Posted by Chuck Grimmett. Learn more on his About page.
- Blog
- Profile
- Homepage
-
Week of January 27, 2025
We have ice on the Hudson again, which is refreshing after having no ice last winter. Today the eagles were out hunting on the ice. I’ve enjoyed seeing photos of the Hudson River Ice Yachts. I’d love to try one some time! We are going through a phase where dinnertime has been a struggle most…
-
Blog Question Challenge 2025
I saw this going around and it looked fun. Thanks for the idea, James. Why Did You Start Blogging in the First Place? I wanted a place to share my photography and cool things I read and watched. That was 2007. What Platform Are You Using to Manage Your Blog, and Why Do You Use…
-
Week of January 20, 2025
We woke up to a total of ~7 inches of snow on Monday and a couple hour school delay, so Charlie and I suited up and went out to shovel, clean off the car, and play. The past two weeks have been in the teens and single digits (fahrenheit). It finally broke freezing this afternoon.…
-
Week of January 13, 2025
Snow is coming down heavily as I write this. We have about 4″ now, and it is supposed to continue until around 4am. We picked up a snow shovel that is “just my size” for Charlie, so after dinner he wanted to go out and shovel, even though it was still coming down. I’ll never…
-
Live edge fly tying vise base
I had a Griffin Odyssey Spider that clamped to the table, but I found that kind of limiting. It was shorter than was comfortable, and I found myself hunching. I wanted something taller that I could move around, so I decided to build a base for it. I kept my eye out for the right…
-
Project Mise en Place
One of the challenging things about being a parent who works full time is the very limited free time for hobbies. The exhaustion fog started lifting around the two year old mark, and we started feeling more rested and interested in our hobbies again, but the free time hasn’t changed much. Now at the three…
-
Cherry darning ball
My friend Erin at Red Cottage Fiber Studio sent me some photos of a well used (and slightly misused) darning ball for mending fabric that she found at a yard sale. Looks like it was made from a piece of oak. I had a chunk of cherry from their property sitting in my shop, so…
-
Cherry kitchen mallet
Last week we got invited to a last-minute birthday party the night before. I wanted to turn something on the late that night anyway, so I decided to make a kitchen mallet for a gift. Sometime to crush ice, make cutlets, smash cucumbers, crack peppercorns, etc. I turned it out of a cherry limb that…
-
Oak feather cup
In an effort to post more, here is an oak cup I turned recently and mentioned briefly in a weekly post that I think deserves its own post. I’ve had this piece of oak in the workshop for a couple years. I roughed it round at some point and abandoned whatever I had in mind…
-
Week of January 6, 2025
Would these posts be better if I didn’t try to write them on Sunday nights, when I’m usually exhausted from the weekend? Probably, but I’m not sure there is a better time to write them. So it goes. Speaking of, I’m tired tonight. Long week with Charlie home sick half of it and a busy,…
-
From firewood to oak dish
In 2020 I helped my dad split some huge oak rounds for firewood. The grain was so straight that I had to grab a couple pieces. At some point in early 2021 I planed them down flat. I think I had three individual foot-long slabs. I’ve used them for various projects the last couple years.…
-
Weeks of December 23 and 30, 2024
Happy new year! This posts spans the Christmas holiday through now, because I didn’t post an update while traveling. Unfortunately those two periods of time, though only a week apart, feel more like a month apart. Here’s the abridged version: Some photos: New Year’s, abridged: Post New Year’s, abridged: Things on my mind right now:
-
Best of 2024 in photos
-
Top 3 (2024)
Last year I used this format instead of a long-form recap of the year, and I liked it, so I did it again this year. The categories changed slightly, and I have some notes as to why on the bottom. Happy New Year! What I left out:
-
100 things that made my year (2024)
In randomized order because the order I jotted them down clumped too many similar things together. What I noticed about this list is that I am happiest when I’m making things or doing things with the people I love. More of that in 2025. Other years: 2023, 2022, 2017
-
Week of December 16, 2024
I worked in Manhattan on Monday to host a WordPress community event at our offices after work. I got in some last-minute shopping and had lunch at Hamburger America, and caught up with some coworkers I hadn’t seen in a while. The event itself was kind of a bust, but while waiting on the subway…
-
Week of December 9, 2024
The big thing this week was that we unexpectedly replaced our washer and dryer. The washer started leaking on Monday, so I took the front off and laid on the floor watching it run a load. The leak was coming from where the shaft goes into the wash basin, and my Dad, who repaired appliances…