the animal's journal

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theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

ffj wrote:
Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:25 am
by ffj » Sun, 08 Jan 2023, 9:25
Thanks, I'll take some more pictures of the tools from now on. We have used some Japanese saws. I think this week we will be learning about sharpening everything.

From here on out we will be making some layout tools (straight edge, winding sticks, bench hooks), workbench tote, joiner's tool tote (connected by dovetails), chisel cabinet and the final project is a frame and panel chest.
jacob wrote:
Sun Jan 08, 2023 9:34 am
How did you drill the right angle for the holes in the stool? Drillpress? By hand? Auger? Forstner? Bradpoint? Either way, how did you line it up correctly. I find drilling holes at a [correct] angle (other than 90deg) to be an absolute pain.
2 holes, both drilled by hand using an auger. The first was a counter bore with a larger bit just barely below the surface and then we went through with a smaller bit. We had sight lines drawn from the holes straight off the other side of the stool. I'm not sure if the thing we used to get the correct angle had a name or not. It was just a small thin flat board (say 4" x 6") with a similar sized board resting centered on top perpendicularly and just fastened to the board below by some painter's tape. One of the ends of the board on top was cut an an angle (~10.5 degrees). We lined up this board with the sight lines of the hole we intended to drill. With the help of someone else looking from the side, we could see whether or not the auger was at the correct angle vertically. I can take a picture of it tomorrow if my description doesn't make sense.

jacob
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by jacob »

theanimal wrote:
Sun Jan 08, 2023 11:12 am
2 holes, both drilled by hand using an auger. The first was a counter bore with a larger bit just barely below the surface and then we went through with a smaller bit. We had sight lines drawn from the holes straight off the other side of the stool. I'm not sure if the thing we used to get the correct angle had a name or not. It was just a small thin flat board (say 4" x 6") with a similar sized board resting centered on top perpendicularly and just fastened to the board below by some painter's tape. One of the ends of the board on top was cut an an angle (~10.5 degrees). We lined up this board with the sight lines of the hole we intended to drill. With the help of someone else looking from the side, we could see whether or not the auger was at the correct angle vertically. I can take a picture of it tomorrow if my description doesn't make sense.
Always counterbore with an auger. I usually put my finger on the other (exit) size to feel for the tip of the screw and once I feel it, I flip the board and finish the hole from the other side.

The rest of the description was indeed lost on me, so looking forward to the picture [worth a thousand words]. It's likely one of those experiential things.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

jacob wrote:
Sun Jan 08, 2023 11:41 am
Always counterbore with an auger. I usually put my finger on the other (exit) size to feel for the tip of the screw and once I feel it, I flip the board and finish the hole from the other side.
Yes, we did that same technique for throughbore, stopping once the tip of the screw passed through and going the rest of the way from the other side. Counterbore is different though, at least the way we were taught. Counterbore is just a larger hole that does not go all the way through designed to provide a way for whatever is being placed in the throughbore to sit flush with the rest of the piece. That one we stopped once the auger passed through once or twice on the higher side (higher since it is being bored at an angle). This allowed us to keep the shoulder below the tenon square and not have to make an angled cut for the legs to sit flush with the seat. We did not make counterbores on the bench, because of the shape of the wood where the legs were located. For that one, we made angled cuts at the shoulder below the tenon so that the legs sit flush with the base of the bench seat.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

jacob wrote:
Sun Jan 08, 2023 11:41 am
The rest of the description was indeed lost on me, so looking forward to the picture [worth a thousand words]. It's likely one of those experiential things.
In all it's glory.

Image

This isn't the exact one we used but same idea. The edge on the left side of the board running vertically is set at 10.5 degrees. We would line it up on the sight line in front of the hole we wanted to drill. It's the same as pictured here, just imagine there wasn't a leg in there already. Then as I drill, I can tell from that straight on angle whether or not I'm level horizontally (left/right). A person off to the side, such as in the position of the point of view of this photo, looks to make sure the auger is parallel with the angle on the board, thus ensuring it is at the correct angle vertically. I figure you could use a mirror in place of another set of eyes.

