Walnut Knife Block

Walnut knife block made for my wifes favourite Mexeur Sabatier Knife Set

I WAS BRUNG UP PROPER!

A friend emailed me this, never a truer word spoken…..

I WAS BRUNG UP PROPER!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1930′s, 40′s, 50′s, 60′s and early 70′s!

First, we survived being born to mothers who drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nandos.
Even though all the shops closed at 6.00 pm and didn’t open on the weekends, somehow we didn’t starve to death! We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because…… WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.
Only girls had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time… We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays; we rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn’t have to go to work to help dad make ends meet! RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT, Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully’s always ruled the playground at school.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Our parents didn’t invent stupid names for their kids like ‘Kiora’ and ‘Blade’ and ‘Ridge’ and ‘Vanilla’ We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL ! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

Nauticat Helm Seat(s)

Nauticat made helm seat, plus a few mods I’ve done to the steps to make the steps into a seat and add an alternative helm seat in the pilot house door way.

First is the Nauticat made helm chair.

Helm chair in it’s highest position and anchored down by the strap on the lowest rail.

The helm chair in the highest position showing how the seat is hooked under one of the rails and the weight taken on the rail below.

The Steps Seat

Step seat folded away.

Step seat in use. Note the space to the left top step left clear so it can be used without removing the cushion.

Step seat in the up position. Without the cushion fitted.

The cushion is fixed in position with press studs.

The step seat viewed to show the leg storage with the folding part stowed away.

The Door Seat

The door seat in position and hooked under the inner lip of the door frame to keep it in position.

The lower lip can clearly be seen under the door frame.

How the door seat is constructed. Made from solid teak with the underside covered in felt to stop it moving when in position on the door frame.

All these pictures can be viewed full size on Flickr here HERE

Unusual Great Tit Nest

We can’t go on our patio cos this cheaky pair of great tits have moved in to an old terracotta jug on the door step.

Blue Spruce Butt Chisels

I’ve just received an Email from Dave Jeske Of Blue Spruce fame and here is a pic of the first ever “Blue Spruce Butt Chisels” to make the production line, hopefully I’ll be his first customer to get to use them.

Blue Spruce Butt Chisels shown against the normal size bench chisel.

My set of Butt chisels are being brought to the UK by my broth-in-law who lives in San Francisco, so expect some pics of the very first Blue Spruce Butt Chisel Set to appear here on or about the 16th

I’ve finally got them

After waiting since early October when I first emailed Dave Jeske I’ve finally got them to play with. Dave Jeske has certainly come up with something special and well worth the wait.

So as yet unused and needing their first honing here they are

Tool Cabinet Remodel
Adding the Blue Spruce Butt Chisels I needed to alter the storage, here’s a pic of the cabinet now

Christmas Presents

454 Page book on everything you need to know about every species of wood going, it says it’s a hand book but more like an encyclopaedia
Two speed squares the large one has a multiple use adjustable fence.
A Lie Nielsen #9 Swmbo bought off ebay
A sailmakers palm glove repair kit.

Dollies Rocking Crib

Made entirely from scraps and assembled so it can be flat packed. It’s for my adopted grand daughters Their mum saw one in John Lewises at over £40 and decided to ask grandad if he could make one

Anyway here it is, you’ll have to imagine the frilly drapes and duvet etc,

It’s still got to have the finish applied, I haven’t decided to do it with Danish oil or polyurethane, what would you do it with?

A Little Toolbox

A little toolbox to house my limited edition stainless steel Veritas edge plane.

Here is a pic of the plane

Made from American Black Walnut & Mahogany, here is the box

Parts added to fit the shape of the plane

Green flock added to give it a little extra padding

More to come soon.

The finished box, well nearly finished, it’s had a coat of cellulose sanding sealer plus two coats of Danish oil every coat except the last coat rubbed back with 0000 wire wool. A couple more coats on the outside should see it finished.

What it looks like inside. A pocket has been added to put the guarantee instruction and the paperwork showing authenticity of limited edition #22 of 300.

The final touch after a couple more coats of danish oil might be to stick this on the inside of the lid, I can’t quite make my mind up about it.

The Stanley 10 1/2 Refurb Finished

Stanley 10 1/2 Refurb Finished

here is how it looked when I picked it up at a carboot sale(yard sale) for £5 ($10)

Cleaning The Plane

First step to assemble the kit needed to use electrolysis to strip the rust off

Pics of the kit

Really expensive kit One gallon plastic container with the top cut off, two bits of iron to act as negative anodes, two old spring clamps to hold the anodes, and a 12v battery charger, and most important two or three spoonfuls of washing soda.

Next step fill the container with water turn on the power and add the soda a little at a time until approximately a 5-6 amp current is obtained.

Container filled with water the current is turned on and washing soda added

15 minutes later it’s cooking quite nicely the scum on the top is rust.

Here is a closer pic of the lever cap before restoration started

The lever cap had about an hour undergoing the electolysis treatment then I buffed it up using a polishing mop on my grinding machine. This next pic is how it looks now.

At the moment the frog and chip beaker are in tub cooking

Tuesday 30th July

The chip breaker had the same elecrolysis treatment but it needed a lot of rubbing down, there is some pitting as I expected but I can live with that

The blade although needing a lot a rubbing down came out much better than the chip breaker

Some clean up shows there is some pitting but nothing that bad

After flattening the sole and sides of the body a little just to get it clean paint stripper was applied
to remove the japaning

For more on how to do japaning see my page “Home made japaning”

More bits off the Stanley 10 1/2

Stanley 10 1/2 frog gets it’s first coat of japaning before it gets it’s second coat it will be cooked in the Aga for an hour or two

Bits and pieces polished up and finished