Wonderful cat penthouse fiz! And thanks for the honest shot of your workbench!

At least the cat is good at house keeping.  My bench is always in the same condition as yours.

Nothing,

the driveways a mud pit. 

I gotta get my hearing checked. Can't hear my wood conversing. Although Mesquite is pretty taciturn, I still might be missing some good stories.

Edited March 14, 20197 yr by Gene Howe

11 hours ago, hatuffej said:

I said I lay out the rough lumber on my bench and listen to the wood as it "speaks" to me

 

I listen to the wood the best I can.  I still sometimes get the occasional 2X4 to the side of my head to wake me up to pay closer attention.

47 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

 

I listen to the wood the best I can.  I still sometimes get the occasional 2X4 to the side of my head to wake me up to pay closer attention.

Well, I'm told that wood moves. Best to stay outta the way. 

8 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Well, I'm told that wood moves. Best to stay outta the way. 

Only if it's properly trained guard wood. 

13 hours ago, hatuffej said:

I like that. I made a couple of jewelry boxes for a gal and she asked me how I do it. I said I lay out the rough lumber on my bench and listen to the wood as it "speaks" to me. I do that all through the process, letting it guide me. The joinery is just simple mechanics. Inlays add artistic expression to the talking figure.

 

Wonderful post Hat! Thank you.

On 3/12/2019 at 10:19 PM, John Morris said:

 

I am trying my hand at spoon carving with mainly hatchet and hand tools only. 

 

If you can find a copy, get Wille Sundqvist's "Swedish Woodcarving."   It's a wonderful book and I think now back in print.   He must have over a dozen ways to hold a knife to carve.   I saw a 1920s video this week on Scandinavian carving (spoons, shoes, etc.) and the guy doing spoons sure was using most, if not all of them.

 

15 hours ago, hatuffej said:

listen to the wood as it "speaks" to me. I do that all through the process, letting it guide me. 

 

I tried reading Krenov and I never heard the wood, either.   But then, I don't wear my hearing aids in the shop.

In between moving the furniture bank shop and building storage shelving, building and moving the theater set, I've been building wall storage for one of my daughters.   Too many things so I'm hoping when I return from MS / NOLA in a week, the temperature will be warm enough I can haul up to the garage and do some spraying.   They turned out way redder than my sample board so I have some fine tuning to do with color.

 

18 minutes ago, kmealy said:

If you can find a copy, get Wille Sundqvist's "Swedish Woodcarving."   It's a wonderful book and I think now back in print.   He must have over a dozen ways to hold a knife to carve.   I saw a 1920s video this week on Scandinavian carving (spoons, shoes, etc.) and the guy doing spoons sure was using most, if not all of them.

 

Appreciate it much Keith!

36 minutes ago, kmealy said:

In between moving the furniture bank shop and building storage shelving, building and moving the theater set, I've been building wall storage for one of my daughters.   Too many things so I'm hoping when I return from MS / NOLA in a week, the temperature will be warm enough I can haul up to the garage and do some spraying.   They turned out way redder than my sample board so I have some fine tuning to do with color.

 

With your experise, that shouldn't be a problem. A stain matching blog by you would be a great read and,I'm sure, quite instructive to more than a few of us. I'm particularly interested in matching BB and, hardwood faced plys to hardwood trim.

7 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

With your experise, that shouldn't be a problem. A stain matching blog by you would be a great read and,I'm sure, quite instructive to more than a few of us. I'm particularly interested in matching BB and, hardwood faced plys to hardwood trim.

You can usually match color, but you can't always count on matching grain patterns.

For reference, I made a 1 sq ft piece of plywood with the same color stain.   I'll run trials on that before committing to the project.  The first coat of finish is going to alter the color, so I'll do that first.   But I plan to use a raw umber glaze.   Raw umber has a greenish tone that neutralizes red.   At least that will be my first trial.

 

22 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

I gotta get my hearing checked. Can't hear my wood conversing. Although Mesquite is pretty taciturn, I still might be missing some good stories.

I went out last night and listened, didn't hear the wood talking.  So I thought, maybe I needed to start the conversation... but all it did was bark!  Then I realized that I was talking to a piece of dogwood...

Dogwood is the only wood I can recognize by its bark.

 

4 minutes ago, kmealy said:

Dogwood is the only wood I can recognize by its bark.

 

On my bench today are some awesome estate sale bargains!   Usually, SWMBO talks me into going to these things so I grumpily become the pack mule for her outing.  But, today, the estate sale included some good buys for me!

 

 

nice find...

Thanks.  I've been needing a good block plane.  I think that one will clean up nicely.