Meet the muddlers This is a mini muddler: for making short drinks. What is a muddler? A bartender’s tool for crushing leaves and berries so the juices can escape into your glass. Big brother muddler: for muddling or beating up intruders. Baseball bat muddler, for home runs. Carved muddler for hipsters, Or anyone who likes facets. Emergency muddler… Read More
Single serve mini speaker Today I opened a package that I had forgotten that I had ordered. It was a $0.76 mini chip amp from China. I wanted to test it, so I searched to see if I had any free drivers. Lo and behold I had a busted laptop from my brother’s college days. A few minutes with… Read More
Coffee scoop proliferation I have enjoyed making coffee scoops lately. These are short and sweet compared to many of my projects. They have a beginning, middle, and end without much extra anywhere. In short, they are fun. Left is walnut, the roundest of the scoops. The middle two are hawthorn that my dad cut from the woods in… Read More
Small walnut coffee scoop I’ve started making spoons recently. This is one of my most recent: a little walnut coffee scoop. I carved this with a hatchet and 2 knives: my homemade carving knife and a morakniv hook knife. The process goes like this: Draw shape Use hook knife to hollow bowl Use axe to cut away everything that… Read More
A new favorite tool Here’s a tool I’ve been meaning to make since I started woodworking. Now that I have it I’m kicking myself for not making it earlier. It would have made all of my other work more fun. What is it? The humble strop. Basically it is the final sharpening stone. This particularly fine example is a… Read More
A short stool for sitting on As I was building the small Welsh stick chair there was a time when the undercarriage was finished but the top wasn’t attached. Wouldn’t you know it, we sat on that thing all the time. We put coffee mugs on it; we set laptops on it; we used it as an end table wherever we… Read More
The carving knife part 2 In my previous post about my work on the carving knife I mentioned that I thought I had stumbled into a differential heat treat. But I wasn’t sure until I actually etched the blade. Well my ferric chloride arrived the other day. It comes with all kinds of fun tidbits on the bottle, like “caustic”… Read More
What do you use chisels for? I have been getting my brother into woodworking. We went tool shopping yesterday and came out with a huge haul. Last night I was showing him how to flatten the backs of his chisels and he asked, “When would you want to hit the chisel with a hammer?” So I pulled out my chisels and… Read More
On its way On its way Today I put the karambit into the mail. It is on its way to the (hopefully happy) owner. Before the knife was ready to ship I needed to make a case for it. Instead of a traditional leather sheath I decided to go with a wooden case. I borrowed a little bit… Read More
A Japanese style woodworking toolbox Today I trekked to home depot where I bought a 12-foot long 8-inch by 1-inch pine board. This board would become a toolbox. The Japanese style toolbox is a versatile form. I first encountered it in Toshio Odate’s, Japanese Woodworking Tools, their spirit and use. I already use one of these toolboxes all the time… Read More