Annual Tool Expo is Coming

Friday February 5th,

Saturday February 6th

2016 

 Hand painting a checker board seems like a bad idea but, if you use a good brush and lay down very straight and easy to see guide lines, the result is not too bad.

 Next stage is to paint on the snakes and ladders. That is a project for a quiet time in the evening at my desk.  I will use acrylic paint for the snakes etc and cover the game board with several more coats of varnish. 

 When I went to lay out the board, which is 16 x 16 inches it was dead simple because I used my carpenter's square.  

 I finished the Quarto box as well as painted the game board in this latest time in my shop.

 The game pieces fit inside and the whole thing will live in my car for the balance of the winter. Anytime I wonder out to a pub or cafe I will take my game along to see if anyone is interested in a game.

  This is the nasty ol' piece of door skin that from which I cut the front and back of the Quarto game box.  I am widely recognized among my friends as a wood junkie or a hoarder but...when I think of how hard mother nature worker to make a tree I hate to see wood go to waste.

 If I had wanted to make the box look nicer, I could have painted it and covered all the stains and splinters, but in this case those things add character. 

 When I am working on one project I am usually thinking about what I want/need to do next. I have several shop knives that don't really have good homes currently. In my mind I am figuring out the handiest place for my knives to live as well as the safest place.  Where many wood workers use a chisel for fine trimming I usually use a knife and so I have several shop knives for each for different purposes and would like to have them close to hand but safely beyond my grandchildren's reach.

 That is the next project to which I must attend.