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Re: the animal's journal

Post by jacob »

Got it!

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

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Woodworking Class Week 2 of 12

Projects
-Straightedge
-Winding sticks
-Bench Hook
-Chisel scabbard

Skills learned
-Making a straight edge
-Reading wood grain
-Identifying flaws/distortions in wood boards
-Making a board 6 square
-Use of various planers
-Using dividers
-Finding angle with marking bevel
-Using marking gauge
-How to create a dado
- How to cut a rabbet joint
-Use of crosscut/rip/coping saws
-Sharpening chisels, planers and other tools
-Applying non toxic or nearly non toxic finishes like tung oil and shellac

It was a dense week of learning. Our first project of the week was making a straight edge. For those unfamiliar, a straight edge is used when planing boards to see if they are plane (flat) or have any distortions. We started out with a cherry board making one of it's edges completely straight with a jackplane, then laying out and shaping a curve on the opposite edge with a drawknife and spokeshave. We drilled holes in the center, then used a coping saw to cut out the remaining portion for space for a handle. After cleaning up the edges, we applied some tung oil.

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Using a completed straightedge to make the board plane with a jackplane

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Using coping saw to make handle hole

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Cleaning up the edges with a rasp and spokeshave

The next project was making a pair of winding sticks. These are used to tell if a board has any wind (or twist). We started with 2 different pieces of wood, walnut and basswood, making both pieces 4 square (square to each of the 4 faces/edges and completely plane). Once both were square and plane, we glued the pieces together. After resting overnight, we made a rip cut just to the inside of the basswood board, leaving about half an inch or so of basswood connected to the walnut. We then worked to make those cut edges square once more. The end goal was to make the sticks tapered from the bottom to the narrowest point at the top. We used dividers on the top edge to divide the material into thirds, then on on the ends continued the lines down and ended them at the corners. We proceeded to remove the desired material with a jack plane. First we captured the angle at the ends, then proceeded to connect the two ends by planing straight through. The project was finished by using a marking bevel to find the angle of the new taper, then marking twice that angle on the ends and cutting them off with a crosscut saw. Finally, we made a chamfer on the edges then applied 3 coats of shellac.

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Winding sticks after ripping apart the glued boards

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Winding sticks complete pre shellac

I had the most trouble with the final project, making a bench hook. A bench hook is used on top of a workbench to hold a piece in place. There were a lot of parts to this project. We cut a board about two hand widths in length by roughly 1.5 hand widths in width. Then proceeded to make that board 6 square (square and plane on every side). This took me a really long time. We used already completed bench hooks to make the ends square with a block plane. We also squared a much smaller walnut board. After the boards were completely square, we cut a dado (groove) in one end, weaking the joint with a crosscut saw and then roughing it out with a chisel. We finished up the cut by using a router plane (very fun to use!). The dado was sized to exactly fit the width of the walnut board and I was able to put it in place easily. There was to be a similar dado on the other side of the board on the opposing end. So we cut a dado once more, using a chisel to do the bulk of the work this time. We used a rabbet joint here, so the dado was cut slightly narrower than the board being inserted. On the walnut board being inserted, we laid out and then cut a groove at one of the edges using a shoulder plane. This took a lot of finagling once these 2 cuts were done to ensure a fit that was both snug and square. We are near the end of the project but have not finished yet. The last task I was doing was using a plane whose name I can't remember to create a lower surface on one of the boards.

