17 May, 2021, Oakland, CA I have become an absolute woodworking podcast junkie. The best – in my humble opinion – is FineWoodWorking’s Shop Talk Live. I began listening to the most recent episodes around the turn of the new year and have been working my way back in time. I’m currently somewhere in mid-2015 with […]
A Nice Place for Coffee or Tea Read More »
23 Mar, 2021, Oakland, CA I love to cook and love cooking gadgets so I was excited when I recently received an Ooini pizza oven as a gift. I begin today’s dispatch with this topic because learning to use this new oven reminded me of some cooking fundamentals that parallel woodworking quite aptly. The popularity
Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast Read More »
24 Feb, 2021, Oakland, CA I’m happy with how these funky little Oak chairs turned out. I began this project last summer because I had acquired and refurbished an equally funky Oak table with sleek steel legs and put it in my kitchen. I kept the chairs from our old craftsman-style dining set. The combination
Bell Bottom Chairs Read More »
10 Feb, 2021 I have the good fortune of living on the sunny side of the Bay Area in California. Beyond the incredibly pleasant weather we get here ⅞ of the year, access to incredible natural resources like the beach, the Sierra, wine country & more, my favorite thing is the people. Folks here are
Rollie is the Man! (Oh, and notes on coloring wood) Read More »
08 Feb, 2021 OK, I think the less is more approach is really less and not more. I re-read a few of my posts from the start of this thing and I realized how much I had already forgotten. And how much I missed expressing myself here, whether anyone is reading or not (Greg). So,
I missed you guys! Read More »
13 Jan, 2021 – Oakland, CA I’ve had a feeling lately that I have been struggling to articulate. I still don’t think I can do so with perfect fidelity, but not trying to is starting to make me tired and distracted. So here it is: writing every day for the sake of writing every day
[Administrative Note] re: Inspirado Read More »
09-11 Jan, 2020, Oakland, CA I’ve been busy in the shop the last few days. I created another of those redwood platters – this one a bit more refined – with small feet and very subtle shaping to the underside. I continue to experiment with ways to highlight the variation in wood density in redwood
08 Jan, 2020 – Oakland, CA Despite a solid 6h of shop time, I only got one board done (goal was four). It turned out pretty nicely, but was not what I imagined. In the first 15 minutes or so of work I was reminded of how soft redwood can be. That slab from a
Sometimes the Wood is in Charge Read More »
07 Jan, 2020 – Oakland, CA Today was a busy day. I completed final sanding, polishing & finishing on those pieces from yesterday, then broke down that large slab with a skill saw, then beveled the edges on the table saw and began routing out a dish shape on the tops. Took a walk with
06 Jan, 2020 – Oakland, CA How to turn a bunch of scraps into beautiful things? A lot of patience. I started with an odd little triangle-shaped piece of eucalyptus that was pretty badly cupped. The cupping looked like a nice shallow dish to me so I got to work on the bandsaw. Once I
