Back again

Okay, don't ask. I'm not letting the Blog slip, really I'm not. It's just I simply haven't been in the workshop to speak of, so I have very little to say.

Who's that cheering at the back...?

And talking of backs, that's half the trouble. My intermittent lumbago has put in an appearance, which has rather put a spanner in the works. Why does "lumbago" sound better than "back ache" I wonder? Anyway, I've been using the little grey cells instead, and plotting the best way to turn what wood I have in to Christmas presents for my nearest and dearest. Well the family anyway... ;-) You see, if I can make stuff rather than buy it, my buying arm is immeasurably strengthened come the Axminster Show in November. In fact, not to put too fine a point on it, I either hand craft Christmas presents or my buying arm is non-existant come November, and where's the fun in that...? So my current plan is garden planters, not wholely dissimilar to the plan on UK Workshop. 'Cept I'm hoping I have enough oak skulling about to produce two pairs, which maybe a bridge too far. I won't know until I've dug out the oak and had a measure up, which I can't do until the back eases up a tad. No worries though, I hear you cry, plenty of time until Christmas. Ah, no. You see one brother is coming down at the beginning of October from rural Kent, and it'd be handy to have them ready to go by then. And you know my rate of project progress... So once again I'm looking at a project with limited materials and a tight-ish schedule. Arrrghhhhhh... I must be mad.

In other news, I managed to haul myself around the car boot sale last Sunday and came back with 10m of decent canvas for £2. I've long harboured a desire to make something with a tambour, and now I have the canvas to do so. Now I just need the time, timber and skill... Oh, and a glue pot. I notice Tage Frid (RIP) swore by hide glue for gluing canvas onto tambour slats and who am I to argue? Well I may yet argue depending on whether I ever get round to trying hide glue. It's been on the "To Try" list longer than the tambours...