A few months ago I posted about a large chunk of a maple tree that came down (about 18″ at the bottom), and my cutting it up.
After I was back home my son-in-law and Li’l T moved the bolts into an abandoned goatpen house I built 25 years ago. It is a better structure than some of the church-camp cabins I stayed in as a yoot. The wood will remain there until I decide what to do with it.
I expect it will mostly become turned bowls but my lathe needs a substantial upgrade for that to happen.
Over Labor Day Weekend I was once again a presenter/demonstrator at my friend TimD’s Historic Trades Fair in the central part of our county. There were several dozen artisans there, including the leather/fur seamstress I shared a tent with, blacksmiths and sheet metal workers, premium woodworkers, gunsmiths, tailors and much more. Tim thinks he will max out with about fifty demonstrators in the next couple years.
And there I was doing my thing, presenting myself as a congenial woodworker with a complete shop while working on a Gragg Elastic Chair and engaging with the many visitors who stopped to ask about it.
The setting is nothing short of spectacular and the weather was absolutely perfect.
Here’s a glimpse of a recent fortnight in Shangri-la.
As is often the case my brother and his wife come for a visit, now extended from one week to two weeks since they are now both retired. I guess that is a commentary of sorts, with my siblings and I all retired including the baby. We are fortunate in that all five of us get along famously and maintain a steady text thread keeping us up to date with each other. The thread activity really ramped up when our Mom was in her final decline a few years ago and it never stopped.
Anyhow, you might remember the post a few months ago about trolling for firewood on the homestead, with a special emphasis on existing windfall waiting to be harvested. Of particular interest this week was the cluster of storm damaged locust trees up at the top of the hill, with several large trees down and tossed about. FYI locust is a highly prized firewood, very BTU dense with a hot burning temp and less ash than other woods. When we got down to it, we realized that in addition to the already-dead trees there were at least a half dozen still-standing (but probably not for long) locusts that could/should come down.
So down they came. It took some forethought as the trunks were intertwined and needed to come apart in a particular order. My brother is really good at that work. By the time we finished the week there were four heaping trucksful of sawn and split firewood to stack up at the barn.
At this point I am well into the firewood inventory for Winter 2026/2027, but I still have a lot of windfall to harvest. By my guess it will be about ten truck loads, so all is good. I will work on those truckloads in between other stuff over the winter. It’s gonna be crazy with grandson #4 due probably next week.
I do not know the setup of the Blacksmith Bolt and Rivet fellow (he’s been getting virtually all of my wood screw business for quite some time) but this video of a “small” Japanese screw making operation tickled my fancy.
Recently my brother and his wife were visiting, and their routine included a long evening walk. One of the walks was in the aftermath of an early evening rain, with this being the result.
Polishing, polishing, polishing. Unfortunately we were so busy and occupied with our tasks I did not get many pictures. Maybe next year I can be more attentive to that task.
I’ve not been to the world headquarters of Lost Art Press since forever (at this point our interactions are via email) but found interesting the video tour James Wright and daughter created on their recent visit.
The exercises proceed apace, building finishes and the skll set to accomplish them.
I fully expect to reprise this workshop at Joshua’s next summer, along with perhaps a couple other offerings. Introduction to Parquetry is taking place the end of next week, so come on and join us.
Recently for the umpteenth time (25th? 30th?) over the past four decades I taught my Introduction to Historic Woodfinishing workshop, this time at Joshua Farnsworth’s Wood and Shop School near Charlottesville. I have already related the transition from teaching at The Barn once my insurance underwriter yanked the plug on liability insurance for students, bringing the “school” component of The Barn on White Run to an end. Joshua graciously invited me to teach at his place, for which I am very much appreciative. I’m teaching a Parquetry workshop in a couple weeks, there are openings.
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The odd thing about teaching workshops at The Barn is that I still have personal liability insurance, the building and its contents are insured as before, but no insurance for students attending classes. The underwriters would never say why that insurance was being canceled, but my agent thought it was because the nearest full-service hospital is almost 90 minutes away. Oddly enough I can still host visitors for one-one-one learning experiences, and in fact I have one of those upcoming as soon as we can work out our scheduling hiccups.
One of the great benefits to hosting all the workshops in my own Barn classroom was that everything I needed was right there. When I teach elsewhere I have to pack up everything for the course. Everything. All the supplies, tools, workpieces, everything. I learned my lesson the first couple times I taught almost forty years ago and sent the students a detailed list of everything they would need. Every class there was a student or two who arrived unprepared, saying “I didn’t think you meant that,” or “I decided to substitute this or that.” In every instance the whole class was delayed repeatedly while I tried to come up with a reasonable substitute, but it never worked out to my satisfaction.
Now I just bring everything necessary for the full experience of my syllabus. Yes, it takes me a week or longer to compile the pile, yes it takes a day to load my truck to overflowing, yes it takes me about four hours to get set up wherever I am teaching. But it yields the learning experience I want to impart.
And the title of this post? It took me 26 trips to move everything from my barn into the truck, then 26 trips from my truck up the stairs into Joshua’s shop. Three days later I had only 23 trips from his shop to my truck as the students consumed the “missing” three tubs worth.
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