Spindles

He sat for a long time. When he climbed back up the ridge to the cedars to where he'd left the horses the captain was sitting on the ground and he looked badly used up. 
Let's go, he said
The captain looked up. I can go no further, he said.
Let's go, he said. Podemos descansar un poco mas adelente. Vamonos.


Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

Making spindles. Lots and lots of spindles for a bench going to Alaska. The bench is is going to be a clear finish so I have to be extra careful about picking only sap wood ash and nice strait grain.  Luckily the ash log is absolutely beautiful (pics soon).

I did take a minute to replace the maple wear strip on my spoke shave. You can see how much wear it was gotten over the years ( this is number 6 I believe). I could use a brass plate easily enough but I actually like the groove that develops. I centers the spoke shave and allows for shallower cuts to the left or right.

Here you can see clearly the arrises of the octagonals that form the spindle. When I'm at this step I kill the overhead lights and use a single incandescent bulb in a stand. This casts a raking light that allows me to easily see the eight facets of the spindle. Only 28 more to go.