So anyway, understanding please that I’ve heard all the positive and negitive stuff about that course of action, I continue… So I decided to start with a log, rather than surfaced lumber. Partly to keep it looking traditional to some extent, I suppose, and partly because I’ve got a ton of maple logs sitting around here that need attending to. So I start out with this:

and start attacking it with froe and mallet..and no, I know I can’t froe this sucker…it’s big…but the froe does make a nice line across the top, which I then attack with a handsaw to give the line some depth. Then I move to hammers and huge chisel, to define some more lines in the wood,

and finally I drawknife some wedges out of waste splinters of maple..the wedges ranged from 10” to 16” long, I’d say, and only one had any kind of taper to it, one was almost round on the end. Doesn’t really matter as long as you can get one end in a crack, and wail on the other with hammers. So after much much much hard work, I have

I don’t have pics of the next step, which was to drawknife, and plane down the open face and sides of each half, to create the two halves of the body. My next steps will be to decide on a couple possible directions for the legs/stand part, whether I want it very free standing, or more like Robin Woods bowl lathe, which has advantages at the cost of space/mobility.

As for the shaving horse, I started off with a piece of pine I had lying around, and would later come to wish I had LEFT lying around. After much pointless dithering about what exactly I should do, I decided that this piece of pine was so miserable, it doesn’t matter much, and if it falls apart, it would probably be for the best. I pretty much put some holes in it, and cut a piece of reclaimed cherry banister from a fancy house ‘round here into lengths (this was a dumpster reclaim…entirely from their dumpster, which I climbed inside of and scrounged, and yes, I had the permission of everybody). and shaped some crude tenons on. Here’s a couple of pics of that…I suuuure wish it wasn’t so rickety, but I think I would of done better on a hardwood seat..this pine was so soft that test fitting with offcuts showed that any mild rubber mallet work driving the legs in would split the thing to bits. Never tried to work with such soft wood, and I don’t think I’ll be holding my breath to in the future. I guess I’m used to southern yellow pine, which is quite a bit harder to me.

But what do I discover somehow today while doing all this? A mystery plane! That’s right, a little plane hiding away in it’s own world of rust. Here it is:

What is it exactly? No idea. It’s so bad I can’t even make out the numbers on it. So it’s soaking in evaporust, and sometime this week I’ll refinish it enough to identify and perhaps use. Yes, I know some people hate that idea, but I’m one of those tools-are-to-be-used-and-honored kinds of guys. And lastly, she doesn’t care about any of this…

This spring didn’t see as many trees fall as I figured would, so not as much work there. One old box elder did take a plunge…right into the fork of a large mulberry tree, splitting it about 10 ft….but still 10ft off the ground….and over a fence right into the neighbor’s garden…so that was some work, but I did get a ton of nice green wood out of it. Much of it twisted and destined for the BBQ smokers of a few people around here, such as myself (best..bbq…wood…ever…ok, maybe lilac is, but it’s close!).

I’ve refinished some tools, rived a lot of wood, some destined for projects such as a chair I need to build. But the two big projects for this summer/early fall are:

Shaving Horse -Made from some scrap and salvaged lumber, I’m making a “traditional” shaving horse. The quotes are because I’m not sure any shaving horse could be considered either traditional or non-traditional.

Spring Pole Lathe -That’s right, a human power lathe, made in the traditional way (for the most part). I’m really excited about this one.

I’ve done months of research (what else is winter in IL for) on both, and have already done a fair amount of work on both, almost to the point on starting blogs for them, but I hate those blogs/projects which are “something or other #1” and never…actually..get there. So I’ve been working on these and taking pics as I go. The lathe starts with a big ol’ log, covered in bark, which gets split using hand tools and wooden wedges. Another step or two and I’ll have enough for somebody to waste time looking at, pics and all. I’ll include links to research materials so that other people interested can find ‘em. I’ll post other tools I make or refinish whenever I add onto this blog as well, I only posted the handaxe as a separate project because of the symbols on the head, really.

Anybody as poor as I am right now, think you can’t do anything, go grab what you can, get some fallen logs, anything…remember there was a time when people did all kinds of stuff, usually nicer than people often do it today, which lasts longer, and they did it without the kinds of tools so many “experts” say you can’t live without. Given the choice of “I can’t do woodworking because I don’t have the tools/space/money/materials/etc” and “Hell, I’ll do it anyway with this old rusty thing I’ll fix up, and with this log from over here that I’ll turn into what I need even though I’ll need to learn 6 million traditional techniques to do so”...which sounds like you? Which do you want to sound like you?

So someday, on the farm (which I don’t have yet) I plan to have a pretty large shop. I’m fortunate to have a woman who not only supports that idea, but likes it, and in fact will be using it almost as much as I will. She’s even on Lumberjocks as well! The current plan is a large, barn-like structure, and I fell in love with the structure of an old english barn:

I don’t plan on doing it exactly like that, but it should have the look of that. I tend to favor truss construction, and I’m thinking the skeleton will be steel, especially since there are these steel house “kits” which you can have brought in these days….but this is how I’d like it to LOOK on the inside, just expanded a bit, so there’s plenty of room between and inside the bays.

The next major project is a traditional toolbox, to be completed in stages. Currently I’m held up by being FLAT BROKE…but as soon as I can get my hands on some wood for the exterior case, it’s going to be a pine case with through dovetails. Then all sorts of tills, drawers, veneer, banding, stringing will take place, but first I need a box!

