Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement.To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email kara@lostartpress.com. You can read more about the submission process here.
Today’s pick is courtesy of Philip Otterness. Thanks, Philip!
— Kara Gebhart Uhl
Like many others, I find one of the more challenging parts of making stick furniture is consistently drilling holes at a set angle, especially without a laser or without another pair of eyes to make sure I’m keeping both the drill and bit at the proper angle. My solution is very simple.
First, I go to the kitchen and dig out the plastic bag holding skewers for making shish kebabs. I pull out several skewers and find one that is reasonably straight.
Second, I tape the skewer to the top of my drill, which is made easier in my case because the plastic casing on my drill has two grooves, one towards the back and one towards the front, that are centered along the top and aligned with one another. I place the skewer in the grooves, with one end extending over the drill bit. Using duct tape, which sticks to plastic more securely than painter’s tape, I tape the skewer securely in place.
Third, I line up my bevel, set at the proper angle, along the sightline and tape it in place so that it will be about 1/4″ in front of the skewer when the drill is held in place to drill the hole.
Fourth, I drill the hole. Lining everything up is super easy at this point. Because the skewer is right next to the bevel, it isn’t difficult to keep the two parallel with one another. Also, when sighting down the skewer, you can easily keep it aligned with the leading edge of the bevel.
Robin Warman, host of “The Wild Dispatch,” has spent several episodes talking with Monroe Robinson, author of “The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke.” Recently, Monroe and his wife, K. Schubeck, invited Robin and his wife, Hanneke, over for sourdough pancakes, made using Dick’s very own sourdough starter.
Watching the episode is an invitation to join them. From their home in Little River, California, Monroe cooks pancakes, while passing around a jar of homemade wild blueberry jam K. shares stories about her experiences in Alaska, and Robin and Hanneke ask insightful questions.
Once a pile of pancakes is complete, Monroe sits, eats and shares stories as well. Many of the people who have visited Dick’s cabin over the years were drawn to it, Monroe says, because it, and everything in it, was handcrafted. Monroe and K. spent many years as caretakers of the cabin, and Monroe built replicas of many of its contents. In doing so, Monroe discovered the spirit of Dick – particularly, his ingeniousness and determination.
Sitting around the breakfast table, K. remembers Monroe, after working all day on a replica, coming home and saying, “I got to know Dick Proenneke a lot better today.”
There’s intimacy in the things we make, no?
You can watch the full episode here. And you can listen to more conversations with Robin and Monroe in EP43, EP51 and EP61.
To end, here’s an excerpt from Monroe’s book, a journal entry written by Dick more than 30 years ago. Here, he mentions sourdough, likely from the same starter featured all these years later.
— Kara Gebhart Uhl
Dick Proenneke with his snowshoes, February 1993. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.
March 15, 1993
Clear, Calm and -8°.
Clear and stars looking down, it could get pretty cool tonight. The half gallon carton of vanilla ice cream set on the table out front and morning would find it about right for dishing it out. Zero degrees makes soft ice cream.
The fire was buried the whole night. I would have coals but puny ones. During breakfast I knew what I was going to do today. A good day to circle the mt. I had suggested it to Leon [Alsworth] and he said we will have to go on snowshoes. Maybe next week he could go but I was sure he wouldn’t. On those little Sherpa aluminum and plastic snowshoes I wouldn’t go. Only thing good about them is the ice claws for mt. travel. It was 9.30 when I closed the door. I would pack my snowshoes to the mouth of Low Pass creek. I had the Olympus OM1n with 50 and 28 mm lens. I was dressed cool for it would be a warm three hrs getting to the divide. That last 400 feet of elevation is as steep as a cows face.
I took a few frames from the mouth of Low Pass creek and then headed for the pass. No sign of porkypines at their winter home and now I wouldn’t know where to find one. I see no tracks.