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Squaring ends of board on a bench hook with a block plane

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Creating and cleaning up dado

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Using router plane

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Making shoulder for rabbet joint with shoulder plane

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Rabbet joint

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Two joints complete

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Using (specific name which I've forgotten) plane

So far the most promising leads for ideas and income generating opportunities have not come from the school. I go to the local YMCA pool 6 days/week to swim laps and do some other workouts. It is a relatively small community and the demographics tend to range much, much older, so as the new guy and youngest person by some 30 plus years, I stick out. I have gotten to talking with some of the regulars and have found there are a lot of connections to woodworking in this area. There is one guy who makes pieces on his own and hasn't sold any, but has high demand for certain items like a jewelry case, and is thinking of starting his own shop with limited selection, geared towards tourists. There is another guy who worked professionally with his own businesses as a cabinet maker/fine woodworker as well as a contract electrician who has offered a lot of advice. And yet another who doesn't do any woodworking himself but is friends with another guy in town who has run a timber frame operation for a few decades. It'll be interesting to see how this develops.

jacob
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by jacob »

The woodworking connections may be due to the shipbuilding/wooden boat festival of Pt Townsend. There's also some woodworking stuff going on down in Pt Hadlock IIRC.

Next up is a shooting board. I use that a lot more than my benchhook.

BTW, does anyone in the shop use holdfasts? That was the standard method before vises became cheap (pre-indutrial construction of metal screws were really hard).

ffj
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by ffj »

Looks like a combination plane by Veritas.

Those plastic handled chisels are hurting my soul. That needs to stop. Haha

Looks like you are getting a good lesson in technique. Nicely done!

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

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jacob wrote:
Sat Jan 14, 2023 12:48 pm
The woodworking connections may be due to the shipbuilding/wooden boat festival of Pt Townsend. There's also some woodworking stuff going on down in Pt Hadlock IIRC.

Next up is a shooting board. I use that a lot more than my benchhook.

BTW, does anyone in the shop use holdfasts? That was the standard method before vises became cheap (pre-indutrial construction of metal screws were really hard).
Spot on. I forgot to mention it but that board in the last picture on the right is for the eventual shooting board. Just need to make the router cut.

Yes, everyone in class uses a holdfast everyday. It is very helpful, the one we use is pictured (unused) in the first picture of the dado above.
ffj wrote:
Sat Jan 14, 2023 1:36 pm
Looks like a combination plane by Veritas.
Yes, that's the one.

And thanks. We do have a set of bench chisels that are made out of wood, but yes otherwise those ones are in plastic..

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

I eventually should buy a chisel. What's wrong with the plastic handles?

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

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Gilberto de Piento wrote:
Sun Jan 15, 2023 5:52 pm
I eventually should buy a chisel. What's wrong with the plastic handles?
Functionally, nothing. It's just an aesthetic preference.

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

If I'm buying with aesthetics in mind Id get the old buck bros with the transparent yellow handle. I prefer that to the wood. That was what the old dudes had when I was younger so it must have left an impression on me. For the handyman work I do the looks really don't matter.

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Re: the animal's journal

Post by jacob »

Gilberto de Piento wrote:
Sun Jan 15, 2023 5:52 pm
I eventually should buy a chisel. What's wrong with the plastic handles?
I have the standard set of Irwin Marples. See https://www.amazon.com//dp/B000RG2Y56 I bought them because a lot of contemporary woodworking books recommended those in particular. I don't have any complaints but I also don't have any other bench chisels to compare them to. I sometimes miss having a 1/8"(*) but not enough to buy one. Also, unlike mortising chisels, I don't think one really needs an entire set.

(*) But this probably depends on the general size of the stuff you're building. I usually make smaller things.

The benefit of plastic is that you can whale on them without ever cracking the handle. Wood handles need to be maintained with oil. The benefit of wood is that you can replace the handle when/if it breaks. Another benefit of plastic is that they tend to be cheaper.

Note that the Irwins arrive with the back in a rough finish, so you have to sand that down to a mirror finish yourself (oh joy!).

ffj
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by ffj »

@Gilberto

It's aesthetics and feel and patina of the wood.

Sort of like a classic rifle with metal and wood versus excessive plastic of new guns. The Japanese make beautiful chisels that are usually pre-honed to a beautiful edge with classic wooden handles. Compare that to a chisel from Home Depot that has the mill marks on the back of the blade.

