Eye to the Sky!

Thanks to weather technology and early warning systems and 8 windows around my shop I can get really close to the action when it comes by. I wish you could have seen the movement of these clouds. It was not a tornado but wasn't far from being one. The weather people called for a severe thunderstorm warning for my county but we dodged the bullet. Lately the weather has been very interesting in middle Tennessee.

The barstools I have been working on shows below the mock-up for what they might look like. The card board is flimsy but I like to see in 3-d when doing something new and it's the quickest way to get results and work out the bugs. The swivel will be mortised into the lower part of the stool and somewhat into the seat. It will be sort of a hybrid windsor/ ladder back stool. Thanks Brian for your influence. I knew your class would come in handy someday.

I'll be posting more of the process soon.

Career Day

I had the opportunity to spread some knowledge of woodworking to the wonderful kids at Whitten Elementary School on Career Day. They were very excited to see wood shaved on a shave horse. They were struck by the strong smell of white oak. I explained how furniture comes from trees. They liked it when I blew bubbles through a piece of red oak with liquid soap to explain how there are pores in wood. They asked more questions about the shave horse than my chairs I brought. I hope maybe something I said might spark some interest in these kids. They are wonderful people with very curious minds.

I have been without my computer lately and have not been able to post but I have returned. We have had all sorts of devistation around me here in middle Tn with flooding but we were fine. All my questions where water could go were answered with 13 inches of rain in 48 hours. My heart goes out to those who lost so much.

On my last post I had mentioned uncle Kenny's adze which he got from his grandfather. It was a nice piece of forged metal which after cleaning and sharpening took a really good edge. As you can see below with the new handle it is now a very usable tool but not for tilling the weeds from the garden (O.K. Kenny).

The steam bent handle was easily shaped from white oak, dried in the kiln, then carved to fit the adze, then split and wedged. A little oil on the handle, done. This tool with the flat edge really removes wood fast for hewing timbers. I wish it had been curved to chop out seats but none the less it is a beautiful tool.

This week I have started on some barstools that swivel, should be interesting. The biggest challenge will be to design the stool to look good with the bulky swivel section. Stay tuned.