Broken Chains!

Man angrily shouting at desk cluttered with papers and laptop

In the fall, I'll normally do a few craft shows in my local area to try out small products. I pretty much know in advance that I will not sell any large items, like boat portraits, and I don't even try. But every year I work on three or four simple items that might hit …

Patterns, Models, And Other Goodies

They are dirty, disorganized, and scattered through both shops. But they are critical aides to memory. They are models and patterns. These humble items are also the traditional way carving and boatbuilding shops retained a physical memory of designs we might repeat. Often, they are marked up with notations on alterations because at any time …

Elegance

When I was a kid studying Judo in New York City, all the toughs thought Judo was for wussies. It was a sport, not a real martial art like Karate. Inevitably, street corner punks with nothing more to do engaged in arguments concerning who would win in a fight between a karate guy and a …

How To Torture Woodenware

I am on vacation this weekend, but I thought I'd offer a post or two on my favorite topics. The first is on -how not to care for kitchen woodenware - Spoons, bowls, spatulas, and cutting boards.

A Woodcarving Oops!

When you are self taught you can sometimes get to rather advanced stages, but miss something along the way. That's why I describe this little episode as a woodcarving oops. I was doing boat show, selling quarterboards and fancy doodads for boats that I was turning out in my shop, and generally thinking that I …

Sharp!

Look! You can see the floor! Yes! The annual Spring Clean Up of the shop is about two-thirds done. You can see the floor! A rolling tool chest (out of view to the left) now stores many tools in a manner in which they can be found when needed. It's revolutionary. There were three brands …

Differences

I have some art stuff from the late sixties that I haven't thrown away. Two decent sketches of some friends I had in Ottawa. Also within the sketch book were a number of jewelry designs for the sort of things I was carving at the end of the nineteen sixties, some pen and ink studies …

What you don’t know about – Pine

Pine is a worthwhile wood for carving: It's readily available in a variety of species; many times, it will be the economical choice of wood, and with sharp tools can yield a rewarding carving experience.

A Workshop Shopping Spree?

when I moved carving tools years ago, I used the greenhouse shelving for the tool chests, and all the loose hand and power tools. It's gotten beyond my power to neatly organize things. It's a wreck, and there is no way you could ever term it shipshape.

How Much Does this Cost?

Louis, jr staffing the booth at a boat show

Daily writing promptWhat is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.View all responses How much does this cost? What I disliked at the shows were the people who came around and asked the costs of clearly marked items like the spoons made from cherry. There was always clearly marked signage on costs, and larger …