I’ll post pics of my efforts when it arrives, along with pics of the area that isn’t my shop, along with what I want my shop to end up being someday.

But I (as always) refuse to surrender to the obvious.
I decline to fail.
In fencing, there’s a technique called a bind, where the opponent seizes your blade, and violently spins it around against you, spiraling into your flank with a point attack. The only defensive technique for it is called a “ceding parry”, where you ALLOW them to take you half way, then you bend, and the leverage changes and the spiral stops. You stop the attack by yielding some, but not all. Bend, don’t break.

I have managed over this past summer to get ahold of a porter-cable 890 series router, with fixed and plunge bases, a couple of bits, and a dewalt impact driver I needed for a roof job. Also:
Stanley #5 and #7 planes from a deceased friend
A set of cheap marple chisels to abuse while I improve my technique and learn sharpening properly.
a couple of small saws (tenon, dovetail, flush)
Stanley #78 rabbit/pullnose plane from ebay
A set of old socket chisels, for which I’ll make handles from an assortment of lovely hardwoods I’ve scrounged.
A starret combo square.
Other assorted tools I’m not able to think of at the moment…
So I haven’t done TOO badly, considering how my income has dropped by so much this past year.

So why “farm” in the title? Because I’m working towards my life goal (at least in terms of house and shop) of owning a farm in the countryside of Illinois, on which I’ll have a large shop, all of which I’ll build myself.

So why slowest? Because it’s clearly going to take about a million little tiny steps to get there, ranging from picking up some small tool or technique here or there, to just learning something useful about traditional land management, and traditional regional farming. So I know that if you read this far, you either share my interests, know me and are really bored, or just have too much time on your hands. Unless you’re really interested in some varied topics like how I ordered a piece of glass today, or learning about how I plan on planting a row of osage orange trees using a traditional method, or about how I plan on growing some “bloody butcher” corn, and WHY that breed, you might want to consider not reading this blog series again. And if you share my interests, then please comment, complain, or otherwise engage! All comments are more than welcome, and I enjoy talking about things.

But I get to thinking…I’m a composer, and as an artist, the serious about craft type, not the airy pretentious type, I firmly believe that the care you take in your tools and work, and creating those tools yourself, says a great deal about who you are, and the care of craft. Working with music, or wood and stone is a privilege. I want my tools (and I’d like to make many of them myself) to reflect my viewpoint on life. This means my jigs, unless it’s something I need to complete something in a hurry, as I did with a recent roof patch, where I was racing snow and other obligations to complete the joining of rafters, new decking, felt, shingles of a hole in the roof caused by some damage, within a couple of hours…these jigs should reflect care and love. But how? I can’t afford to make jigs with some really expensive wood! So I read lots of people’s postings on here about construction sites, and freecycle, and reclaimed wood, etc..and fall asleep. During the night, I have a dream about getting cherry out of some dumpster.

This morning, I’m in my studio, when all of the sudden, my mother knocks on the door, and there she is, holding several pieces of cherry trim, about 6” x 24”. Turns out, a construction site blocks away for a client of hers (she owns a company which draws renderings for builders/contractors of their houses/projects) where he’s building a 2.4mil dream home for sale is doing the inside with walnut floors, cherry trim everywhere (try an amazing walnut staircase, cherry inlay, wrought-iron banister with walnut rail!)...and I have permission to raid the dumpster! So after I climb out, I’m around 100lbs+ the richer in walnut and cherry. Here’s a pic of a bin of each…that’s not even quite all of it..

So I’ve got plenty of walnut and cherry to accent and strengthen my jigs, not to mention a million other uses. Maple crosscut sled with cherry rail and walnut accent anyone? I’m a happy camper.

2. Some quick and heavy duty shelving out of gal. pipe and plywood, and some ceiling mounted clamps as I saw in an old copy of Fine Woodworking from several years ago. Pretty cool stuff, the ceiling clamps.

3. A new desk. I’m a composer, and I’ve sort of begun doing that full-time a year or two ago, and I’m working at a computer all day and night. The computer is on a cheap laminate desk (of the Tab A-Slot B type), and further more, it’s a corner desk, with an annoying ridge right where my right arm lies across. That gets old! So, I’m going to build a new desk, with a design that really will resemble a oddly made arts and crafts side table. An extra thick top (I’m thinking cherry), long, no drawers, slightly curved aprons, toying with making a few router inlays with contrasting woods (haven’t decided what design yet though, maybe noteheads?), and a marble/travertine/other type of tile inset on the right side for the cups of diet soda and coffee I drink while working. This project is easily the most involved I’ll take on this year. I don’t want drawers because they’ll get in the way of my legs, believe it or not, and the entire thing will look a little off, since I want a very heavy top. I might increase the leg size to try to balance out the eye though.

4. I intend to teach myself how to make a nice custom sink and countertop with concrete. Counters aren’t a trouble, but the sink I have in mind is a little out there! If you’re not familiar with the things all the new concrete mixes can do, and how they look finished, you’ll be amazed! You’ll swear it’s marble/granite, etc.

5. A new shopmade router table.

6. If those don’t take up the entire year, I’ve got some ideas for other things that I want to make largely because I need these items!
A toolchest
A chest for clothing (thinking about the german chest New Yankee Workshop had the other day, might of been a German wedding chest? The top was held open by a small box mounted inside).
A new door on the workshop.

If you’ve read this far, I’m sorry for it’s size! I posted this partly as a way of focusing my thoughts and making sure I followed through on #1-5!