The Battle Continues

Depressingly, I think this tidying business is going to have to continue. I did start on something else, and almost immediately had to stop and conduct a 10 minute search for a tool I needed in order to continue. It's madness. So Spring Cleaning it is.

The most obvious place to start is here. Not good, is it? Still not absolutely sure where to put the Moore & Wright chest - it seems less than ideal to have it permanently taking up real estate on the bench. But the branches, those I know where to put.

Thus I adjourned to the potting shed with them and spent an hour or so moving all the hoarded garden "timber" out from under the potting bench so I could put the newer, unseasoned stuff at the back, and access all the now beautifully seasoned stuff at the front. No picture because that would really be hard to spot the difference, but it was very helpful. I now have a vague idea what I have, that some of it has been there for as long as six years (!), and that the bulk of the apple has had to go owing to the tell-tale flight holes of some annoying wood-munching bastard insect. Grrr.

I also took the opportunity to bring a few odds and sods down to the workshop to ascertain what bits of their larger brethren might actually be of any use. A bit of eucalyptus (upright), and (from back to front) plum, apple, pittosporum, and a tiny piece of - possibly - mahonia.

Unfortunately pretty much all the possibly-mahonia has split like crazy (it was always going to be a bit of a shot in the dark) but it's such a wonderful acid yellow, I'm going to do my damnedest to save something of it. Even if it's only large enough for a mini basher or decorative inlay on something.

The eucalyptus has, so far, thumbed its nose at the critics and behaved beautifully. Can't believe that'll last, but we'll see. I've made one file handle (of the very many required) to see how it goes.

Oh, one other thing this is testing - my turning. Seems I've got to stop pretending otherwise and acknowledge that I've pretty much forgotten everything I ever knew. Time to get out the Master Work and start re-reading. Only one problem, of course.

I have to find it first.