We had been looking forward to our vacation for a couple months and when the time finally arrived to prepare for our trip we had one major obstacle to contend with: Hurricane Irma. Planning a vacation to Florida in the month of September is always risky since it is hurricane season, however we’ve done it before so we thought it worth doing again. Hurricane Irma was not just a threatening storm, it was billed as the largest and most dangerous storm to our hit our land in any of our lifetime. After watching the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and all the damage that storm did to Texas, this was not something to be taken lightly. So we had a serious...
Once I began to hone my craft from hobbyist to woodworker, my friends began to take notice of the quality and creativity of my craftsmanship. With that came plenty of suggestions: "have you considered making.....?" Although flattered I have also become a realist who recognizes very quickly the limits of my skills or the time and effort that would be involved in trying certain things. As every woodworker advances we also become more aware of our own idiosyncrasies that we factor into any project. I am one who gets distracted easily so simply making the same thing over and over again, no matter how good I've become at it, becomes less interesting let alone challenging. Enter new challenges worth tackling. One of...
I don’t subscribe to a lot of woodworking blogs because sometimes too much information makes matters more confusing rather than clearer. That said, I have subscribed to Paul Sellers blogs, as he is one of the real online pioneers (IMO) of woodworking. A recent blog post of Paul's called “Election Day” talked more about his woodworking ideology than about specific tools or products (https://paulsellers.com/2017/06/thursday-8th-june-2017/). In his blog Paul identified a certain passion that I immediately related to: the concept of “It’s not what you make but how.” I don’t want to take credit for anyone else’s work so I encourage anyone reading this blog to check out his. That said, the concept of “how” over “what” is something that attracted me to...
Over the past several days I faced a familiar woodworker's crisis: one of my favorite tools, my lathe, quit working. I had purchased an inexpensive starter lathe awhile back and put out several nice products including pepper grinders, salt shakers and French rolling pins. Now it was time for an upgrade. Woodworkers love their tools and I’m no different. Many, like myself, also love the research involved before our next purchase; then there’s the weighing of price, practicality and performance. This is where my #1 fan comes in. My beautiful wife is not only my best friend but also my greatest encourager. She knows me; she listens to me, and she pays attention. As I was wrestling through my decision...
During my recent Bible study, in the midst of the Old Testament book of Judges, I was reminded of a central aspect of how God created us all. Whether believers or not, all of us were made to worship. While most relate worship to a religious practice, the reality goes far beyond that. As a matter of fact one of the definitions Webster offers is this: extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem. In my past, my worship was given to any number of self-serving pursuits that ultimately left me unfulfilled. Here’s an example: several years ago I was fortunate enough to share in season tickets for my favorite hockey team. Looking back, this was just one...
