Wednesday, May 29, 2013

These Boots Were Forced To Garden


As more possible workshop time is scythed away by gardening *cough* *spit* *urgh* *etc*, I'm wondering if I should temporarily change this blog title to "Musings From The Garden Bench" just to have something on topic to write about. Although first I'd have to find the garden bench...

I should warn you though, while as a woodworker I'm all about enjoying the journey, as a gardener the sole focus is ticking the flippin' job off the list. Thus the Old Man, who likes gardening (I swear I must be adopted) might suggest, for instance, that I try the Ransome's Ajax on the front lawn, because he claims it gives much the best result. It's an Old Tool, right? You confidently expect me to be all over that.

Think again.

In actual fact, my internalised response is more along the lines of "Dude, are you &*$%!^* delusional? It's heavy and I have to do all the pushing. Now shift those crutches and let me get to the extension lead and the Flymo."

Yes, folks, the awful truth about me and the garden is... I'm a rabid Normite.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Snapshot

Forgive me, reader; it really wasn't supposed to be this long since my last conf- er, entry. What's that Latin motto? "Art is long, life is short"? Well days are long, hours are short. Someone render that in Latin and I'll fail to find some time to render it with carved serifs and wotnot.

Anyway, at the risk of this being old news if I was more in touch with current woodworking events, I tripped over the website of photographer Steve Kenward, and specifically his project entitled Made Not Manufactured. Essentially going around the UK, meeting and photographing various craftspersons at work. Workshops, tools, skilled work? What's not to like there? Fascinating stuff. Only drawback is, naturally enough when selling the pics is your livelihood, the available size of photographs doesn't let you get as much detail as you might wish. No matter, 'tis good stuff and I've already spent several moments of downtime on there, absorbing.

And also coveting a knotworker's hammer handle. Which is not (or knot) something I ever envisioned saying. I feel ashamed that I have made such pedestrian hammer handles, and now have "decorative hammer handle" on the To Do List.