"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.
Continue reading
"Good health is not something we can buy. However, it can be an extremely valuable savings account. "— Anne Wilson Schaef
Drivel Starved Nation; A couple of months ago, I broke the news about a new dust collector technology that we are employing in our prototype shop – the Gyro Air. Before I get into the details of this collection system, it is important to understand why I want to ditch my standard cyclone collector — which likely looks just like yours. Continue reading
"Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything." — Wyatt Earp
Drivel Starved Nation;
Today I offer you some drivel with some “fresh off the bone” meat — we have a new tool!
"Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes." — Lewis Grizzard
Drivel Starved Nation-
I have much to share with this report, so drop whatever it is you are doing and feast on this delicious bowl of drivel!
“Always do things right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”— Mark Twain
Drivel Starved Nation;
Over the past three months, I have been working on Commemorative Tool #19. For those of you new to this Totally Awesome and Worthless Blog, we make one tool each year (well almost) that we will never duplicate. They are considered the finest series of tools in our almost 34 year history. (The first Commemorative Tool was introduced in 1991 or 1992, I am too old to remember.) Continue reading
"Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world." — John Milton
Drivel Starved Nation;
It was an exciting time to be a furniture designer/maker back in the 1970’s. I can still remember the excitement of my first commission —it’s such an honor when others want your work in their home. I was so lucky.
But this luck came with a caveat. All of the people who were ordering furniture from me had money. Lots of money. Continue reading
"While most are dreaming of success, winners wake-up and work hard to achieve it."— Unknown
Drivel Starved Nation;
You should be in your shop making stuff, but since your here, please take the time to vote!
When we introduced the CS-6v2, we opened a contest for those who wanted to infill our naked squares pictured below;
We are going to award two $500 Gift Certificates, one for the “Most Beautiful” Cs6v2 Combination Square and one $500 Gift Certificate for the “Most Original” idea. We need 2 votes from you, your thoughts, and you can do so by commenting to this post.We will announce the winners next Thursday, August 25th. (These awards are unbelievably generous because they equal our annual profit here.) Continue reading
"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.
Drivel Starved Nation-
I should have known better than to try and seduce the DSN with misleading photos. What did I accomplish? A bunch of insulting comments about my advanced age and the cost of Depends… At least nobody brought up my addiction to stool softeners… (Did I just write that?)
But I digress, I did indeed take a field trip to the George Nakashima property in Bucks County, PA. What a beautiful setting! The facility is open for visitors on Saturdays but the shops are closed. If you have never been there, it is an hour drive or so from either the Philadelphia or Newark airports. I would love to go back in the fall, it just has to be incredibly beautiful. Continue reading