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.
Forming end board
Making rabbet joint on side board with skew block plane
Dovetail success. End board connected to bottom board
Fitting handle after creating mortises
Rounding out the end boards
Forming handle
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.
Part of the shop
Pedal Jig saw
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.”
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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.