Wood Zealot's Workshop

So I’ve noticed that you have been away for a while. I’m guessing you want new content or something? Just going through a “me” phase are we?

The wrist has healed up quite a bit and I’m back woodworking. I was finally able to present family members with their Christmas presents. Yes, I did contemplate holding on to them for this Christmas but my mother was the wiser, remembering my promise of a cutting board. Course I am also getting to merge in some birthdays so still some combo points for me there.

As you may notice these are the Wood Whisperer’s famous end-grain cutting boards which he provides most excellent instructions on how to make. While all three are made from Purpleheart and Rock Maple I did vary the pattern for each. The parallelogram design is my favorite by far and the biggest pain in the butt by far. Even with cauls and max clamping pressure the parallelogram sticks walked up on each other. I had to span every joint with it’s own clamp. It was worth it though as it yields a nice little 3D effect. If you look at it from a certain angle and with certain chemicals in your system you will see a little M.C. Escher effect.

This was the first time using my Rockler electric branding iron. Very pleased with the results. Definitely adds the personal touch. The instructions advise wearing a thick leather glove. I did not see the point since the handle doesn’t get hot. Interestingly though, when you turn the iron vertically to make your mark, the heat rises towards your hand as if some sort of sorcery is at play. Sometimes we just need to learn things the old-fashioned way.

Going forward, be warned, major changes are afoot in Wood Zealot land (no, I still have a penis… not that radical a change, but it’s still a biggie for me!). An upcoming post will share all the details…

So much knowledge for such a little brain

Very shortly I’ll be sharing how I gather and organize information in the digital world especially as it relates to woodworking. In the meantime, after reading David Thiel’s recent post over at the Popular Woodworking blog where he shares his vast library, I thought I’d take a couple shots of my bookcase to share as well.

Each book has it merits of course and if I were to ever read them I could speak to that with some authority. As it stands, I’ve just scanned through most to see how they end. While most of these books were loaded with good information along the way, rarely did they come through will a killer ending or mind-blowing turn of events… not one “I see dead people” moment.

There is one book, however, that has served me far more than any other, and that book is “Illustrated Cabinetmaking” by Bill Hylton.  The book starts with very thorough coverage of joinery and goes on to show exploded diagrams of subassemblies followed by a wide variety of furniture applications, again all with exploded diagrams. These diagrams are extremely well done including useful annotations which clue you in on relevant details of the specific piece. Just perfect execution on making this material as easy to learn as possible.  This book will never gather dust in my home.

So without further ado, here’s my woodworking bookcase:

Pretty covers get the top

Books on first shelf

The Moxon shelf

Yet another shelf with books whose titles you can't make out.

Last shelf of woodworking books

As you can see, I keep some antique hand tool, eye candy in the case as well. I can’t help but feel the sense of storied history of this craft and the amazing craftsman of the past when looking at such hand tools.  Take a closer look at the double sliding dovetail boxing on the Griffiths Norwich plow plane which sits atop the bookcase. Impressive craftsmanship, isn’t it.

Double Sliding Dovetails

Oops… Almost missed these three which weren’t in the bookcase as I’m currently reading them.

Apparently to good to be idly sitting on a bookshelf.

Note: This post is uncharacteristically low on the  disturbing-scale realtive to my other posts. Please see the “My favorite posts” links on the front page side-bar for a proper taste of the Woodzealot buffet. Be warned, while it is all-you-can-eat, pace yourself to advoid the inevitable nausea and feelings of regret that will quickly ensue.

As a bachelor woodworker with a day-job, my diet generally consists of what you see in this pic of my freezer after food shopping:

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

I recently received some intel claiming that not all food naturally exists in cardboard boxes ready for microwaving. I was further told tales of things called “fruits” and “vegetables”. Long story short, you eat these “fruits” and “vegetables”and you magically become healthier… more energy, smarter, and a longer pen… err, wait I’m getting the claims of this better diet confused with other phallicies.

So, I figure what the heck my gullet has seen worse and decided to find a way to get these substances in to my body in a reasonable way. Hearing that the taste of this stuff is so off-putting I seek supository form. No dice. Googlin around reveals that blending this stuff up into goop form is a good way to sneak this junk into your system. Bingo!

