Category Archives: Uncategorized

It is important to always keep a hand on that auxiliary handle on the side of the drill. I am going to need more cowbell there. I made my first chair. There is much to be improved upon but the joints went to together pretty tight seemingly so that is something. I paid about aContinue reading “Don’t Fear the Reamer (or maybe do because it could leave you with a twisted wrist)”

One of the common sayings in the woodworking community is “get out there and make some shavings” if you use hand tools or “get out there and make some sawdust” if you use machines. In my case it is both ways a lot of days though I enjoy my time more if I am usingContinue reading “Make Some Shavings”

It came time to work on the table today and I just did not have it going on. I am sure I am not the only one to ever have this happen. Sometimes I can go into the shop turn on the lights and get rolling or fake it til I make it or something.Continue reading “Do You Want to Carve a Snowman, Or Sharpen Chisels or a Saw?”

I taught a spoon making class this past Saturday, my first time doing so. I forgot to take pictures during setting up and during the course so this will be a words only post. I got up kinda early on Friday at 5:30 to work on the staked carving benches I was building for theContinue reading “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me Lucille (or Oh Wait Yer Back)”

I had a hard time recently deciding what woodworking project I needed to start on next. As I thought about it I started on a chair seat. So this will turn into a chair someday, but it is on hold for now because talking with my partner in crime we settled on a choice between aContinue reading “A Hard Plane’s Gonna Fall”

I first heard of John Prine when listening to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s second Will the Circle Be Unbroken album.  Blew my mind at the time and I had to go into the sleeve credits to find out who this raspy voiced singer was.  The character in the song is an old-time carpenter and thatContinue reading “Grandpa Was a Carpenter”

Yesterday Odetta and I were building tiny towers with her wooden blocks. Stacking and restacking in a hurry to build them before Roya who is 9 months old could come and knock them over. I singled out a particularly pretty poplar block with an interesting grain pattern. I pointed it out to Odetta, who isContinue reading “Learners learn”

I have to admit that I am a homebody. There is no place that i want to be more than our little 1890’s farmhouse. I think all four of us feel that way. Our girls love being there. Me and Janell love being there. I love the rhododendron bush that blooms in May. I loveContinue reading “There is No Place Like Home”

(I am thinking this to be a good maxim to live by these days. It is a lot of fun to come up with ways of working that are your own, and a toolkit that is your own. They are never quite your own really but in your time and your space you own theseContinue reading “Use What You Have”