To See The World In A Grain Of Sand

Variants of sandpaper have been around since 13th Century China where they used natural gum to adhere shells, sand and seeds to parchment.  I have also found several references to shark skin, pumice, equisetum hyemale, and several other abrasive materials being used to polish and sand the surfaces of wood and stone.

The nerd in me (okay, so all of me) got all excited when I found out that the concept of sandpaper turned out to have been around for centuries before the first real mass production of "glass paper" by John Oakey in 1833.  There were even written warnings for counterfeit glass paper being sold on the streets of Paris in the mid 1700's.

The Best Way To Predict The Future Is To Create It

That quote, by Peter Drucker, sums up what companies like Shapton and Spyderco are doing for ceramic sharpening and honing materials.  Through research and development, ceramics are becoming amazingly versatile in both shapes and grades.  The relative hardness of this material, when properly manufactured, allows for its potential use in sharpening, honing and shaping any metal available in the marketplace today including hardened carbide teeth.

Raspier Than Tom Waits

I have been working on rebuilding an old crosscut saw.  I wanted the handle/tote to have all those sexy curves and nice rounded edges that have started to make a well deserved comeback on handsaws.  I don't own a spindle sander so I went with the next best thing, a Shinto Saw Rasp and a woodworking Microplane.  Well, it's better than using my teeth I suppose.

Check Out My Package!

Making misleading titles, as it turns out, is a fun new hobby.  I recently got my package from Lie Nielsen, they didn't have what I wanted on hand at the handtool event so they shipped it to me free of charge.  I got the box before Thanksgiving (shipping was prompt) but, unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to photograph it or get it written up until now.

Gonna Pull This Timber 'Fore the Sun Goes Down

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I got to have fun on someone else's dime, so it was pretty much like any other weekend...  One of my oldest friends and his father are building a cabin in the woods.  See how I made something innocent sound like something disgusting?  In all seriousness though, they are actually constructing a timber frame cabin locally that we'll take apart and reassemble at its final location.

Essential Oils

Okay, so this sharpening video took slightly longer to record than expected.  It also ended up being a much longer video than expected, it's three parts so get a cup of coffee or a snack...or both!  I like history, especially obscure history that is both hard to find and has to do with the origins of little known or forgotten objects.  The first half of this video covers a small portion of the history of oilstones, and it turns out that American oilstones have a truly interesting history.

Ahhhh The Good Old Days

Imagine the logging industry in the United States in its earliest days.  Loggers were felling trees that were potentially over a thousand years old. It is no wonder that we find so many old homes, especially in the North West made out of beautiful lumber, so beautiful in fact that it is now common to salvage it to make furniture.  Picture ripping a 2x4 out of your wall and saying "wow this would make a beautiful coffee table!"  I recently received some photos from a friend of mine in an email which are below.  I have no idea where these photos came from but they make my heart skip a beat when I see them.