DENALI - Phase 6

DENALI - PHASE 6

February 18, 2000

Amazing the difference a little lighting makes! The colour of the stone in the pics varies considerably, due to the lighting. The shop lights also vary depending on the time they have been switched on, the colour shifting from the yellow to the blue spectrum (compare Phase 6 with Phase 7).

I got a wonderful response back from Alyson McNulty at Arbortech, concerning the Mini-Grinder and diamond wheel. Here is the text, for your information:

"I've spoken to our Technical guys about the Mini Diamond Blade and they tell me that the diamonds are applied to the surface of the blade, not impregnated.

"We don't have any plans to manufacture a metal version of the tool. We did investigate the possibility of doing this when we were building the first prototypes, but cost, size of the market, and heaviness of the assembled tool, made us decide to go with a very tough plastic version. It is actually a glass-reinforced plastic so should be very durable."

I was glad to hear about the Mini-Grinder. There have certainly been no problems with it so far. I was a little disappointed about the diamond wheel, so I wrote back to ask about a possible source for a diamond impregnated blade. She passed the request for information on and will get back to me as soon as possible.

In this phase, I finished up the left slab with the grinders and then set the two slabs together to align the planes between them. After studying the results, it seemed to me that the detail on the back mountains was too clear - compressing the planes and removing the feel of distance. I decided to sand blast the back mountains and so set about finding the equipment.

Lonnie Larocque and Bob Cousins lent me two kinds of sand blasting equipment and Bob helped with the process. Since these were my first efforts at sand blasting, I wasn't sure what to expect. The smaller equipment wasn't strong enough for the stone, but the larger apparatus was just right. I discovered two places in the rock where there were some soft spots, since the sandblasting process cleared them out like butter. Fortunately the areas were small and did not affect the overall design or look of the mountain. It was reassuring to discover that the rest of the stone is solid.

The effect was relatively successful and, viewed from the proper distance, the illusion of three dimensions works, giving the impression of distance between the large mountain and the smaller mountains.

To bring the foreground out I will sand the surfaces, leaving a little roughness for texture, and then finish with a polish on this section only.

Till next time,

Shane

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