spring !

above, february 16, about 3 months ago ...." if you dont like the weather in vermont, just wait a minute" is how the saying typically goes. now, if you wait three months from the photo above, youll really see some stuff happen ... so, here we are today on the EIGHTH day in a row of top down on the convertible weather, sunny skies and warmish temperatures. a week ago tuesday, it was news when, for the first time in 3 weeks, we had two days in a row with no measurable precipitation. now we havent had any in over a week ... go figure ... click the images for a taste of high springtime in vermont ...
last friday, i took a trip to burlington to order some custom steel parts in bristol, look at some slabs at lathrops and attend the opening of the bench show, which was really nice. like other water around the country, lake champlain is at an all time record high. beautiful though .
the asparagus started coming in for real last saturday .
and the azaleas are blooming ... rhododendrens next ...
saturday, 18 holes with bill laberge at lake st. catherine ... from the 14th tee above ... a long choice in (and down) to get home
sunday some tennis in the afternoon, and monday, i stayed home after work and fixed my garage roof where last winters ice had broken some roof slates.
tuesday, back at the tennis courts with mr. cooper when sam and jim stopped by to show us their morels ...
long trail school courts (our local tennis club) in the backround below
wednesday afternoon, 9 more at the equinox in manchester; a beautiful course ....
and then thursday afternoon, a little fishing with sam in the mettowee down the street, after work ... hes into the fly tying thing and getting pretty good at it ...
pagoda dogwood about to bloom... you may not be familiar with it, but when it blooms its a very cool, understory, sculptural tree ...
a couple hendricksons were coming off ... just a nice choice to end the work day ...
nicely fished, but no luck
beautiful sunsets this week
the ducks are back and the birds are going crazy ....
i leave you with some tulips in kits garden ... rain a comin this weekend ...

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Celebrate Spring in Saratoga

The Northeastern Woodworkers Association will host their 20th Annual Fine Woodworking Show on March 26th & 27th at the Saratoga Springs City Center in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY.
The event is a wonderful showcase of woodworking pieces build by the regions professional and amateur woodworkers. There are also instructional lectures and a marketplace.

A portion of the 2010 showcase.

While the showcase will be beautiful and the marketplace interesting, it is a tragic oversight to attend an event such as this and not also attend the lectures (click for the lecture schedule). This year the demonstrators are:

Ernie Conover

Sheila Bergner Landry

Chris Schwarz

Peter FollansbeeHaving driven 4 hours each choice to attend the event last year just to see Chris Schwarzs lecture, Im going to be sure to catch as many of the lectures as I can this year.
Others attending the show (though not lecturing) include Anatole Burkin of FineWoodWorking.com and Anissa Kapsales of Fine Woodworking and the Long Island Woodworkers Club.

Ill be there too, all day Saturday. Ill be the one wondering around the show with my Penultimate Woodshop T-Shirt. If you see the big QR code on the back, come over and say hi.
What are you doing to welcome the spring.?
All photos (except my QR code) are taken from the Northeastern Woodworkers Association Website.

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Minggu, 11 Desember 2016

ebay find before and after

a little before and after here.  a client brought us the chair below.  it had a lovely mousey bouquet about it and some really funky red fabric, but the bones were good, and the hardware was complete and functional.  our friend isaiah at bespoke upholstery carefully disassembled it, saving the original fabric and frames for patterns .. the headrest is finished and will be reunited with its chair tomorrow.  click the photos to enlarge them ..

and i happen to have on hand a skin of maine chili pepper leather from universal leather company that the client thought was perfect for it.

we sanded the walnut veneer lightly and touched up the black painted edges.  we then gave it to our friend steve holman and he sprayed a little lacquer on it to freshen up the shine and get rid of the mouse odor.

  pretty righteous upholstery work by isaiah ...

 parts and patterns .. we made two new frames for the seat and back upholstery .. all the foam and burlap was replaced too.

 very cool upholstery foundation design.  obviously a factory chair. i tried to find one like it on google images but no luck ... info anyone?

 

 very nicely laminated frame.  i have no idea how they did that ... lots of pressure somehow.  its kind of folded into shape.

 the client asked us to reinforce the base so we added a 14 gauge plate 

between the swivel and the seat.  good to go ..
update 5/31

 

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Selasa, 06 Desember 2016

im back sort of spring in vermont

well, when its springtime in vermont, you cant expect tooooo  much writing from me ... i do have a couple of good posts coming up, but i havent quite gotten around to getting them together just yet.  soon, i suspect, like maybe tomorrow.  maybe.  if it rains or something.  maybe ... heres a sampler of what its like outside here now ... like i said.  spring.  click the pictures to enlarge them ...

 you got your grass to mow ... nice change from the snow ...

 you got your hoseshoes to set up

 you got your magnolias ..

 and your phoebe nest ...

 and your fishin...  sam with a big one from the mettawee ..

 your tulips  ...

and your wood to stack ... all done now ..

your big fat 800+ page book to read ... 400 years of natural history, well written.

your golf to play ... been out a bunch of times ... 

and so much more.

and oh yeah,  we still have to work ... weve been working on the new designs.  heading into it big time on monday ... more soon ... dan

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Jumat, 25 November 2016

Yo ! Turkeys ! and other images of spring

We had these daffodils on the kitchen island a week ago and they gave me the feeling that the weather was about to break ... And it did. We still have snow on the ground but this weekend was 100% sunny and warm. I think I saw 50 degrees on my car thermometer for a minute .. Anychoice, it was beautiful and I was lucky to catch some turkeys prowling through the woods a few minutes before I found my first pussywillows ...
Click the pictures to enlarge them
Mr. Turkey above, and his ladies below ... He had a nice beard but hes turned just enough that you cant see it in this picture ...
I think there were 3 or 4 more ladies I cropped out ..
Pussywillows on the porch and Cactus Man Goes to the Pyramids by Jim Parsons, the guy Jim you see working in the shop photos ...
Sunset yesterday ... two months to leaves ...

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