Not to say you can't make a cheap chisel into a nice one which I have done many times. But tools really shine when they are both beautiful and fully functional. Makes you want to use them.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

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Woodworking Class Week 3 of 12

Projects
-Bench top tote
-Trisquare

Skills learned
--Making and fitting an object into a groove
-Stopped dado
-Bridal joint
-Half-laps

Back to one main project for the week. This week we made a bench top tote.

We first created a story stick, a board where we detailed all of our dimensions of our layout, then used that to layout the sizing of our material. Our first task was making a ¼’ wide 3/16” deep groove with a plow plane on 2 boards. These would be the sides of the tote and the groove would hold the bottom board of the tote. Once the groove was set, we cut the boards to length, ending with 2 longer boards for the sides and 2 short boards for the ends. On each of the boards, we made half lap joints at the end, using rip & cross cut saws to remove the bulk of the material, then paring the remainder away with a chisel.

Image

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Half lap joints

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Voila

With another board, we sketched out the shape of our divider/handle. Then I cut away the bulk of the material with a coping saw, returning with a spokeshave and file to fine tune my design. The handle opening was removed with a 5/8’ auger bit and then joined with a coping saw.
On the end boards, we made a stopped dado running down the middle to receive the end of the divider. After that was complete, we used a shoulder plane to make a rabbet joint on the divider ends and fit it in place.

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Rough shaping the divider

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Making the stopped dado

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Rabbet joint on end of the divider

The last step was to shape the bottom board and cut it to size. We did so with a rip and crosscut saw then marked the material we wanted to remove. On the edges, we used a jack plane to create a bevel that would fit the 1/4 " groove that we created on the bottom of the side/end boards.
Image

Final step was to chamfer the edges and smooth out the surfaces. After a dry fit check and some further fine tuning to make sure that everything was square and there were no gaps, we applied some glue to the half joints and clamped them for the weekend. On Monday we will drive copper finish nails into the ends.

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Checking fit

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----------------------------------------------------

We successfully obtained a permit for the PCT. We will be departing southbound to Mexico from Hart’s Pass near the Canadian border on July 9. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the winter progresses, but for the moment snow levels are above normal for the majority of the mountain areas on the trail, which could be fortuitous for us in limiting summer wildfires. We will see. As mentioned above, we are not beholden to being purists and doing every mile of the trail, so if conditions dictate a change in plans we will adapt accordingly.

I don’t think we will need to get much of anything to outfit ourselves for the trip. We are looking at a double quilt (maybe Ray Jardine model) to reduce weight and will need some shoes, but outside of those we are all squared away. Our biggest dilemma is figuring out what to do regarding the diaper situation for baby animal. We have plenty of reusables, but are uncertain whether 1. There will be enough water access to wash them (I think yes, Mrs. Animal thinks no). and 2. Whether they can dry out quick enough if we only bring a ~day’s worth (they take a very long time to airdry). A blend of both reusables and disposables might suffice, but it would be nice to keep disposables to as small as possible. I’ve read a couple accounts of people taking couple week backpacking trips with an infant that kind of goes along those lines. I’ll need to do some more research.

Our plan is to go as light as possible for us as baby animal and the pack we have to carry her are more than enough weight. Baby animal should be about 18-22 pounds for the trip and the pack for her is 7. Mrs. Animal will take her as well as maybe our quilt and tent (additional 4 lbs). I’ll be the food, water, diaper and remaining gear mule. Nonetheless, from first glance it seems pretty good. My goal is to have Mrs. Animal under 35 lbs total and my base weight should come in under 10 lbs, allowing for an ample amount of room for food and water.