I was breaking a deeper trail than I had expected. It would be a good climb up the trench to the pass. Old tracks of a wolverine headed or coming from the pass. I have seen porkypines in the pass making that slow hike to the Kijik country. In due time I was up there enjoying the view back down and across the lake. Lots of snow up there and I believe there is more snow in the bottom behind gold ridge than I have ever seen there. 1,700 feet from the lake is the gain in elevation when you climb to the pass. From the pass it is a gain of 1,300 feet to the summit where I would cross. No tracks not one as I traveled on. The fresh last snow laid like a cotton bat and about 6 inches deep on top of the settled snow pack. Just before I got to that last very steep pitch to the divide I came to a reasonably fresh wolf track coming down from the high ridge. Later I would see that track climbing up 1st canyon. So wolves cross there some times and so do wolverine for today I would see a wolverine track climbing to the 3,000 ft. ridge.
At last I stood at the base of that 400 ft. very steep climb. I would have to climb it without snowshoes so I put them on the light pack frame with my camera gear. The snow more than shoe pac deep but a base that was soft enough to give good traction. Traverse back and forth across a width of a couple hundred feet of the mt. Climb at a comfortable angle. Slow but steady does it and in due time I was up near the eye in the mt. I had looked for it as I climbed from Low Pass but couldn’t spot it. I found the snow so deep only a little of the eye was visible. At last I stood on the divide and the time a quarter till three. It had taken me more than five hrs from my cabin to the top 3,000 ft. up.
The sun was bright and a cool breeze had me looking for sun on the protected side of the ridge. I shot a few frames and ate my sourdough sadwich and one of Sis’s good cookies. Now it was down hill all the way to my cabin and about 2 hrs. steady going to get there. Steep for the 1st quarter mile. Now I learned what I once knew. Crampons can be necessary for that 1st quarter for the snow can be too hard to kick steps. Right there I should have turned back and down where I had climbed. I expected it to get better a hundred feet down. There is hard wind pack near the top. To play it safe I moved in the clear of rock outcrops below.
To lose footing and go pell mell down a steep pitch and hit a rock will spoil your day, but good. I was in the clear but footing was poor. If I started I wouldn’t stop for about 200 yds. And I started. I was using both hands on my good walking stick for a brake. Faster and faster and it was a pretty rough slide. My pack kept me from staying on my back and when I went side wise I started to roll. Ho Boy! All I could see was snow and blue sky revolving at a terrific rate. Presently I slowed and stopped. It had been the six inches of loose snow I was expecting higher up. It is surprising how much snow gets inside a tumble down the mt. My mittens were full. Snow inside my jacket. Didn’t lose my Bean cap with the ear flaps over my ears. Still had my pack on for I had hooked the rubber link across my chest. First thing I noticed was that my right upper arm pained a little. If it hurt so soon it wouldn’t hurt a lot more tomorrow. Legs were ok and that was good. If I had broken a leg it would be “sorry charley” you didn’t make it. Tonight would be well below zero. So I could put up with a sore arm and not complain. I discovered that I had lost my good walking stick. I looked for sign of it above and below. Even tried to climb but after climbing 50 feet I slid down 25. Tried again and just couldn’t get traction. So I got organized and headed down the mt. in the loose 6-8 inches of snow. When the incline flattened a bit I put on my snowshoes and came down the water course from the base of the steep going. I hadn’t gone far when I met a wolf track climbing to the divide. It was short steps and feet making drag marks in the loose snow for the wolf. Headed for the Kijik for I hadn’t seen tracks in the pass coming to the upper lake. Down, down but not so steep that I would lose control on snowshoes. At times I would support my right arm with my left hand. It was uncomfortable hanging free. Lower I came to a wolverine track climbing so it was going over the top. I find mr. wolverine just doesn’t seem to care how steep or rough it is. He doesn’t seem to appreciate an easy route.
Hope creek at last and from 1st canyon down it was nice going. Wished for my walking stick but managed without it. It was going to take just about 2 hrs. from the divide to my cabin and the sun would be just about ready to set directly behind the Pyramid mt.
I opened the cabin door and learn’d Leon had been here. A bag containing letters a package and two batteries for my Bendix “King” radio. I still had a very few coals under the ashes and fine stuff would have a fire going quickly. I wanted to auger the ice this evening for I might not do it so easy tomorrow. I found it 27″ this 15th of March. Did my chores with little difficulty and got out of my damp hiking clothes. How would my journal entry go with that gimpy right arm. It has worked better but I managed better than I expected. I’ll take an “Ascription” at ladder climbing time. Now 10.30 Clear, calm and -3°.
Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement.To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email kara@lostartpress.com. You can read more about the submission process here.
Today’s pick, which pulls from “The Stick Chair Book” by Christopher Schwarz, is from David Farnum, in Greer, South Carolina. (“The Stick Chair Book 2nd Revised Edition” will be available soon.) Thanks, David!
— Kara Gebhart Uhl
On this chair, I wanted to use a shape on the end of the backrest that I haven’t tried before. My main concern was getting the same size and shape on both ends.
After rounding the vertical ends of the backrest, I mocked out one end with blue tape, as described in “The Stick Chair Book,” and used the steps below to transfer the shape to the other end. There may be a simpler way, but this worked.
Mark a reference line on both ends, equidistant from the center line of the backrest.
Tape from the reference line around to the back of the end. Overlap the edges of the tape.
Draw the shape you want and cut the tape to your line. Carefully peel off the tape, leaving the tape on the waste that you’re going to cut away. Trace the tape to mark where to cut.
Stick the tape you peeled off to a sheet of paper and cut out the shape to make a stencil. The tape will make the paper stiffer, more like cardstock.
Flip the stencil over so the paper shows and the tape is on the back side. Line it up with the reference line on the other end of the backrest. Trace the cut line from the stencil.
Before reaching for the saw, check by eye and see if it looks right or needs to be tweaked.
Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement.To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email kara@lostartpress.com. You can read more about the submission process here.
I used a wire brush all over the chair to wear down the softer earlywood, to give it some texture.
Then a lot of burnishing with a deer antler and a smooth rock, especially near the hands and at the back of the head rest.
Then, a mix of BLO (boiled linseed oil) with some earth pigments, more like a wash than a paint, just to get a consistent deep color underneath.
Then I made a thick mix of Old Fashioned Milk Paint in Lexington Green, and globbed it on and wiped it off, mostly around sticks. The oil was dry, but I didn’t want it to cure because I wanted to be able to wipe some of the paint off.
John Porritt uses a heat gun to get the paint to peel, but I didn’t want to light mine on fire yet (with the layer of BLO underneath), so I just tried to let it dry a bit before rubbing it off. That helped it come off in patches.
Then I did the same with Real Milk Paint Co. Arabian Night on the top. I had to use a 3M pad with a little water in places where the paint needed to be blended better.
Then, I mixed a little burnt sienna pigment with BLO again on the top (like a wash), rubbed that in, then some Liberon Black Bison wax in dark oak.
Editor’s note: Our Mind Upon Mind series is a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement.To that end, we’ve asked you what else you have thought of, tried out and improved upon after building projects from our books.
Send us your own ideas! Email kara@lostartpress.com. You can read more about the submission process here.
Today’s pick is from Brad Reiser. Thanks, Brad!
— Kara Gebhart Uhl
I was just reading The Stick Chair Journal No. 2 issue article about using a tenon cutter [“Control the D#^& Tenon Cutter:].
I think I have mastered the technique … sort of.
I made a set of plugs for each of the different sized cutters, up to a 1-1/2″ cutter. The plugs run from 1/2″ to 1″ long. On one side of each plug I drilled a shallow hole to match a rare-earth magnet, inserted just slightly proud of the surrounding surface.
These are glued in place. Usually gently tapping the cutter face down will dislodge the plug. If not, I use an awl to pull it out. I ordered the magnets from Lee Valley. They are fragile. And very strong.
