A friend gave me some nice cherry logs that I sealed the ends of and let dry for the past year. I haven’t done much of my own milling, but I decided to get one of the logs out and see how much I could make out of it. What I ended up getting out … Continue reading Making kitchen tools from a log
I used to want every new device and cool gadget. I watched keynotes, preordered things, scouted Kickstarter for the latest and greatest. Now my iPhone is 3 generations behind and I have no intention of upgrading until it dies. I’ve lost count of how many generation behind the iPad I’m writing this on is. I … Continue reading How my relationship to technology has changed in the past decade
Like a lot of folks, I’ve been baking sourdough bread this year, and I wanted a bread lame to score the top. While making a few other projects, namely spoons, I split two small pieces of cherry with a natural curve that I thought would be perfect for a bread lame, so I got to … Continue reading Bread Lames
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler Oranges by John McPhee Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell Analogia by George Dyson Up next: The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson Looking for a Ship by John McPhee My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin
Back in September I made a serious effort to learn how to turn wood on the lathe. I turned a few tenons on the stool legs earlier this year, but that is it. I was on the hunt for a good beginner project and Amanda asked for some candlesticks, so I got to work. As … Continue reading Turning Candlesticks on the Lathe
My Dad now has his own blog: clgrimmett.com He is using the Seedlet theme and is hosted at Pressable. His first post is about firewood. Go check it out!
We decided to change up our Christmas decor this year and go with an all natural aesthetic. Dried orange and cranberry garland, a basket instead of the tree stand, and wooden ornaments. I’ve been learning how to do lathe work this year, so after Thanksgiving I started turning ornaments. I’m still pretty new to turning … Continue reading Turning Christmas Ornaments
I love staked wooden chairs and I want to learn how to make them, so I picked up The Anarchist’s Design Book from Lost Art Press. All of their books are top-notch and I highly recommend them. Christopher Schwarz’s introduction on what he means by “anarchist” resonates deeply with me. I figured I’d start small … Continue reading Two Staked Wooden Stools from The Anarchist’s Design Book
I made three wooden joiners mallets this year, following the Paul Sellers videos (1, 2, 3). The first has a head of laminated Beech and an Ash handle. Mostly because that is what I had around! There are no nails or screws in these, just wooden joinery. The handle and mortise in the head are … Continue reading Wooden Joiner’s Mallets
Amanda was watching a video about different types of handmade pasta (we had a lot of time on our hands during the pandemic and finally got some flour!) and asked if I might be able to make a malloreddus board. I decided to give it a try! I started with sawing and planing down a … Continue reading Malloreddus Boards
Amanda and I wanted to hang our coffee filters in a little nook above our coffee grinder, and I happened to have a lot of free time on my hands back in April, so I decided to make one. This one by Yoshitaka Nakaya that inspired me: I didn’t really have much of a side … Continue reading Coffee Filter Holder
Over the winter of 2018/2019 and summer of 2019 I built two Cape Falcon F1 skin-on-frame style kayaks. I want to be better about documing my projects here, so I’m taking a few posts to document the backlog. The primary benefit of a skin-on-frame style kayak is how light it is. They end up being … Continue reading Cape Falcon F1 Kayak Builds
Fixing a stuck floating motor sheave and cleaning out years of grime on a Shopsmith Mark V.
Turing’s Cathedral by George Dyson – I’m struggling to get through this one, but I really want to finish it. I started reading the physical book but ended up turning to audio, which I think is a better format for this. The sheer number of names, dates, and technical details make it tough to read, … Continue reading What I’m Currently Reading
This blog started on WordPress in 2008 and moved to Jekyll in 2015. Now it is back on WordPress. Here is how I did the migration.
At work a few months ago, I mentioned the concept of digital gardens on a call. Not everyone knew what digital gardens were, and the term means different things to different people using it, so I put together a P2 about what I think a “digital garden” is. What is a digital garden? A collection of thoughts, … Continue reading What are digital gardens?
Here is how I keep track of what I do using Alfred and Things.
Yesterday was my last day at Crash. Monday I start at Automattic.
I’m an occasional contributor at The Remnant. Isaac Morehouse issued a challenge to me and I responded. It is all about why I push myself to make things despite how irresponsible it is.
If you’re just starting a new job and need to learn a bunch of new tools, or are trying to pitch a company and want to show that you have the skills it takes to work there, this article is for you.