Roger Deakin: Wildwood

I just read Roger Deakin’s Wildwood: A Journey through Trees (Penguin, 2007). I give it my highest recommendation. Calling this book “nature writing” is like calling Bruce Chatwin's

Pine Tar to Treat Outdoor Wood

Yesterday I cleaned our deck and treated it with pine tar. I have been “experimenting” with pine tar to preserve outdoor wood for the past 5 years or so. I put “experimenting” in quotes because so far I've done no formal trials with control groups, no measurements or postmortems, I'm just trying it out to see how it goes. So far, I think it's working very well, and I'll be trying it in different ways going forward. Click through to see some before/after pictures of our deck.

Why pine tar?

Videos Worth Watching: Making a Traditional Framed Ledge and Post Door

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1E0QwdyVzo

Such a relief to see a woodworking video by someone other than an "influencer."

File Files So Files Don't File Files

We all know, or should know, to not let files and rasps bang against each other or against other metal tools.* They'll get dull, we're told. This is received wisdom; I admit I haven't ever questioned it, let alone tested it. But some of my Auriou and Iwasaki examples are too

Some pictures of planes. First a Record #07, late production with plastic handles and screw-type cap (as opposed to a "lever cap")

Next, a Miller's Falls #10 (equivalent to Stanley #4-1/2). Note the articulated lever cap, which seems to focus the pressure on the front edge of the iron more effectively than a plain cap:

Tormek Motor Repair

I have used and loved Tormek grinders since 1999. My current machine is my second. (I sold the first one about 2008.) I acquired it from Highland Woodworking several years ago when they replaced it (the old "Super Grind 2000") with a new T8 in their seminar room. I use it for planes and chisels, carving gouges, kitchen and sloyd knives, and occasionally planer knives. 

Recently it began sounding bad, and way too loud:

I took the wheels and axle off to isolate the motor and make sure it wasn't something caught in the bushings the axle rides on, or the inside wall of the leather strop wheel where the motor shaft turns the whole works around. Nope, definitely a noise from the motor.

I wasted several

Camera SOLD

(This camera sold at auction on ebay)

My first DSLR, used on this blog and to make videos for Highland Woodworking since 2016. Excellent shape. My new camera is a Canon T7i, I'll be excited to start sharing images made with it here.