Digging the Light Fantastic

A reminder of the digger I’ve been talking about that will hopefully be making an appearance in The Age.  Ok, so I’ve tripped it up a little (at least the background)
Yes, I know it is at the top of the page, but I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be keeping that header [...]

Aristocrat Photo Gloss and the Burl Clock

While I was at the Brisbane Wood Show, I had a chance to chat with the guys from Photogloss(.com.au), and had a closer look at their Aristocrat Liquid Glass.  They have a whole display wall at the shows, displaying all the different ways their products can be used, and some were quite inventive.
It comes in [...]

A Burl Clock for the Shed

To start the process, I’ve been preparing the burl slab itself, and the first part of that was the recent YouTube Chronicles video, running the burl through the drum sander.
Next, I took the random orbital sander to the surface, starting with the unusually coarse (for me) 80 grit paper (the burl is very hard), and [...]

A Subtle Rebranding…

is occurring for Chris Vesper’s tools.  Instead of the original “CV” inside an outline of Australia, the new branding is
as he transitions the brand to “Vesper Tools“

On my way, to The Age

Sitting on the train on my way into Melbourne central to drop off my dozer project for them to photograph for an article in the Melbourne Magazine (one of those ones that comes out, inside the newspaper each week).
It’s quite a mission to get this in there- 2 hours of travel to drop it off, [...]

From Chris Vesper to Melbourne Woodworkers

Special plea to Melbourne locals
I was reading my local Leader newspaper the other day and came across a small news mention titled “Hand-crafted toolbox taken”.
The article went on to read:
An elderly Frankston man had his precious tool box stolen after thieves broke into his garage.  The 87 year old told police he had made the [...]

Looking for a Lifestyle Change?

The Lumber Bunker, in West Gosford on the Central Coast (east) of Australia is currently for sale as a going concern.
Its asking price is $A20,000 (plus fixtures etc at cost), on eBay of all places!  I can honestly say I’ve never seen a business sold on eBay before, but then I can also say I’ve [...]

The Phoenix is Arising!

I have it on expert authority (and I will protect my sources here) that some of the Triton range is now back in production, with the remainder of the manufactured range (as opposed to power tools (I don’t have a source of information on those)) being bought back on line in the near future.
As has [...]

The Tattooed Woodworker

One of our fellow woodworking bloggers in the USA has been receiving an absolute wave of hatemail comments recently, to the extent that he shut down his blog (and was considering walking away from woodworking altogether).
Through a combined effort of the woodworking community, he has been convinced to not give it all away, and to [...]

Perfume for the Bloke in your life

.
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(Translates as “Workshop Smell” – if you can’t get into the shed, at least you can have the aroma of having done so.  Includes oil of sawdust, tung oil and 11 other secret herbs and spices)
Ok, for those that were wondering (or thought it might be real), this is just me playing with PhotoShop! [...]

Delay, its a good thing!

The Hall Table course at Ideal Tools has had to be delayed till the 28, 29 and 30 August. Yeah – not 6 Sunday mornings in a row, one intensive weekend!
And that is why I think it is going to be really cool!  Take a day off work (damn ) on the Friday, [...]

SSYTC007 Preparing a Burl

Taking a slice of burl, and getting the surface flat has traditionally meant I have broken out the belt sander which (unless it is a particular shade of green) is NOT a precision machine.  Some will use handtools – planes, scrapers etc to get the surface flat, but circumstances (and a [...]