While watching this amazing film I looked around the website where it was hosted. I wished I had paid more attention during French class in high school.
I found several interesting videos about woodworking, music, lutherie and more.
It shows the woodworking process beginning with felling trees and ending with finished furniture. We watch an apprentice learning to use a frame saw, planes and other tools. There are shots of joinery, veneering, staining and finishing.
The purpose of this post is to enable me to procrastinate a little longer.
Every now-and-then I give the shop a thorough cleaning before finishing or beginning a batch of dulcimers.
Tonight I emptied out a lot of the stuff that was leaning against walls, sitting on the floor and generally causing me to lose tools, cause avalanches and other havoc.
I was actually able to sweep the floor. I was actually able to see the floor!
The shop is looking pretty good.
As for the piles of lumber, bending forms, boxes and other stuff I took out of the shop to get to the floor…well, getting that stored in an accessible and orderly fashion will take a little longer, hence the procrastination.
Coffee break is over, time to get back on my head!
While in Kentucky this weekend I learned that Thousand Cankers Black Walnut Disease had been found in Tennessee. A few weeks ago no cases had been reported in the Eastern part of the United States.
This disease can potentially cause walnut trees in North America to become extinct.
It is not a time to give up hope for the walnut tree but it is certainly time to take action. Contact your State Department of Agriculture of University Extension for local information. Some states and counties are already banning the transport of walnut logs, firewood, etc.
While traveling with my wife’s family we came across The Birds Of Vermont Museum. The museum was closed but we soon came across Bob Spear, the museum’s founder, coming back from a hike in the nearby woods.
Mr. Spear kindly offered to open the museum for us and we were very happy not to have missed seeing the fruits of his 25+ years of bird carving.
At 90 Bob Spear is still carving away. He also has an apprentice who is helping him complete this massive collection of bird carvings.
Go there if you can!
You can also view some of the museum on-line and watch live birds at the feeder on the bird-cam by going to the museum’s website:
Perhaps a better title for this post would be “I Do Better Work When Tools Are Sharp!”
The other day I found myself enjoying working at the bench less that I usually do. I was having a hard time clamping a dulcimer firmly enough to the bench so that I could plane the fingerboard flat.
At that moment the “smart fairy” (or perhaps the “stupid fairy” depending on how you look at it) whispered in my ear, “Hey Doug, don’t you usually hold the dulcimer on the bench with one hand and plane the fingerboard with the other? When was the last time you sharpened that plane?”
“Hmmm,” I said. “This plane sure stays sharp for a long time, but how long has it been since I last sharpened it?”
Out came my benchtop sharpening rig; a bench hook that holds a fine diamond stone and a #4000 waterstone. This is what I usually use to keep edges honed between regrinding.
And it had been a while since I had sharpened that particular plane. And lo and behold, after sharpening the plane I could easily hold the dulcimer with one hand and plane the fretboard with the other and take finer shavings to boot!
I figured that as long as I had the sharpening station on the bench I may as well sharpen a few other tools.
And they all lived happily ever after. Well, at least so far…..
P.S. I had some trouble with my camera so the picture of the sharpening stuff looked better in B&W. It reminds me of pictures from the early issues of Fine Woodworking.
