… of city life is home/shop delivery.

Since I don’t own a pickup truck, and I’m now at the age where loading and unloading a half dozen sheets of 3/4″ plywood is a good bet to ruin my whole day, I’m happy to take advantage of the free delivery service offered by my favorite lumber store. One of the advantages of living in a big city like Seattle is that there are four lumber stores within a 15 minute delivery window of my shop.

I was going to get a picture of the delivery guy earning his $10 tip, but I got caught up in the loading of my sheet goods cart.

Speaking of the cart; in these days of high tech polyurethane casters, it’s very satisfying to push a load like this around with one finger, thanks to a pair of large diameter antique cast iron wheels. The wheels have just a hint of crown to them so that the ground contact is actually quite small. That, combined with the diameter and hardness of cast iron make for a very efficient transfer of effort. I wouldn’t trade my antique warehouse cart for any modern version. 🙂

Cheers,
Tom

Ps. Yes, the handwritten date, at the bottom of the advertisement, is March, 1928.

Okay, so not exactly fine woodworking, but they are an excuse for some shop time.

With so many projects, put off for so many years, “until retirement”, I’m a bit overwhelmed now that retirement has arrived. I’ve recently experienced a serious lack of motivation due to the sheer number of things to be done. But I also know that if I continue to show up at the shop everyday, I’ll find my muse eventually.

A recent storm has provided a bonus of windfalls in the area. Since spoon carving is best done with green wood, I now have an convenient excuse for one of my favorite procrastination projects, …hand carved spoons. Hey, I have to make ’em while they’re still green, right? 😉

I start by riving out the pith from a small log.

I then draw the general outline with a wax marker (wax works best on green wood). I usually have to re draw the outline several times as wood is removed.

The tools I use are an axe, a shave horse, a drawknife, and my homemade crooked knife. The shave horse was made for making canoe paddles, oars, and longbows, etc. I really should modify it for short stuff, but that’s just one of those things that need to be done, … in retirement.

I don’t have a picture of my crooked knife, but check back later. 😉

Cheers,
Tom

Welcome to Fremont Occasional Woodworks.

This is where you will find me online, but if you would like to visit the shop in person, it’s located at:

4235 Fremont Ave. N.
Seattle, Wa  98103

The shop has been a retirement goal of mine in the making for the past 15 years.  While the woodshop portion has been up and running for some time, the front room is still in the planning stages.  Eventually, I hope to make it a showroom for my work as well as consignment space for other woodworkers.  There is also an outdoor space planned for larger projects and entertaining (our biennial pig roast) .  Progress toward these goals is slow, but positive.  I hope to make better progress when I retire from the govt. service in July of this year.

So drop in occasionally, and see what’s cookin’, both figuratively and literally.

Cheers,
Tom Scott

P.s.  If you would like to read my blog, click on the menu icon in the upper right hand of this page.  If you would like to subscribe, click the “Follow” button in the lower right hand corner of the blog.  And lastly, if you would like to comment, click on the numbered circle at the bottom center of any blog entry.
ts.