Empty! (v. #1993)

“What is truth?” asked Pilate.

Jesus of Nazareth died, proving he was truly a man.

Jesus the Christ walked out of the tomb like a boss, proving he was truly God.

There you go, Pilate.

Truth.

Plane Wellness 2026

I’ll be one of the presenters at next month’s 2026 edition of Plane Wellness.  If you are in the region of Butler PA May 16-17 and have the inclination, we would love to have you join us.  I learned about the organization from a class student a couple years ago and wholeheartedly agree with their mission statement, Improving Mental Wellness Through Woodworking.  And who could not use a little extra dose of mental wellness these days?

My presentation will include (of course) the finishing process and the beauties of polissoiring.

The list of presenters is impressive and include a lot of voices I do not know, so I am especially looking forward to being challenged, informed, and encouraged.

I hope to see you there.

One of the Mysteries

I am finding that in my 70s I am working just as hard and almost as long as ever but only manage to get about half as much done as I used to.  After moving a pickup load of mulch for Mrs. Barn this morning, I popped up to continue building the firewood inventory for next winter and beyond.  Currently I am working my way through the pile of approximately 300-pound cherry bolts, which must be handled with great care as I am not even remotely interested in experiencing a broken leg.

I roll them to the bottom of the ramp then cautiously navigate the way up until it plunks down to the bed of the splitter with a WHAM!  I thought about raising the splitter upright but decided that wouldn’t really work any better.  I quarter the bolts then move three of those aside (I can handle those at about 75 pounds’ apiece), splitting the remaining quarter into nine full sized pieces of firewood, then repeat the process for the other three.

Once I get done with the last of these it will be time to head back up into the woods to begin processing more windfall.  I’m pretty sure we’ve got next winter covered (quite a bit left from this recent brutal winter), but you can never have too much firewood when you live in the mountains and it is your main heat source.

Not especially romantic or blog worthy, but it is a central theme for this time of year.  Along with hauling mulch, of course.  I’ll resume again in the fall when my brother returns for a visit.

Spectacular Tool

Reflecting on the bountiful tools I saw last weekend at the PATINA tool shindig I was reminded of a tool my friend Justin showed me when he visited a few months ago.  Fashioned entirely out of a whale bone, it is spectacular.

Pictures From An Exhibition (of tools)

I had a great time at the PATINA toolapalooza on Saturday, connecting with many friends and acquaintances, and communing with hundreds of thousands of tools.  Every year I can spend up to a dozen minutes shopping for clothes and such, but I could spend dozens of hours browsing and shopping here.

There are two parts of the event, and I always start at the tailgating outside in the parking lot.  That’s often where the real deals are found.

My big score for the day was a full NOS sleeve of vintage 220-grit 3M Tri-M-ite sandpaper.  My experience is that this is getting harder to find, but one fellow had several tables of sandpaper-ish inventory, most of which I did not need.  But the Tri-M-ite was priced nicely so I bought the whole pack.

I was only tempted a little by a smaller patternmaker’s vise that was missing a lot of parts.  It was only $60 but I let someone else go home with it.

But if vises were what you wanted, there were plenty.

Inside was packed with both people and tools.  Bins and shelves of tools.

The only other things I bought for myself were a file handle for $3, a Lufkin 10-foot tape measure for $2, and an extension carpenter’s rule for $8.  I did buy a number of good tools for the grandsons, small back saws, eggbeater drills, and chisels for a future date, etc.

Very much looking forward to next year.

I’m involved in a couple more tool events this year; stay tuned.

PATINA Toolapalooza

This coming weekend is the PATINA tool swap near Frederick Marlyand.  You can get the details here.  If you are anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic it is well worth the effort to get there.  Yes, there are scores of tables with thousands of premium vintage tools, but for me the real treasures are out in the tailgating tool swap.

I’ll be there Saturday morning on the hunt for tools appropriate to little boys.  Can you believe Lil’T is four years old?  And his brothers and cousin are stair stepping right behind him.  I’ve got plenty of tools a-waitin’ for them, but not nearly enough.

Anyway, it you see me there and recognize me come up and say “Hi.”  If you see me but do not recognize me, well, don’t.

Latest Chat With Brian (not woodworking)

A few days, ago my longtime friend retired broadcaster Brian Wilson and I had another of our long-form chats, commenting about the state of the world.  He posts these and other musings on his Substack account, Brian Wilson Writes.  Feel free to indulge (or punish) yourself as our conversations are definitely no-holds-barred, not for the easily offended.

Jump Start

NB – Pictures from last summer

With a break in the brutal winter weather I got myself up into the woods to chop up that grove of black birch trees that came down last winter.  The amount of firewood from this one incident of windfall is about what we should need next winter, but even when done here I’ll keep at it.  It’s fun and good exercise.

The work site was quite the mess so I spent most of the first day just clearing brush, then got to work chopping my way up the trunks.  I got two good truck loads of 6-8″ 16-inch bolts with the occasional 10-12″ piece, but those were almost outside my lifting ability.   I followed those two loads with two more today.

Once I get to the biggest section of this tree, about 20 feet from the root ball, the pieces will be 20-inches in diameter or more.  Those will be so heavy I will have to roll them to the tailgate and up the ramp into the truck.  If past experience is any indicator each one of the biggest sections will yield 32 pieces of firewood that are manageable in size.

Another couple days and another couple truckloads and I will be done with harvesting from this site.  Then on to splitting and stacking.  I’ll use a system new to me I’m adapting from Mike Wilson, whose yootoob channel is one of my favorites.  Previously I just spent way too much time stacking carefully to make everything “just so,” crisscrossing each layer for good stability and air flow.  This new system should cut my time by at least half with even better air flow.

Then on to harvesting some more windfall elsewhere on the homestead.

Good thing my little 4WD S10 is strong and nimble.  It may be dissolving before my eyes and maybe not reliable for long trips anymore but I’ll keep it until it runs no more

Yin and Yang, Weather Edition

Now about a month out from our weather episode that brought three inches of snow, three inches of sleet, a half inch of rain, and another two inches of snow, we are starting to see some ground again.

These two picture were taken from the same spot, just turned 180-degrees.  South facing slope?  Grass!  North facing slope?  Glacier.

Tomorrow – harvesting firewood Day 1

What Winter Hath Wrought

Every winter brings about some damage to the waterline for the hydroelectric turbine, a/k/a the penstock.  Usually this is because a tree branch has fallen on some of the 1100′ of 2-inch Schedule 40 PVC, which is cheap but gets really brittle when cold.  I knew from the very beginning that replacing some of the PVC every Spring would be an issue but just accepted it as the cost of doing business. Last year was great, I had to replace and patch only two little sections.  2015 was the worst as I had to replace 600-feet of pipe.

Except for the last thirty feet all of the penstock is above ground.  I did originally get an estimate to burying the entire penstock well below the frost line, but the >$75k+ price tag was a bit much.  My hydroelectric system is more of a hobby than anything else, at least until the EMP or CME or some other grid-down calamity, so that wasn’t in the cards.

A shredded section of the penstock just before the ice storm.

This damage was peculiar because it was a compound spiral fracture which is only supposed to happen as a result of water freezing in the pipe and bursting it.  Since I drained the system in November this damage was a head-scratcher.  I am not looking forward to surveying the entire length of pipe once the snow and ice are gone.

I am now rethinking the penstock altogether.  Rather than sticking with PVC I am going to check into industrial irrigation polypropylene line which is continuous and much more forgiving to the forces that bust the PVC.  Since a pressurized/enclosed water line can run down to about -15 degrees maybe I could even keep it running year-round.

Stay tuned.