7Wannabe5
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

I had two kids in old school cloth diapers and rubber pants while living in graduate student housing with shared laundry facilities, so I would fairly frequently end up pinning on random old towels as diapers. So, my suggestion would be that you could maybe experiment with layering light-weight microfiber or similar towels as quicker drying option. Also, a very thin disposable or removable liner could greatly reduce the amount of water needed to clean a poopy diaper. Otherwise, I don't see how you are going to be able to get by with less than at least two buckets of water at least once per day.

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Ego
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by Ego »

I cannot help but continue to be amazed by you two (three!). When we were in rural Africa we saw lots of infants but almost no diapers. No idea how that worked but maybe there is some insight there. Will keep eyes peeled for Salomons. Keep rockin'.

7Wannabe5
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

If you keep a baby very close to you, you can develop a sense for when to hold it away from you so it can evacuate. Obviously, this works better in situations where you are close to nature.

theanimal
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Re: the animal's journal

Post by theanimal »

@7- One of my friends was discussing this with me. Apparently there is a book out about it now and he did it with one of his kids. Elimination communication. We have not tried that yet, but it may be worth pursuing. From what I can imagine, it'd be easiest with a baby that's carried in front, but of course that is not the ideal position to carry any weight for extended periods. I'm also unsure as to how excited Mrs. Animal will be to chance an experience of "missed" communication. Lightweight microfiber towels are an interesting idea. I'll have to check that out.

@Ego- Thanks!

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Re: the animal's journal

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Things keep progressing along at woodworking school. We are now nearly halfway through the course, with only 2 big projects remaining. The past 2 weeks consisted of making a bench top tool tote, for planers, saws etc. We were introduced to dovetails with this project, fastening the ends/bottom board together via this style of joinery. We spent 3 days practicing, then cutting out dovetails on our actual material. After shaping the handle, it was fastened with mortise and tenon and the rest was a continuation of previous practices, 6 squaring boards, shaping material with spokeshave/rasp/file, creating rabbet joints and more. I'm slowly getting better at the finer aspects, which is generally not my forte.

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Forming end board

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Making rabbet joint on side board with skew block plane

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Dovetail success. End board connected to bottom board

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Fitting handle after creating mortises

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Rounding out the end boards

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Forming handle

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Close to end product. Just glued up after this picture. pins for the handle on Monday and a couple layers of Tung oil or shellac

A week ago we went out to tour the workshop of the instructor who taught us how to make the 3 legged stool. He has been working with wood professionally for 50 years and it was a delight to hear his stories. He designed and built his shop himself, 8 sided building with views of his farm and within held a plethora of interesting tools and materials that he has used and collected over the years (some examples being an elephant ladder and a pedal powered jig saw) . He talked a lot about how he got started woodworking, tools he thought were essential, styles of building and how to go about doing it professionally. His main income source for many years was his business as a non toxic, non plywood cabinet maker and that eventually evolved into making chairs (which he sells for ~$2k a piece!) and miscellaneous things like gypsy wagons ($90k!). Very enjoyable experience and felt like something straight out of a Kirsten Dirksen profile.

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Part of the shop

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Pedal Jig saw

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Gypsy Wagon

I have been giving thought to how I would like to outfit myself following this course. One of the founders of the school, Jim Tolpin, has written a dozen plus woodworking books and in his book, The New Traditional Woodworker, shares his thoughts on what he thinks is worth having in a shop for the individual that would like to continue this style of practice. Machine wise, he opts for a bandsaw and a drill press, with hand tools serving as the primary instruments. That appeals to me, but I think I would like to go forward with a minimal setup and eschew any big machines for the time being. One of my neighbors does have a sawmill that I am free to use at any time so I do have that at my disposal. I have nearly a full set of chisels already as well as a full length rip saw. Perhaps some smaller saws, a jack plane, block plane, smoothing plane, draw knife, maybe spokeshave and some layout tools and I will be all set. Seems like prices have gone up quite a bit since last time I was looking at planes on eBay a few years ago. $450 for a jackplane!

