"What can a pencil do for all of us? Amazing things. It can write transcendent poetry, uplifting music, or life-changing equations; it can sketch the future, give life to untold beauty, and communicate the full-force of our love and aspirations." — Adam Braun
Drivel Starved Nation!
It’s always exciting when we have something new to share… which I suppose makes this post news. (I did that math all by myself – FYI)
Since 1983, (that’s 34 human years, but 311 tool maker years), we have been producing impeccably crafted bench tools primarily for avocational woodworkers. It’s been mostly fun, but not as fun as it could have been knowing what I know now… Continue reading
"All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity." — Gordie Howe
Drivel Starved Nation-
One of the cool aspects of teaching at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking are the fellow instructors you get to meet.
One year, years ago, my classroom was directly across the hall from the turning studio. The instructor? Michael Hosaluk. Continue reading
"I am not skipping school! I am just on a SELF-MOTIVATED field trip!"— Meghan Sherwood
Drivel Starved Nation!
I am thrilled to share that we have been receiving early interest in the Shanghai/Nanjing field trip this fall.
Here are the crucial dates you need to know to make a decision:
"If I ever go to China, I'm going to find a piano and play "Chopsticks"--only not with my fingers... I'll be using two forks."— Jarod Kintz
Drivel Starved Nation-
It looks like the BCTW field trip to China is resonating with the DSN. I will post complete details next week regarding the itinerary. I also think we may limit this to 30 or so for logistical reasons.
Hey! We received the first shipment of the CSMv2s at the end of December. This is such a fun tool to use!
Here is a real-time tutorial on how it is used — you can tell I had 4 cups of coffee the morning we shot this–oh well… Continue reading
“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow. Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”— Mark Twain
Drivel Starved Nation!
I got so fed up with the voluminous holiday email blasts in December, we spared you and kept our antsy fingers off our keyboards until today. How cool is that?
First, the Portland Weather Report: As some of you may know, I am an Iowa son, and no stranger to snow. In fact, it is one of the reasons I wanted to move to Portland. No snow shoveling here.
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"Of all the possible utensils that could have been invented to eat rice with, how did TWO STICKS win out?"— Unknown
Drivel Starved Nation-
Today we have some cool things to share.
A while back, I shared how the grids for my sculpture “Fog of War” were made and you can see the pics here.
It is much harder to do accurate work in small scale but it can be made easier with an approach that yields consistent results. In the case of the grids mentioned above, the components all had to be the exact same thickness. This was surprisingly easy because all of our small planes accept depth skids which makes thickness planing thin stock a breeze. Without depth skids, there would be no Chopstick Master.
Dear Drivel Starved Nation;
For those of you that follow this Totally Awesome and Worthless Blog, you know that one, you need to get a life – you should be in your shop making something. Oh wait, you are at work… Continue reading
Drivel Starved Nation –
This is a courtesy announcement that we are assembling the last 40 or so CT-18 Dual Low Angle Smoothing Planes. We have approximately 10 boxed and ready to go, and the balance will be assembled next week. Based on the previous 17 Commemorative Tools, these will be gone forever in the next couple of weeks.
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"The whole culture is telling you to hurry, while the art tells you to take your time. Always listen to the art." — Junot Diaz
The images below represent a very small sampling of what took place in the woods of northern Saskatchewan this past August. It is almost a disservice to all who participated but I have an excellent excuse – the night before the big auction in Saskatoon, I somehow managed to bend the lens tube on my camera limiting it’s ability to focus. In addition, the auction was absolutely jam packed with people making it difficult Continue reading
"You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity." — Golda Meir
Drivel Starved Nation; It’s Friday and I am about to take the afternoon off to meet some old friends. But, I thought you might like to see the first pics of the CT-18 Dual Angle Smoothing plane…
We still have about 4-5 weeks of work before we ship. All the bodies get their soles ground beginning next week, and this is slow, each has to be put into a special fixture. Stainless steel does not like heat so in order to flatten the soles, the grinder is set to cut 0.0002″ per pass. That’s two ten thousands of an inch.
The irons are all out being sharpened and the scrub irons have yet to arrive, but beginning next week, we will start assembly of the bodies as they trickle in from the grinding house.
Oh, all of the aluminum TB-2v2’s are done and are being shipped starting Monday. And so are the stainless versions. These are crummy cell phone pics, but you get the idea;
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