Katherine has just completed another batch of soft wax, which is available in for sale in her etsy store. Soft wax is great for the interiors of your projects. We use it on our lump hammers. And one customer really likes it on his shoes as a polish.
However you use it, don’t put it on your beard. It contains turpentine, which is an irritant.
Katherine cooks up the wax in our basement using a waterless process and puts it in heavy glass jars with metal lids. The interior of the lids are coated with a plastic to prevent any rust from forming.
And then Bean the three-legged cat swoops in to steal all the attention.
No matter where you place your holdfast holes on your benchtop, we recommend you have a reason for each one – not just a vague feeling about its location.
The pattern we recommend is based on historical examples, including the writing of A.J. Roubo and the dozens of vintage benches I’ve examined during the last 10 years. Each hole has a purpose.
Here’s the map.
The hole at the top left of the drawing allows you to secure a thin batten to the bench that is braced by your planing stop – creating a wide planing stop for smoothing wide panels. (See the photo above.)
The two rows of holes along the benchtop are for battens and a “doe’s foot” appliance. These rows of holes allow you to work without an end vise. The back row of holes is used with a doe’s foot to secure long boards for traversing (working across the grain) or with-the grain planing.
The front row of holes can be used with a doe’s foot as well. I also use this row of holes to secure battens to the benchtop to create a “sticking board” for cutting mouldings.
That front row of holes is also frequently used for securing work to the bench for mortising and sawing. I also recommend you build a bench hook that is just wide enough so you can use a holdfast to secure the work to the bench hook – a handy feature when cutting tenon shoulders.
Oh, and don’t forget to drill a few holdfast holes in the bench’s legs so you can support panels and wide boards from below.
Katherine has just made a good-sized batch of soft wax, which you can purchase in her etsy store – $24 for 8 oz. of wax in a heavy-duty glass jar.
The photo above shows a jar of her wax with her new three-legged cat named Bean. He’s a shelter cat (of course) and he lost his leg after being run over by a car and then delivered to the Kenton County Animal Shelter.
Katherine and Lucy volunteer at the shelter, so you probably know what happened.
Bean is impossibly sweet to everyone. And he – like all animals – refuses pity. We did not need another cat in our house (we have five). But we did need Bean.
Bean craps – a lot. More than many fully grown cats. So purchasing Katy’s wax will ensure an ample supply of kitty litter and deodorizer.
The newest batch of stickers arrived early (yay!) and are available for immediate shipment. You can order a set of three for $7, which will ship them anywhere in the United States. International shipping is also available.
The cat shown in the photo is ChickPea, Maddy’s spirit animal and constant companion. In all my days I have never seen an animal so totally devoted to a human (and vice versa). Ordering stickers ensures Maddy’s apartment heat stays on, and that ChickPea won’t eat my daughter’s face.
The stickers in this set are 100-percent vinyl (you can use them outdoors) and made in the United States. You can read more about the individual stickers in this set here.
Here are a few images that have been sitting in the “misfits and miscellaneous” drawer of my digital files.
Dog bone lifts are perfectly fine, but why not take a hint from a sailor’s sea chest and liven up the lifts on your tool chest? Fashion the cleat in the form of a lady’s hand, carve symbols on the cleat and add a knotted becket. Quaffing a tot of rum is optional.
Constantin Brancusi.
Constantin Brancusi returned to using wood for his sculptures in the mid-1910s when he was in his mid-to-late thirties. He salvaged huge oak beams from demolition companies in Paris. I happen to like Brancusi, but I sure some woodworkers look at the photo and think “that could have been used for workbenches!”.
‘Bottega di mio padre’ by Bruno da Osimo, 1937, imuseiofficinecreative.it.
Bruno da Osimo paid tribute to his father, a carpenter, with this xylograph of his father’s shop.
Raffaele da Brescia, 1507, Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Siena, Italy.
This detail is from a Choir’s desk and is a masterpiece of marquetry work. An imperious tabby cat is framed by columns lined up like soldiers and an archway that recalls the sun. The artist did not forget the cat’s whiskers, a most important detail.
From ‘The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents’ by Edward Topsel, 1658. From Duke University Libraries on Internet Archive
Topsel (or Topsell) used woodblock illustrations from earlier works by Swiss physician Konrad Gesner. The book repeats many fanciful ideas about cats and other animals, but I think the figure of the cat is spot on. And this phrase, “The tongue of a Cat is very attractive and forcible like a file…” is certainly true.
Photo by Stephani Diani, New York Times, 8 July 2017.
Lynn Ahrens pointed out this folk art cat as one of her favorite things in her New York apartment. The reason: it reminded her of her late cat Alfie. I can sympathize with her as I am currently cat-less. Cat figures are fairly common in folk art collections and they always bring a smile. The head may be too big or the tail inordinately long, but they are all unmistakably cats.
Now for something that is just wrong, wrong, wrong. While researching information on Biedermeier chairs this popped up.
Chair socks.
Do you have a problem with your chairs scratching the floor or making too much noise? Put some chair socks on them! You can choose from five patterns and be matchy-matchy with your cat. Is this a portent of the coming apocalypse?
