Wood Has Got A Hold On Me

  This weekend it is Canadian Thanksgiving, the kids and the two grand kids are visiting for three days.  Having the Grand kids here means that Kieran is sleeping in the family room, through the wall from my workshop, so for the weekend the shop is closed down.

Kieran, the little Tool Guy

As I was drinking coffee and thinking about today's blog  I noticed something that has been in my house since 1992.

   This platter is purple heart and I bought it while I was an apartment dweller, with no vision of having a wood shop in which to play, ever.  I was taken by the look and texture of this piece just because it is wood. So it appears that wood has had a hold on me for a long time. Now it is not just wood, but wood working too.


   I have a lathe but do not do much work with it, it is an art and a tool that I have left to other people.  One day maybe I will get serious about turning, but there are many other techniques that I want to development first.  For example and to show my incipient multiple personality disorder, I want to do more things with routers and router tables.  The other area that I continue to study and develop is wood carving and hand planes.


Purple heart is a hard wood with a wonderful colour, though it does fade with time.  When I became more focused on wood working I made the decision to use local woods, both hard and soft and to leave the exotic woods for other people to use.  I like the grain and colour of our woods and want to promote them; I also want to promote the local wood harvest and supply businesses.