Put The Clock Forward

The clocks were changed last night, making the light last a bit longer. So I headed out on my bike this afternoon t shirt and shorts and not once did I feel cold. Along paths edged with daffodils ,passing orange shale Bing's these are the spoil heaps from mining shale, to extract oil the orange shale is what was left after they heated the shale to extract the valuable oil . There are lots of these shale Bing's around west lothian they have a barren moonscape feel about them . Further on Fallow deer were on the ridge watching me through the last of the mist I thought they would run but I managed to snap them .

An old oak gate caught my eye with the rails all mortised through the angle brace a lot of work and all by hand in a time when a man could make a quality product from materials that would last longer than himself to earn his crust. On my way home I passed the new allotment site with lots of busy people touching the ground with their green fingers . A bit of me was envious, but an allotment takes up a lot of time that I don't have at the moment maybe one day ,this ended a great cycle with my legs getting stiff I headed home:)

Rob Say's There's A Bear In My Chair

Rob a follower of my blog mentioned that a Bear's face is visible in the back rest.
Now that it's waxed up he show's up more, the bear is hiding in the grain take a look for yourself:)

Changes For The Better

I decided to change the seat and backrest on the chair as I couldn't find the elm that I needed . Some old dusty oak at the bottom of my wood pile in the shed turned out to be the answer . After ripping down the oak I had two boards just less than 1" thick this would give me a kind of book matched look . Then the boards had to be edged by hand so that the centre line had no gaps. So here it is, only the final sanding and waxing still to do. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out :)

A Spoon Or A Paddle

I was asked to make a big spoon come spatula kind of thing this week. I like doing these kind of things and I get a kick out of being the crazy craftsman of choice, when folk need something that they can't buy. I knocked this out after my dinner this evening. A bit of sawing, planing, shaving and sanding and out popped a super smooth stirrer that could double as a paddle if you were up the creek and needed one :)

Rites Of Passage And Some Progress.

My son Matthew 11, headed off on his own into town with his friend today for the first time . Mrs Brian was worried about this but He was fine, a wander to the library then some bookshops and a takeaway to keep their strength up for the journey home. He won't be a child forever so I had a little lump in my throat when he went out the gate. While he was off down town I got stuck into the chair, and finished of the frame parts lots scribing to make these parts fit I'm pretty happy with it. The timber for the back rest isn't going to work for this now it just does'nt sit right. So I will have to search the hedgerow's for a bit of dead elm which should'nt be to hard. I must admit I was very pleased when I heard the gate catch click all was well on his first foray into town , he loved this little bit of independence and I enjoyed hearing about it. Here's the progress on the chair today :)

Back Again

Car trouble last week some ball joint's needed replaced so no shed . But I had a little time for my chair tonight I cut rails to hold the seat and back rest. These have a shallow v shape which should make the chair more comfortable. It might be hard to see this but here

are the pictures anyway:)

Not Me Yew

I've not got near the chair this week, but I managed to get a few pieces of old Yew. No moisture at all in this old timber, so it can be used pretty much straight away. This will be the raw material for my next project loads of character in Yew so I can't wait to try out something using this:)