Mish Mash

Here is John Waters sitting in his finished chair, I was happy to be a stop on his American Adventure. For the Australian fellow who wanted to see photos of the chair, I suggest stopping by for a visit, he's a talented woodworker and lots of fun.


Lately, I've been all over the map (literally and figuratively), so I thought I'd share some of the happenings.

Here is a quick sketch that I made recently of a figure rocking. I've been working out ideas about balance and support in my never ending efforts to design better rocking chairs.



Here is the robin that is nesting outside my shop window. The chicks are all mouths when the robin returns with food. The nest is so clear from inside the shop, it's like watching a nature program.


I'm sure we've all wished that spindles grew in the garden, but these ones were put there to support a tarp that blocked the frost.


Here is my second generation goat manger. Not only did they bust up the first one that I made, but I learned of the design flaws by watching them waste hay. This design, that I got from a book with lousy measurements and some poor advice (yes, goats can jump 42"). The great part of the design is that the hay is loaded in the top and then it's held up by some cross bars. The goats naturally like to reach up to feed and the hay that they discard falls in the bin below. We're going through much less hay and they seem to like the challenge of pulling it out.


Here is Mark Hudson carving the ears of the crest on his comb back rocker last week.



Bending the crest with the Irwin clamps is no problem. I used to wrestle the crest along the bend, but it really is no effort to draw it to the form with the clamps.


Balancing the rockers is always a challenge, but in the end it worked out beautifully.


Here's Mark with the finished chair. Mark had the dubious honor of being here while I "processed" our first batch of cornish chickens. I am still learning the technique and Mark was good enough to point out my flaws! By the way, you missed it Mark, the chicken dinner was fantastic (if I may say so!)


I spent the first part of the week in Ohio talking to manufacturers about my caliper. I've already posted on my website that I am happy to be extending the introductory price of the Galbert Caliper. I've been working hard to keep the price down, make it in the US and still be able to sell it through catalogs and with some effort, I think that we are going to pull it off.

Now I am off to teach with Curtis at the North Bennet Street School, so I guess that settling down isn't in the cards. With all the action around here, I've been missing my blog posting time, I'm looking forward to more videos on the skew, we aren't done with that beast yet!
Thanks for checking in.