Due to popular demand, we bring you more workbench photos...

One week ago today, I finished building my 18th century Roubo workbench down in Kentucky. Since then we have made the (long) trip home, unloaded the bench into the garage where it is, er.. acclimating before it is installed in the workshop, and generally trying to get caught up on non-woodworking endeavors. My muscles are also acclimating to engineering duties after several days of manual labor. My legs are feeling more rested, but my mouse finger seems to be cramping up a bit.


I hope you have enjoyed the videos posted on the Chris Schwarz Blog (one for each day of the class). I also took pictures throughout the class and have posted them on my Picasa site. There, you will find my least embarrassing photos of the class and photos of a neat little field trip we took to the Saulmon Early Technology Class at Berea College.

I don't have a photo of the finished bench yet because, well it's just not finished yet. I need to finish drilling dog-holes and holes for the hold-fasts. I also need to plane the top flat and work the front and back edges to make them coplanar with the legs. And there is still some finish work to do on the vises, not to mention the finish itself. So it may be more than a few days before I post a photo of the finished bench.

Until then, I hope you enjoy the class photos. You can also start making arrangements for your own bench (Ben). I require a minimum of two meals per day and will not work more than 12 hour days. Also, you have to be willing to accept help from Ella, Elisabeth, and Peter as required (they're really quite good!). And there's no guarantee that we will finish within a week.

Fare thee well MG

You came and brought smiles when smiles were hard to find. I gave you hope of renewal when all seemed lost to you. But other things have called for my time and money so you have languished and fallen into even more disrepair. I send you off with a new owner, I wish you well little car. If you can't proudly ride the roads again I hope at least some of your parts grace another of your sister cars and feel the joy of a winding road. A little money in my pocket I have to ease the pain of our parting.

It's the end of the road for this one

I'm speaking of the go cart here. In it's prime, this contraption was a dangerous machine. It's only redeeming value was that it actually would go and at times too fast for it's neanderthal suspension. Time and technology have pasted it by and now broken parts and missing parts have doomed it to the grimmest of grim reapers- the recyclers. Farewell go cart, thank you for the fun.

Another one bites the dust

The second of 3 apple trees didn't make it through the winter. We have been studying Genesis in our Sunday School class (small group in case David Rudd sees this post) and I have decided the curse is still going strong at 1208 W. Giles Rd. Visions of bushels of fresh picked apples are no longer dancing in my head. I hope the lone survivor will at least give me a half dozen or so apples this fall.

Workbench in Kentucky

As some of you know, we are vacationing in Kentucky this week. I'm building a workbench at a local woodworking school and will haul it home to be my bench for many years to come. I was going to post a few pictures, but this video is a bit more interesting.



If you'd like to read more about the bench or keep up with the class throughout the week, you can follow along here: http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog

I'll post some more pictures as the bench takes shape.

Just couldn't fall asleep

Made the mistake of taking a nap today. So that means I am not sleepy tonight. Can't find a golf ball to make me sleepy- Aunt Sue Gansz's advice is to rub a golf ball on the bottom of your foot to make you sleepy. So I did the next best thing. Wrote an entry in a blog. Since I deleted my old blog a while back I also had to make a new one and link it to this blog. Funny thing is I'm more awake now than ever. I think there might be a golf ball somewhere in the garage...