Saturday, May 30, 2020

2020


this year will live in infamy


no matter what side of the Dumpster you stand on this will be a defining moment in world history


I am grateful I have had the chance to spend the last ten weeks with my immediate family


I've tried hard not to concentrate on the on-going crisis we all face, and also not to be lulled into forgetfulness by the conservative side


I've instead indulged myself on being home, a treatment, not out, not a part of the problem


most has been spent with my five year old, and it has been a vast cacophony of emotions


some has been spent in the shop


I paused for a moment


tried out new things, things out of necessity and curiosity


shou-sugi-ban, I mean how cool does it get, make your form, blowtorch the crap out of it, wire brush it and then clean up the driveway


then perform the BLO ritual


and voila


then back to the bed


instead of a single rail on each side to support the drawer runner structure, I chose four mounted blocks, each with an adjustable installation


simple sector math is a must to save time


not what you want to find in your drill press, happy ending, I put this baby in a mug full of the same shavings and she was removed by momma in less than five minutes. I know, this means I now have a bigger mouse problem


oh yea, and I did use a drill press, please don't tell anyone


and finally installed; 1/2, you can just see the block underneath


drawers to come


oh, and the other half of course


and then this week; back to work, to hopefully surf the wave


eventually the bed will be done, or I'll be broke and you will start to see more stuff on here, stuff made to sell


till then, bear with me


the best is yet to come


Saturday, April 11, 2020

bitter


I'm writing this post partly as a way to get my blog read.
Turns out you get kicked off the hand tool work blog compiler if you don't post more than once every six months, although there was a post today from someone who hasn't posted since December, whatever.


Ok I'll give you that, I haven't.

Having two jobs and a five year old pretty much closes the damper on my free time.


When I do work on my furniture it's in frantic minute segments of time.


And I'm usually more concerned with not stabbing that chisel into my hand, or cutting on the wrong side of a line, than to taking great photos. Much less finding time to write and post something.


I suppose I could post every day, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about what time I got up, how my thumb feels, what the weather and traffic is like, see photos of my hand pointing at things, or photos of clouds or kittens or some other crap. I could repost something interesting someone else posted, or maybe just a photo of something I like. And then I'd have more posts.


I'd rather maintain this blog in a more sincere fashion, post when I actually have something to show, and less often, have something to say that's not just purely critical like this post is turning out to be. And I'm sure the moderators will read this post and realize it is rife with spite and condemnation and I will be forever banished from their walls of self restricted editorial.


I'm not a brilliant and insightful author backed by a hoard of professional photographers in a studio dappled by gentle, copious sunlight


I'm an overworked, underpaid, seriously stressed out dude, working out of his garage to replace all the free crap furniture my wife and I acquired during two lifetimes of charity, and I'm doing it to maintain my sanity in this ever increasingly fucked up world. I take photos of what I find beautiful in the shop and maybe crucial steps in the process and I figure if you are here already you have enough knowledge of the subject I do not need to break down every step that led to that shot.


But now, and all of a sudden I have the time to post.


But you'll never get to read it.

Unless you are one of the ten people who somehow managed to read my last post (wait, I'm pretty sure one of them was me), which means you must have followed me and are now pestered once every six months by an email inviting you to peruse my drivel (sorry, now it's going to be twice in a month)


I am experimenting with video and need a more stable platform on which to display it than Instablab


please forgive the crude videography and editing (all done on a mobile device)

Best of luck to everyone, please stay safe!



Saturday, March 28, 2020

seclusion


Three weeks in 21st century America is an immensity of time

We went from festering blind consumerism, to quiet personal introspection

Just like that


Stadiums and churches and shopping malls are empty

and parks are at capacity

I haven't posted because prior to this I've been busy, buying from and selling to the faceless hoards, laboring away so someone else can turn a profit


all the while silently doing my own bidding, in my spare time, for my own need


Here it is, the fruit of my labor


I know I tease as you read


but this is what it is for me


snapshots


moments of clarity and reality


triumphs


and setbacks


But then the last three weeks I've had the chance to really work


and to spend time with those two people I cherish


to create


I have never put so many parts into a finished product


so many surfaces


so much joinery


so many decisions


revisions


complications


it's been a truly enlightening ride


a chance to grow as an artist


parent


and husband


and here it is, no glamour shots
no lovely blank backdrops and proper lighting, or new comforter (I know it clashes horribly but shopping right now is a bit complicated)


but it ain't done yet


there's a whole inner structure to create


a skeletal framework, a dresser without sides


six drawers and their lattice of runners and supports


stay tuned, I'm designing as I go


disclaimer: the work you see is from the last five months, the writing refers to the time frame mentioned, sorry for the incongruity but I couldn't stop the story