
Some leather scraps glued to the back to prevent scratching wall paint.
I used a short length of black pipe to act as a spacer for the mounting bolt. I thought about cutting it off but I might change the mount later so I used a spacer instead.
I sanded it down and threw on a couple of coats of oil and wax.
Last Friday I decided I wanted a third monitor for my work system:
My Work Desk Then
I ordered the least expensive 24″ HDMI capable monitor I could find that could also be delivered by Sunday. It’s a ViewSonic VA2446mh. I got it for just $110 w/delivery.
My work desk is height adjustable so I can stand or sit.I did not want to mount the monitor on the wall. Well that and I may end up re-arranging my office so I did not want to have to deal with moving the mount, patching holes, etc. so I ordered an ErGear Single Monitor Mount Stand.
I knew the mount was going to be too short to get the new monitor over the two existing ones but building a riser for the new mount would make up for the lack of height I needed and was much cheaper than buying a much more expensive, taller arm..
I didn’t take any pictures during the build of the riser, but here is the final product in use.
The riser can slide side to side without having to loosen any clamps, bolts, or screws. More importantly though the monitor will move up and down with the desktop as I raise or lower it to sit or stand. I don’t actually it lower it to sit that often. Once in a while after about 7-8 hours of work I will sit for whatever is left in the work day.
One change I may need to make is really just an addition. I ‘ll probably glue some leather to the back of the riser just to make sure it doesn’t scratch the paint on the wall. It’s a pretty snug fit between it and the wall but I can squeeze some thin leather in there.
My Work Desk Now
So for $137 and some scrap wood I have a new third monitor, for my “work” workstation that is.
I never thought I would start baking bread again but working from home, isolating from the world due to Covid19, and triple digit heat which prevents me from working in my shop, has left me with too much time on my hands. Yes I’m even making sourdough. My starter culture is a couple of months old so it’s not matured yet but it’s getting there.
I’ve been running our KitchenAid 4.5 qt. mixer more in the last couple of months than I have in any given year since we bought it almost twenty years ago. As you may know, bread dough can put a lot of strain on a mixer and I typically let it run for six minutes with the dough hook per batch (2 – 12oz. loaves per batch).
The mixer has held up really well. Purchased in 2001 for $249.99, it’s seen a lot of use, and a lot of idle time. There may have been a year long period or three where it just sat covered on a counter.
A couple of weeks ago after a mixing a batch of dough I noticed some dark grey grease running down the spindle onto the dough hook. It had also been sounding “fatigued” when I mixed some dough, much more than it usually did anyway. I was afraid that this fine old machine was on it’s last legs, but once again a little time on Google and the YouTube gave me hope that it would survive a little longer.
It turns out that the grease packed around the gears was just old and breaking down. An $8 tube of food safe grease delivered the next day by Amazon Prime, a little elbow grease and it’s running like new again. Maybe I’ll get a another twenty years out of it!
It was messy as hell but worth it. I didn’t take a lot of pictures of the process. There are a lot of YouTube videos that show you how to do it covering about every model there is out there. This is the one for my model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3e0oEdIrGw
