Finally it seems things are back to normal. Or course it seems that normal isn’t very normal these days. Susanna didn’t have to work tonight, and I was able to get out of work at a good time (don’t worry, the next couple of days will make up for it at work – followed by a quick trip to the Bahamas for work).
I had a couple of quiet hours in the workshop. I had been building cutting boards a a group project in addition to a bunch of house projects. The workshop was a mess. Sawdust everywhere. Tools blanketing all the horizontal surfaces.
The first project was to clean up the workshop, put tools away, and vacuum the floor.
I then took an hour to make a coin holder that I promised to a friend – I have an opportunity to give it to him tomorrow, and I had been stalling building it. But coin holders are quick to build, and I finished it with a coat of shellac followed by a water based topcoat.
Over the weekend I had picked up 24 white banquet chairs for a little more than $2/each (no point in renting them for the wedding if I can buy them for less than the cost of renting chairs). A couple of the seat cushions had come unattached from the chairs. Ten minutes of work, and all of the seats were attached.
It is nice to finally be able to spend an evening getting the shop put back together, cleaning up and putting away tools. I still need to spend some time sharpening chisels and hand planes, but that is another night.
Two weeks ago I sent off one of my backsaws (a Disston 12 inch backsaw, 13pts) to Matt Cianci at the Saw Blog to get it sharpened. He received the saw and tonight gave me his estimate to get it sharpened. In 4-6 weeks I should have it back, cleaned, polished and sharpened as a sash saw (should be good for both ripping and crosscutting). I took a saw sharpening class from him last year, but don’t sharpen saws enough to be fully proficient at it. I would rather cut wood with the saws and pay him to sharpen them.
