cellini's Diaryland Diary

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Bothersome Arms

It was windy and cold when I got home yesterday and I felt like I ought to rest my arm for a day anyhow. But I didn't want to skip working on the workshop entirely, since momentum is so important to completing a project like this. So I compromised and went out there for only an hour. I built and erected a very short section of wall that was needed to fill in a 2 foot space between the end of the last wall section and a corner of the building. By the time I was done with even that little bit of wall, my right elbow was already giving out on me. I'd try to swing the hammer and my arm just physically could not respond. I had to do the last bunch of nails with my left hand.

This damaged tendon is pissing me off. I went through months of physical therapy and I rested it for the better part of a year. And then what happens right away when I start swinging a hammer again? The fucker goes out on me again. I'm considering making another appointment with my orthopedist to discuss surgery. The problem with surgery is that while the odds of permanently fixing it are extremely good, it would be 4 to 6 months until I could get back into high-level work with the arm. Fuck that. That was the reason why I passed on the surgery last time around. Trish was pregnant and I'd have been effectively one-armed for the first few months after the baby was born, thus unable to properly help care for him. This time I have a workshop to finish and a house to build. I'd be better off in the short-term just dealing with the fucked up tendon.

Along with the tendonitis flare up is something going on in my right hand. It's the exact same spot where I broke my hand years ago. There's a little bone near the base of the thumb that I broke when I jumped into the air and hit the pavement in the course of dodging a car that almost hit me. Now that I'm constantly working with my hands again, I'm getting this acute pain right where the bone was broken. Another thing to see my orthopedist about. Maybe he can give me cortisone injections in both the hand and the elbow?

I don't think that I'm going to be able to avoid buying a pneumatic framing nail gun in any event. ____________________________

I am pleased with the Mauser though not as pleased as I had hoped. The action is not half so smooth as it was before. Enough material was removed from the top of the receiver that the standard screws for mounting a scope are protruding into the area where the bolt slides through. This causes friction with the bolt and makes it difficult to open. Now I need to find some shorter screws.

The big disappointment last night was with the quick detaching scope rings that I'd ordered. There was no indication of this fact in the product description, but these rings cannot be used with standard Weaver bases. You need some special Leupold QD base that costs fifty dollars and they don't make one for the K98 Mauser anyhow. So I was not able to mount the scope last night. During lunch I'll drive across town to go to the gun shop, buy a set of inexpensive standard rings and see if they can sell me some shorter screws for the base as well. They do some gun smithing on the premises so I expect they'd have a decent supply of random gun screws around. I've spent an outrageous amount of money there in the last several years so hopefully they'll just give them to me even though it's not a standard item that they would have for sale.

It looks good with the turned-down bolt and all. The rifle is going to turn out well. This is just a frustrating moment in it's development. Since I won't be able to use the especially high QD rings, I'm now going to have to install a side-swing safety that will clear the scope. There goes another 0.

The bright side is that I will in fact be able to shoot the rifle this weekend with a scope and start to get some idea of it's true accuracy. I'll get the rings today and if I can't use the safety then that isn't the end of the world. It's not like I'm taking it hunting yet. I'll remove the bolt when I'm not ready to fire. In the next few weeks I'll get a replacement safety and all will be well. Meanwhile I have the glass bedding to attend to.

09:29 - 2008-03-26

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