Free is a dangerous word, and worse, it's a slippery concept. Why? Well, it opens the path for the abuse of generosity.
Free
Stella
Stella was first posted two years ago on this date, and I am presenting it as a Flashback Friday special:
Vendetta – Flashback Friday – April 8
Vendetta, my father told me, was an art invented by the Catalans. Hot, cold, mild, or spiced, Catalan's mastered it. That was where I left it until I moved to Maine. There I learned it was a bit more complicated.
Judo To the Rescue
When I was 15, my father enrolled me in Judo classes at a downtown New York City dojo. The instructors, my senseis, were young Japanese Judoka ( Judo enthusiasts). Their English skills were minimal, and much of the instruction required interpreters and much show and - "do it this way" demonstration.
Stability
A while ago, I read an article in the New York Times on how artwork produced in the past seventy years was disintegrating rapidly. The deterioration was due to impermanent pigments, aging materials, and chemical conflicts between elements in a mixed media artwork. Some things were never meant to last forever, and others were never intended to be together in art.
Acorns to Oaks*
We all want to be instant experts. One of my sensei describes this in terms of the training montages that are standard fare in martial arts movies; the neophyte progresses from clumsy beginner to skilled pro in thirty seconds of cinematic snapshots.
Bowls and Scrapers – Flashback Friday – August 13, 2019
Sooner or later, most woodworking sites and blogs have some sort of post on scrapers. Rather than duplicate what others have demonstrated in the care, feeding, use, and maintenance of scrapers. I'd like to point out that they produce much less dust than sanders - that's a hell of a significant point when you have a confined shop and allergies.
Stash – Flashback Friday July 23, 2021
sun sink into the bay. A conversation about the green flash had evolved into a discussion of the Golden Age of Piracy.
Flashback Friday – July 16 – Critical Tool?
Articles regularly appear in the woodworking periodicals about the essential power tool in your shop. The authors make convincing arguments for their choices, too. I prefer to think in terms of what suite of crucial tools makes your work possible? Your answer will vary with the materials you work with, how you change them, and the product you produce.
Flash Back Friday – July 2, 2020 – Free
The old saying goes that free advice is worth what you pay for it. Well, I'd advise that more attention be paid to free advice because sometimes it can be the best money can't buy.
Louis N. Carreras, Woodcarver 
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