Looking forward to another fun year with all of you guys and gals – learning a little more and making even more new friends.

I’ve posted this here, so as not to point a finger at anyone in particular – don’t want to create any bad feelings – just express my opinion and see if anyone agrees, or if I am being silly. I’m beginning to notice more and more of the “sales pitches” and not sure that this is the place for it. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Well, he looked at my spindle and said that it was pretty fair for a beginner. I challenged him to come over and do one better on my lathe. Unfortunately he accepted and came over (now keep in mind that this was all being done in a friendly manner – we were and still are very good friends). Well Kenny came over and asked what tool I had used to do my spindle. I proudly handed him my cheap Sears Craftsman gouge and said “let’s see what you can do”. He put the gouge down, looked around and grabbed one of my screwdrivers – walked over to the grinder and sharpened it a bit and proceeded to blow my spindle making dreams totally away – his spindle was much nicer than mine AND WITH JUST A SCREWDRIVER!!!!!.

He went on to explain that he had spent his childhood years in his Father’s shop in Mississippi – and all he did all day long was turn spindles for the rocking chairs that his father made to sell.

Just a humbling experience that taught me to never take for granted what another’s talent or knowledge might be. I went on to learn a lot from Kenny and he turned out to be quite a talented furniture maker. Wish he still lived next door.

I also treated myself to a new Jacobsen Work Bench about a month ago – but I’ve waited until after Christmas to open it up, so I guess it counts as a Santa gift.

Hope everyone got just what they were hoping for. Of course it’s going to be tough to top that great new shop that Calgirl got :-)

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you, my extended Family, a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Prosperous New Year. I have learned a lot from many of you, I’ve also stepped up my own expectations of what my work should look like because of the work that many of you have displayed AND I’ve made some new friends. I’d like to thank each and every Lumber Jock for your contribution.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to hand planes, but if this plane is an example of how a good plane works – I am a believer. I have a few other planes and they all perform pretty well, but the Veratas BUS takes it to a whole new level. Anybody thinking about taking the plunge on this plane – I highly recommend it.

I also just received a Card Scraper that I had ordered from Rockler – fortunately I already had plenty of sandpaper on hand.

I have a small box, made from Tiger Maple, with a red dyed Lacewood insert in the lid, almost ready for a finish. I still have to install the hinges and make some trays for the interior – so I am hoping to time things out so when the new Plane arrives I can try it on some scrap and then see which works best for that “Perfect Finish”. Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated.