Springing ahead

Although you might not know it by the weather, Spring has come once again.  I have been working to build up some inventory for the up-coming season, sometimes with snow blowing into my shelter, mostly with lots of heavy clothes and gloves on.  My sharpening stones, which I keep submerged in water, have been encased in ice on several mornings when I forgot to bring them in the house for the night.  All this aside, I do not miss the very hot weather and bugs of the warmer days.

I am working on my event schedule for the year, beginning this Saturday, April 6 at Killens Pond for their Spring Fling.  I have posted the first three events so far and plan to be at the Smyrna Farmers Market on the second Saturday of each month also.

Today, I placed some of my work in The LadyBug-Shop in Milford De.  They were interested in locally crafted things that feature lady bugs, turtles, and frogs.  I made a couple of doorstops and garden dibbers for them which are now for sale there.  Part of my plan is to be selling through retail establishments instead of only at events and I appreciate them for allowing me to follow through on this with them.  Stop in and be amazed at what you can get with a lady bug theme.

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My new foot treadle

  So, the other day I was working on the pole lathe and had the centers too tight.  When I stepped on the treadle, it broke (after about 6 years of service).  I went to the pile of branches and found a suitable fork.  Within an ahour, I had a new foot treadle and I was back to work.

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Fork Shave Horse 2.0

This is the newish version of the shave horse designed around using a tree fork. This (click and go to the top of the page) is a link to the original version, which succumbed to exposure to the elements, and an explanation for why I built this way. This is actually the way the original concept was supposed to be done, but coming up with a three branch fork was not that easy and I needed a shave horse. Truth be told, the next horse will be like the first one again. You might notice that the work platform, the leather hinge, and the piece to which they are attached are from the first horse. The clamping head is new. The cylinder with the leather loop is for height adjustment to accomodate from 1/2″ to 3″ work pieces.

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WHYY-TV interview

WHYY TV aired this interview with me last August on Friday Feb 15th.  The interview has been posted on the weband hereis the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lId9UqmyY58&list=UUMY4Z-J2HERv_dEt0wrSATw&index=74

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New Stuff

I will be putting up a page on this site with a list of BOOKS that have guided, influenced, and taught me over the years.  These will all be positive reviews and will include links, if available, to places where the books be can or were acquired.  I will also have a page of NOTIONS, methods and techniques I have pretty much worked out on my own, for green woodworking as well as some home repair.  As I organize my thoughts on these things, I will also be trying to develop teachable materials in order to do some hands-on instruction at some point.

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Happy New Tool

I went out on January 1st and finished working on this bow saw.  I made the parts about 6 weeks ago and have been allowing them to dry.  The frame is made from Osage orange and the tightener is made from yew.  Both are traditional bow making woods.  The blade end knobs are made from apple.  I will be adding this to my demonstration tool kit.

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Happy New Year

So, time moves along; marching, strolling, and crawling. Events have come and gone with more or less success. In the beginning of 2012, I had a notion to try to do more green woodworking and to try to make more of my income in that area (thus avoiding/replacing high ladder work).
As part of this program, I attended a lot more events in hopes of reaching a newer and expanded customer base. This had a varied outcome. We had 2 new events northern Delaware and were very well received at the Paw Paw Festival at Alapocas State Park as well as at Ag Day at the U of De. The 18th century Farmers Market on the Green in Dover was very successful. There are several events that have continued to be reliable in terms of character and attendance which we will go to again this year. Certain other events were handled poorly and turned out to be just too much trouble with not enough return for our time and effort. Although it is not completely about income, I cannot afford to use up resources again as I did this year. This in mind, I will not be attending some events I have been to for the last several years and I will be trying several new places, probably farther afield than I have been. Please look at the Upcoming Events tab at the top of the page for information.
One of my goals was to establish myself in a retail site where I did not need to be present. Ryan Grover, the curator at The Biggs Museum of American Art, in Dover, Delaware, responded almost immediately with an invitation to place my goods in the new Delaware By Hand retail gallery at the Biggs, for which I am very grateful. I will be following up at other retail venues which I could not take time for this year.
We do appreciate the support in word and deed that folks have shared with us and we look forward to seeing and talking with everyone again this year, as opportunity arises.

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Green Woodworking?

Most of the things associated with this page have to do with what is called “Green Woodworking”. This can be a little confusing since there is currently a craze to refer to things as being green in order to give some sort of validation to any number of activities these days, from construction and manufacturing to laundry detergent and coffee products. The sort of woodworking I am involved in has more to do with the materials being used, freshly cut as opposed to kiln dried wood as you will find in home building supply stores. Anyway, click  here  for a link to photos of examples of methods and products that come from green woodworkers.

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Heat and rain

We got a pretty good soaking rain in central Delaware last night as opposed to the deluge they got in Southern Delaware and the Maryland Eastern Shore. Fortunately, my shop is nice and dry and by the time I got there this morning the clouds had burned off and I had plenty of light from the windows to work by. The continuing Adventures in building cypress doors has been updated somewhat. Please, take a moment to see.

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Going North

Big doings tomorrow. We will be going to the Alapocas Run State Park for the first annual Paw Paw Festival at the Blue Ball Barn. No Really. This is very exciting. We’re being paid to participate, we get to sell stuff, and, as with AgDay at U of D in the spring, this will be a trip north and an expansion of exposure to a new venue and customers. This is all very important at this time as I am basically going broke keeping this show on the road so far this year. Many thanks to Barbara Woodford for giving us this opportunity.

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