With Halloween just days away you can be sure Chris and John are dusting off the handmade (and form-fitting) coffins they made last year. If you are contemplating making your own coffin keep in mind to include at least some small percentage for future expansion (yours, not the coffin’s) in your measurements. Nobody wants to be shoehorned into their coffin.
If you are carving pumpkins and having any difficulties I recommend switching to a keyhole saw. Several years ago I had the task of carving five pumpkins, two for my parents and three for neighbors. As I was struggling with several different knives on one Matisse-inspired carving my father handed me a keyhole saw and I joined the Keyhole Saw School of Pumpkin Carving. In the early evening of that same day my father called his buddies to join us in the neighborhood cemetery for the “lighting of the pumpkins”. There we were in the crisp October evening under the branches of a huge oak tree admiring our pumpkins when a cop walked up and told us we would have to disperse. Apparently, someone driving by reported a “satanic cult ceremony” taking place in the cemetery. My father and his cronies thought this was hilarious. We grabbed our pumpkins and dispersed.
Besides pumpkins and coffins (optional) let’s not forget the traditional witches, cats and bats. You will find some fine 15th and 16th century misericords and a haunted trade guild hall in the small gallery below.
–Suzanne (Scaredy-cat) Ellison
P.S. If you enjoy ghost stories look up the hauntings at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia or go to the Haunted Ohio Books website to read about The Strange Carpenter.
Walking up the east side of 4th.
Sent from my iPhone
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Those misericordia are brilliant. I love them and hope to make a replacement for one that has been stolen from a Church near me in Gloucestershire.
Bernard, I agree, misericordia are treasures. I hope to hear more about your progress in making a replacement for your local church.
You are a HOOT, I do enjoy your post….
Why, thank you very much!
For pumpkin carving, I switched over to Lee Valley’s carving kit (the one that’s generally sold out early in the season). It’s essentially a small keyhole saw. Works great. Just did the big family Halloween party and the carved pumpkins were a hit.
A keyhole saw might serve me better than the Dremel bit I was going to buy today… Thanks for the suggestion!
“Dremel bit ”
Bad idea…trust me.
A sawzall blade with tape around the base (finger protection) works even better than a keyhole saw in my experience. The blade is stiffer and generally has less taper along the length.
Picture hanging wire and a couple dowels for handles works well too. Garroting your pumpkin is apropos to the season, too.
I am somewhat intimidated by the size of the jointer plane that the skeleton there is toting around… forget a #8, *that* is a man’s plane right there. Or maybe he’s just *ahem* making up for something 😛