I don’t really have any plans for making anything substantial. I told Mrs. Animal I would make her a rocking chair at some point. I am very much intrigued by the style of Sam Maloof’s chairs. I would also like to make some bows and maybe arrows out of local material (spruce, birch, alder) and a pair of wooden cross country skis. For the moment, we are still operating under limited space so I think my ambitions will be tempered from going too wild until that changes.

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I was solo the past month, with Mrs. Animal and baby animal spending time visiting Mrs. Animal’s family. It was the most time Mrs. Animal and I had spent apart to date, which had its challenges but also afforded me a bit more time to myself than I have been accustomed to. Much of that was allocated to fitness and I have gotten back into a great routine that has me feeling on the way back to my physical peak of 5 years ago. I am not going to reach it, as at that point I was single, working even less than I do now and exercising 3+ hours a day. But I am feeling good, spending 5-6 days a week at the pool, (alternating days of laps and Laird Hamilton style pool workouts) 3-4 days a week of kettlebells, 3 days a week of interval running, and burpees/calisthenics spread throughout. Walking everywhere has certainly helped as has doing physical labor all day.

Baby animal has offered a somewhat unexpected opportunity for further physical training. Carrying her around strengthens the forearms like nothing I’ve experienced, with the sole exception being when I did the 500 daily kettlebell swing challenge. We do not use a stroller or any carriers not connected to us so we are holding her one way or another whenever we travel/move and often at other points throughout the day. The practice reminds me a little of Milo of Croton from Ancient Greece, who was notorious for his feats of strength. I am inspired by the following:
He would train in the off years by carrying a newborn calf on his back every day until the Olympics took place. By the time the events were to take place, he was carrying a four-year-old cow on his back. He carried the full-grown cow the length of the stadium, then proceeded to kill, roast, and eat it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_of_Croton
This is not all dissimilar to the opportunity parents are presented with children. Progressive training on a natural scale. I aim to do the same with baby animal, carrying her until she does not want to be carried. I abhor and am repulsed by the popular interpretation of a “dad bod.”

-----------------------------------------------------

I really, really enjoyed the following books last month.
-Never Finished by David Goggins
-Chaos by Tom O’ Neill
-The Son by Phillip Meyer

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We have our PCT resupply plan mostly finalized. The plan is to pack and ship an assortment of food to the smaller locales and shop for food where there are more options/bigger stores. It ends up being about a 2/3 ship to 1/3 buy on the go. Mrs. Animal has many friends who work for outdoor companies due to her many years working on trails, including the PCT. One such friend was kind enough to provide us with free digital maps/guides/info through an app for the company he works for.

It’s kind of weird planning for this trip after having done pretty much exclusively all trips in my time backpacking off trail. When I did my first wilderness race I studied google earth and the topo maps so much that I memorized the route/terrain and rarely needed to look at my maps for the ~130 miles. I don’t think that will be the same for this trip. With a trail for the whole way, a plethora of maps, compass and gps, and a well travelled route, I will be doing a lot less in advance. Route finding is one aspect of trips that I enjoy the most, which unfortunately is very much diminished on trails. Finding the best walking, least obstacles, next game trail makes for engaging travel. There is a lack of monotony and you can’t zone out as easily. I’ve read accounts of people on PCT and similar environments saying things like “earbud miles” where they find the trail so monotonous that they use podcast/audiobook/music to escape. I find that kind of sad.

The lesser planning kind of ends up being a good thing. Wonder has been greatly diminished by the presence of the internet. Now prior to trips, whether in the city or some remote natural feature, people will look at pictures/videos/information in advance, which in my opinion diminishes the experience and any possibility for awe. Making everything that is/was sacred, profane. Any easy example is pictograph/petroglyph sites. I noticed that concept first in my NOLS course, having gone into it with no conception of Alaska or any of the places we were travelling. Everything was fresh as I experienced it, and it was my experience, not that of some guidebook or blog online.

All that said, it will still be an endeavor with plenty of challenges. I suspect just in ways different than I am accustomed to.

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