285 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
5 comments »
Now that Obama has been inaugurated, I figure it’s safe to say that we might have a new president. I’ve perceived that he’s rather controversial despite the fact that I’ve tried really hard to ignore current events these last few months. I think I’m to where I care a lot more about a thin, wispy shaving coming off of a well-tuned vintage Stanley plane than what people are predicting about the future of our country. My country, dagnabit, sweet land of liberty! So far, I still have the libe...
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352 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
3 comments »
I’ve had a couple of days now to rest up, process all that information, and try and heal from the sinus infection I picked up (when I lived in Kentucky, the sinus infection was how I was able to tell the seasons were changing!) I’ve been reflecting on the entire event, trying to figure out how I wanted to condense this huge volume of knowledge and impressions down into one blog, and it is not easy. Here are a few highlights of “Mack Goes to Berea:”
1. Woodworkers ...
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356 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
4 comments »
This is just like Christmas as a kid. Every day since early July you mark the calendar with hopeful anticipation (I want an Official Range Model Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and a thing that tells time!) and then you look around and realize you’re sitting in a sea of wrapping paper and you wish this could go on forever.
My WIA day started with a hands-on clinic offered by Deneb Puchalski of Lie-Nielsen on, wait for it… wait for it… hand planing. Yes. Ooooo… Ahhhhh…
My...
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357 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
6 comments »
You can take the title different ways, but I have a specific “way” in mind. Over the last couple of days, I have rubbed elbows with (in no particular order) Adam Cherubini, Chris “The Schwartz” Schwartz, Roy “St. Roy” Underhill, Frank Klausz, Brian Boggs, Mike Dunbar, Robin Lee, Thomas Lie-Nielsen, Joel Moskewitz, Mike Wenzloff, Clarence Blanchard, Glen Huey, Robert Lang, John Economaki… the list could go on. I’m not dropping names here. I wa...
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358 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
10 comments »
Back in college when you had four classes in one day it was just another day. I guess that’s why we send our kids to school while they are young. I don’t feel young.
Here’s the run-down of my day (mercifully all my classes were within two buildings very near each other.) My first session was on chair design with Brian Boggs. If you aren’t familiar with Brian, you need to be. Find him here. Now, I’ve never really had any interest in chairs, knowing that t...
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359 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
6 comments »
It’s 1994 or 95. (Or so, I can’t actually remember.) I’m living in Jessamine County, Kentucky, working in the campus library as I finish my master’s degree, when one of my computer-savvy friends mentions a fairly new “listserv” that he has run across, called the “Old Tools Listerv.” Of course, I’ve been a woodworker since I was a kid, so I have to check this out. Before long, my vehicle is sporting a bumper sticker that declares, ̶...
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403 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
5 comments »
Warning: the following is written in my blog’s wierd, arcane style… read at your own risk.
Once again the literary blog of Chris Schwartz has stimulated my own (somewhat cranked) chain of consciousness toward the philosophical side of woodworking. “The Schwartz” recently offered a very positive review of Roy Underhill’s newest book (the link is here), which wasn’t fair because I can’t go out and buy it yet, and pre-ordering it only makes me feel like I’m 8 years old and it’s t...
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417 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
10 comments »
As of my last blog entry, I had received the hardware from Gramercy Tools, and I’m very satisfied with the quality of materials and service. The shorter blade necessitated a shorter stretcher, which I whipped out in a couple of hours from a scrap piece of cherry. Like many of my shop projects, the finished saw looks different from what I had visualized at the start of the project.
The pins that catch the blade simply epoxy into the handles, which are pre-drilled to the proper d...
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431 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
10 comments »
Well, I’ll take Labor Day. I know that doesn’t make me unique, but I was able to get some much needed shop time in. Work started on the treadle lathe. I’ll warn you ahead of time: the work is certainly going to be sporadic, since I have a couple of other projects I’m working already. But that’s okay with me.
I started with taking a couple of 2×4’s and cutting half dovetails in them. They were left over from the platform I built so that I could ...
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448 days ago
by Texasgaloot |
10 comments »
Before I can chronicle more of Moby Plank, which I’m itching to do, I need to get the mesquite legs and stretchers made. In order for me to complete the legs, which will be carved out of 5×5x 36 blocks of mesquite, I need a band saw much bigger than the little hobbiest one I have. I can’t afford a band saw until the project is completed, and I get paid. Hence a conundrum. After pondering possible possible solutions, and my wife objecting to me selling the kids, I struck u...
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