Trump is Gone

 Trump is gone, might be a little early but I'm down with the song.

Trump is gone.

New Norton Washita Stone

 Sharpening Supply is selling new Norton Washita stones. The price is right, IIRC less than $40 USD, so I decided to give one a go for no other reason than curiosity. I have no need for more stones but I'm a stone sucker. 

Here is a photo of some of my Washita stones:

The new Norton stone is bottom right. To the bottom left is a Norton "Lilly White". The middle stone is a Pike "Lilly White" and the top stone was advertised as a Washita, my guess one of the courser stones.

I had time to put metal to stone tonight. When you reach a certain age sleep isn't easy and sharpening is one of the few thing you can do and not wake the house. As expected from just feeling the stone surface the stone is very fast, my guess somewhere between a coarse India and a med India, It will be interesting to see where it settles in after use. My guess it will be close to a med India.

Anyway it could be a nice stone to add to your kit.

ken

Gumbo and Other Things

 Fall and Winter is when Chicken and Sausage Gumbo comes out to play in Cajun land. While AZ is a long way from South LA I had a hankering for a bowl of Gumbo. There was a pot of chicken stock and boned chicken in the fridge, I just needed green peppers and some sausage to make a little bit of heaven. 

When making the roux I wimped out and stopped the roux at a dark chocolate instead of working without a net and going on to Black.  Truth is while black roux is a little richer flavor the difference is minor and the risk is great. BTW, it sure was/is a good pot of Cajun gumbo. 

If you have never been to the Lafayette, Breaux Bridge area of LA you likely have never had a good Cajun Gumbo. It is totally different than Creole which is the Gumbo most folks are familiar with and something I will eat only to be polite.

On to something completely different:

A lot of time in the shop I take things for granted. As an example my jointer push appliance. If you use a powered jointer you need a good and safe way to push the work over the cutting head. The best I've found is one I've used for several years, well may be more than several. It is easy to cut out and keeps the hand and fingers safe.

Another are doe's foot sticks to help hold wood for planing. A stop, a doe's foot and a holdfast is all that is needed to hold work flat on the bench. It is much faster than using a tail vise. The top appliance is for holding a board vertical for planing the edge, also faster than using a vise to hold the work. Another advantage of the appliance is immediate feedback if your technique sucks😇.

  Just some simple shop made appliances that are in almost daily use in my shop.

Portable Shavehorse

Making a portable Shavehorse.
 

 If you squint that pile of wood is most of a portable shave horse. Right behind the pile is the current shavehorse that is not portable. The new one will rip off Jason Gallagher's take on Tim Manney's dead head horse. See below.

I have a couple of boards of Honey Locust that have been in the wood pile for several years to use for the rails and table (photo above). Wood for the other parts to be decided later.

Getting ready for four months, maybe as many as six months, living in the motorhome this coming summer. The old shavehorse was a PITA to transport and take apart, put back together, so much so I didn't use it much on last years trip to Oregon.

ken

Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving during the Pandemic. Just the two of us, no turkey and dressing or even jellied cranberry. Just a picnic in the back garden with fresh bread, cheese, salmon, wine, and a lot of Facetime.  Hope all stayed safe and we can have a more traditional holiday next year.

Thought I'd add a photo of the bread and Mincemeat pie:

 

ken

Off-grid Woodbutcher7:37 PM

Well there is always a positive thing, wine and cheese with a good fresh bread is great, and with two of you less dishes to clean :)
Happy Thanksgiving, we are living strange times but still, being healthy and enjoying a new morning is a gift.
Enjoy your wine!

ReplyDelete

Replies

I'm a OK guy5:30 AM

Thanks Lionel,

I read an article today advocating a second national Thanksgiving Day once Covid 19 is under control. I'm all for it and while we are at it add Juneteenth as well.

T-Day has always been my favorite holiday because it is about family and friends and even though "Black Friday" has been hijacked T-Day itself hasn't and likely can't.

IIRC your T-Day is early October, I hope it went well and all stayed safe.

ken

One Screw

 There is always one screw or nut that can't be removed on any project. If there are laws of home repair that is the first one.

MsBubba asked for added shelf's in the hall pantry and like all SO's with a brain the only answer is "yes dear". The first shock was the price of clear Pine, $8 USD a board foot at the local HD. I walked away the first time thinking I could build the shelf's out of Cherry for the same price but ended up returning for the pine to keep from needing to do glue-ups of either Alder or Poplar. By the time I had all the boards, supports, and the Plywood needed there was a new charge on the AmEx of over $400 USD.

After a little butt scratching and a lot of rolling around on the floor the shelf's are installed, sliding doors rehung and the project finished. Hold on Pine breath. As re-installed the outer sliding door has a bow that causes it to hang on the inter door. Not a biggie, take the doors off and re-hang, 15 minutes tops. Wrong again Stripped Screw breath and that is where the project stands. One screw has it stopped until I can find my screw removal kit either in the shop (I know I have one) or at Ace when they open.

I think this sums up the last four years and the coming next four:

For the complete image follow the link.

 https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1325762537732845581/photo/1 

Credit  @thetimes

I'm still Sorting It Out

Relief, Joy, Sadness, and Hope.

Relief because in a little over two months Trump, his evil spawn, and enablers will be out of power. Joy because the fear has gone. Sadness over 70,000,000 Americans voted for the evil bastard after four years of knowing who he is. Hope because seeing the dancing for joy around America and noticing the age of most. The future, if we make it, will be better once my generation dies.

I hope the vermin will crawl back under the rocks from which they came in 2016 and I never see another fat fuck ridding a scooter in Costco wearing a "Fuck Your Feelings" T-shirt.

Mazel Tov,

ken