What did you do in your shop today?

My 10 year old was picking through my burn pile and grabbed a piece and said it looked like an axe (or hatchet more appropriately). I really wanted to final sand a board I was working on, but kids don't want to do things with Dad for too many years. We decided to make it happen (pic 1). He found some thin Claro Burl for handles, as it got pretty thin in that area. He wanted to paint it black, so I shamed him about covering the beauty of natural wood. After spraying a couple sloppy coats of Poly, he agreed! I try to remind myself not to get too caught up in the shop, but it's how I decompress. I still got my board sprayed, dried, and final sanded (pic 2).

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@Jonkou Drove down to Florida to see my sick dad wishing I had my chainsaw to collect different woods from here. Btw, what kind of cherry is that being so light colored? Much lighter than the black cherry I often see around my area.
 
@Jonkou Drove down to Florida to see my sick dad wishing I had my chainsaw to collect different woods from here. Btw, what kind of cherry is that being so light colored? Much lighter than the black cherry I often see around my area.
Typical cherry from around here, the log these are from grew in Berwick ME. They will oxidize quickly once oiled and exposed to sunlight like this flat sawn one from the same log.

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My brother in law sent me a new weather station for Christmas and i've been waiting to install a post to mount it on. We lost two aspen trees out front so I saved the top 10 ft from one and used it as the post for my weather station. Cemented it into the ground in the back. Made a little wooden saddle to screw the base plate to and then flattened the sides of the aspen so the wooden saddle fit snugly. Then after reading the installation instructions, I realized I needed to orient the station so the wind vane would read correctly - so had to re-flatten two different sides and rotate the wooden saddle (it was easier than making a new saddle). But once I got it up there and batteries installed, it all fired right up. NOw I'm reading how to register it with Wunderground.com (Weather Underground) which would allow anyone who makes a free account there to see the data from my station. And it allows me to see it from anyplace using an app on my phone. Not that I really need that, just something else to keep busy.

I also got the skirt / apron glued up for that little table I'm working on. Next step for that is to make the drawer and round off the legs.

And I put another polish cycle on my guitar. I'm such a busy guy.

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My brother in law sent me a new weather station for Christmas and i've been waiting to install a post to mount it on. We lost two aspen trees out front so I saved the top 10 ft from one and used it as the post for my weather station. Cemented it into the ground in the back. Made a little wooden saddle to screw the base plate to and then flattened the sides of the aspen so the wooden saddle fit snugly. Then after reading the installation instructions, I realized I needed to orient the station so the wind vane would read correctly - so had to re-flatten two different sides and rotate the wooden saddle (it was easier than making a new saddle). But once I got it up there and batteries installed, it all fired right up. NOw I'm reading how to register it with Wunderground.com (Weather Underground) which would allow anyone who makes a free account there to see the data from my station. And it allows me to see it from anyplace using an app on my phone. Not that I really need that, just something else to keep busy.

I also got the skirt / apron glued up for that little table I'm working on. Next step for that is to make the drawer and round off the legs.

And I put another polish cycle on my guitar. I'm such a busy guy.

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Exhibits excellent weather, almost perfect.
 
My brother in law sent me a new weather station for Christmas and i've been waiting to install a post to mount it on. We lost two aspen trees out front so I saved the top 10 ft from one and used it as the post for my weather station. Cemented it into the ground in the back. Made a little wooden saddle to screw the base plate to and then flattened the sides of the aspen so the wooden saddle fit snugly. Then after reading the installation instructions, I realized I needed to orient the station so the wind vane would read correctly - so had to re-flatten two different sides and rotate the wooden saddle (it was easier than making a new saddle). But once I got it up there and batteries installed, it all fired right up. NOw I'm reading how to register it with Wunderground.com (Weather Underground) which would allow anyone who makes a free account there to see the data from my station. And it allows me to see it from anyplace using an app on my phone. Not that I really need that, just something else to keep busy.

I also got the skirt / apron glued up for that little table I'm working on. Next step for that is to make the drawer and round off the legs.

And I put another polish cycle on my guitar. I'm such a busy guy.
That looks really cool! I'd be afraid to put that up around here. The birds would decide to perch and poop all over it.
 
That looks really cool! I'd be afraid to put that up around here. The birds would decide to perch and poop all over it.
Oh, they will. I purposefully left some of the branches on the aspen pole just so the birds had something to sit on. The wind velocity whirlygig thing might help keep them off.

Exhibits excellent weather, almost perfect.
Yeah, but by tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 50's and raining. It's springtime.
 
Found a couple of 9” diameter Walnut logs at the firewood place. The bark was mostly gone, but I was pleasantly surprised how white the sapwood was, plus mostly heartwood. So, processed one of the logs today and made 4 natural edge bowls . Ended up about 7” long x 3.5 or 4” tall. Still need to dry and sand.
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Ooh! You didn’t waste any time! These turned out so nice! Chuck
Hoping to find some time to process the other log tomorrow, or this weekend, for sure. Our little wood Gallery opens next weekend (I’ll try to remember to post some pics) and these types of bowls have always sold well.
 
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