365 Wooden Spoons or One a Day for a Year

  Last week Eva and I were in Bergen Norway and we visited the four main art galleries, Kode 1 through 4. There were many interesting things to see and I recommend setting aside  four + hours to visit all the galleries when you go to Bergen. 

  In Kode 1 was a year in the life of Stian Korntved Ruud.  For one year Mr. Ruud carved a spoon a day, he explored design and wood and the exhibit is fantastic.  A person could easily spend hours just looking at all his spoons. Imagine looking at each spoon for just a minute or two, 365 x 2 = 730 minutes / 60 = 12.6.  To fully examine each spoon would take several visits.

 Thanks to the wonders of the internet you can admire each of the spoons here:

the Daily Spoon  



  This morning I was at work in the shop knocking together a small table to stand beside a friends laundry room sink. 

  David arrived with four 2x2 by 6,  a couple of pieces of particle  board and a plan. In short order we had made the piece of laundry room furniture.  As David said it is not a sophisticated project and could have been done by him in his basement with basic tools, but...it sure is quicker and easier with a table saw to make the two rip cuts that were needed accurately and the sliding mitre saw to make the various cross cuts.  We used a couple of clamps to hold things together when we worked. 

  Building for David is especially easy since he always comes with a clear and measured plan.

  Last week we had three window replaced and one of the shop related things I have been doing is painting the window frames. The windows arrived primed only. At this point all three have been given two coats of trim paint and the furniture is ready to be pushed back into place.  I find painting fiddly diddly and I am not good at it, but with careful taping I think the windows look pretty good.  

cheers ianw

  

And We're Back

  Eva and I arrived home on Wednesday after having been away for one month in Sweden and Norway.  This spring has been a time of travel for us. Unlike our previous travels I did not write any blogs at all, it was a bit of a nice change.  
  While in Norway we saw hundreds of boats of all sorts.  I think Norway still uses boats the way we use transport trucks. There were lots of interesting wooden houses and wooden boats and I did take a few photographs but.... it was a holiday.

 So, having returned to the work shop what did I discover.

  The cool piece of wood that I bought just before leaving dried out and really cracked apart.

  I can't make a coffee table now.  I am confident that it is not fire wood, but haven't really got a firm plan in mind right now.

  What did I make in my shop. I made a push stick.

  I used Jimmy  Diresta's push stick as  inspiration but as you can see mine is wood and red.

  I made this push stick to sit on my band saw table.  There are times that I am cutting something small and should be using a push stick and just opt for a handy wood scrap.  I am trying to teach my grandchildren better safety habits than the ones with which I grew up.  You can never have too many clamps or push sticks. 

  I have several projects lined up for the next while as well as  home maintenance  things too. I will get back into the swing of things over the coming week.  I may even share some Norway pictures.

  

cheers, ianw