What I Did over Summer Vacation 2018 (Part 1)

In July, I used most of my vacation time to go to Wisconsin and hang out in the woods at my shack. I also got in some visits with family and friends, including Mark Duginske, my woodworking mentor and good friend. One result of the day I spent with Mark in Wausau and at his shop near Merrill is this video. We had a good time making it.

https://youtu.be/k1TsaSuWR-M

Splitting Wood into Thirds

Oh, yes you can!

There are three points to this post:

Bench Risers Video

A revised video about the bench risers is on YouTube:

Four-plus minutes of pure joy. Watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQY5q00EsW8

Video: Roughing out Spoons at the Bench

I made a video showing my vise, chisel, hammer method of roughing out spoon blanks. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT7PdrXYYOI

Seal the Ends of Green Lumber

When you get lucky and score a bunch of nice fresh wood like this black cherry, seal the end grain before it starts drying out.

Moisture leaves wood most easily through the end grain, less easily through the long grain, and least easily through

More Adventures in Workholding

I've been working on a change to my spoon-carving process, scooping out the bowl earlier in the process with the blank held by a clamp rather than in my hand. 

I tried it out with this tiny salt spoon, made from

Spoon Blanks by Hammer and Chisel (Without a Hatchet!)

Unrefined spoons, just captured in the wilds of northern Wisconsin!

Let's say you have