After a run to the food store and acquiring these foods of mass nutrition I start sperimenting.

Day one test: banana, various frozen berries, and some orange sherbert.

Fruit Smoothie Before

Fruit Smoothie Blended

Result: Does not taste completely horrible.

Day two test: banana, various frozen berries, spinach, and water.

Green Smoothie PreBlending

Blended "green" smoothie

"Green" smoothie PRIOR to ingestion

Result: Does taste completely horrible.

Some observations… my body seemed to reject this foreign material as observed by varying levels of cramping and increasing levels of methane output. Out of concern for our world I may have to suspend further experiments with these dangerous materials.

One of… ummm, I mean, my only redeeming skill is shopping on the web and finding the occasional deal… keep a watch here for such gems…

Boeshield T-9: this is like hand cream for your metal tools… lubricates and protects metals at the same time… great for cast iron tables (followed up by paste wax) and hand planes… a must for anyone interested in restoring tools! Normally costs around $16 for a 12oz can. Get it for $6 here. I posted this deal to Sawmill Creek forum.

Here’s a block of spalted Maple. The spalting is the result of fungi invading the wood and taking up occupation. Or rather… the fungi are spreading democracy to the wood. The dark lines or “zone lines” are where different colonies of fungi are fighting for territory with one another. From what I understand, it all started over some holy grain that each side claims is theirs…. then of course fungi extremism developed and terrorism ensued. I’m still not sure which side was right, but I do know that fungi terrorism must be rooted out at all costs! (get it…. fungi terrorism… rooted out… wait, does fungi even have roots? crap, back to Wikipedia)

To answer your question… No, I really don’t know why I kept going with that analogy/metaphor long after it had served it’s purpose… yes, it was kind of interesting to see that highly sophisticated organisms such as ourselves behave similarly as fungi on the macroscopic level, but did I really need to take it as far I did… not really… It probably was not very fair to the fungi. My apologies to all the fungi out there…. especially the fungi-Americans.

You know I just noticed that the word analogy has anal in it… what’s up with that? Just another example of how you can go through your whole life and can miss the little meaningful details. I think I’m just noticing it because it phonetically sounds different from Anal. It has that ‘a’, with the two dots above it, sound… like in canal… hey there’s an anal in canal! For some reason that one seems more appropriate.

And to answer your latest question: No, I don’t do drugs… I do insomnia. Same net effect minus the fun part… and less track marks.

Please stop asking questions.

Summiting Everest? Tagging some endangered turtle somewhere? Starting a cult? No, sadly none of these is correct. Or is it “are correct”? Or did you understand what I meant and I’m just wasting your time now asking you about usage? Whatever… I’m learning to work wood these days, not to use proper English or prevent dangling a participle when I have the urge to dangle it (Like I know what a participle is or how to dangle it).

So, Some of you may notice that a couple days have passed since my last post. I don’t know what to say other than art can not be forced. Such art is at the whim of the fickle muse. Hopefully she is back for a while and enraptured with such things as butt joints.

In all seriousness, I realized that I needed to do a couple things: Learn much more about woodworking and get my shop set up. Even as fond of myself as I am, I don’t believe that anyone would find it interesting reading my blog that illuminates the captivating details associated with reading books. I think I know my readers… they will be much more interested in tales of woodworking that illustrate my obvious incompetence as well as the occasional dismemberment. However, since I have been reading so many books and watching numerous DVDs I think I will create a section on the site where I’ll provide my thoughts for others to consider. So keep a keen eye out for that!

Ok, I’m spent. See you soon…. when is Halley’s comet due back?

Yup, it’s finally happening. For the first time in my life I’m getting wood from eBay (though, to be fair, it has given me a semi several times in the past). Below are various pictures of my newly purchased lumber. All are Black Walnut which is a relatively easy species to work with and finishes well. Several pieces are “book-matched” which simply means that were cut in succession allowing for certain design patterning options such as creating mirror image type effects.

Welcome to Wood Zealot’s Workshop. On the way is content related to woodworking, featuring my various exploits in my woodworking shop.