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

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!

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