― Walt Whitman
Here is the indoor picture of my newest chair, it is so comfortable, but hopefully it will be gone. I will miss it but I can always make more.
Ok, this blog post is about change, changing the tools and the things that you have around you that you gripe about but live with. Light a candle instead of cursing the darkness, all that. Well, after much griping about this riving brake, I finally added about 6" to the top, as you can see. I just scabbed on some scrap 2X's and drilled some holes for the pipes, and what a difference. I found the other set up too low ( sorry Pete ) and this made a world of difference.
The above and below pics show changes I made to the handle of some tools. The above pic shows a couple lathe gouges that I cut the handles off. The problem was rolling from left to right, the handle (it used to be as long as the top one) hit my body, so chop and what a difference. And in turning, I need all help I can get!
The below pic shows how I shortened the handles on my chisels. Used to be, 100 years ago, chisel handles were graduated with the size of the chisel, small chisel, small handle. That was then, this is now...now being one size fits all. By cutting off about an inch and a quarter, it really improved the balance of the chisel.
And finally a pic of the darkness that started the flurry of change. The scorp shown below ( I use this to shape the seats ) is pretty old, probably 10 years, and it came with the crudely shaped handles that I love! All about function, no finish, perfect. Then I bought Barr's drawknife and it came with these handles, which I hated but lived with for too long. They are shaped all wrong and the finish is slick, so finally I got a little upset, ok, mad, and made some new ones, just like the clunky old ones that work perfectly. They work great, a lot more grip and to me they just look right.
So, don't be afraid to change a handle here or a riving brake there, or whatever else you are cursing in the darkness.
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