Sweet Chestnut Laptop Stand

 As you know, I'm always making something! This was a project for a magazine article (in Woodworking Crafts soon), but also was something we needed. 

I managed to find a nice piece of sweet chestnut for the project and thought it would work well for what was in my head for a simple stand for my wife. 

I'm quite pleased with it. Looks modern and fits in nice with other stuff we have in the house. 

Wheelbarrow Soil/Compost Sieve

So another product added to my range. This one is another that has come about due to wanting the product myself. 

Store bought compost seems to be getting worse and worse, so I'm either making more of my own or I'm having to sieve out big chunks of wood from the compost I buy. This sieve goes on the wheelbarrow and lets me sieve it easily. 

Wooden Compost Sieves

I'm always looking for new products to make and sell. One that people have asked about is sieves. I wanted to make some that were quite chunky and would last a long time. 

I made them so the bottom is completely rebated in and held with a bead. This should make them strong and durable. 

Carved Wooden Axe Cover Video

 I've put together a short video on the axe cover I made. 

It's tricky to get the shots when you're carving on your own, so this is a mixture of pictures and videos, with instructions on what I did to get the results I got. Hopefully easy to follow. It will be in woodcarving magazine soon with step by step instructions as well. 

Thanks for watching! 

They Keep Getting Older

 So Middlest turned 12 last month.

When you have children you always get a lot of people who love to tell you how hard it is, how it's going to get harder. Lots of "Oh, you wait."

Got a two year old, "You wait until they're three - woohee!" they'll tell you with glee. Got a five year old "Ohh Seven is harder." 

I sometimes wonder if these people enjoy moaning about their children more than having them. 

Each step has it's challenges, but each step is completely amazing and brings different joy. I love the people my children are turning into, I love spending time with them, and I know I'm very lucky with the sheer amount of time I get to spend with them. 

You can't help missing some bits, when they're small and scrunch up on you, or when they run into your arms after a day at school, but also the later bit are just as good. When you sit round the table and they tell you something funny that happened, or when they're together and they all get the giggles and won't stop laughing at something that's just with the three of them. 

We now have a nine, twelve and thirteen year old in the house. The last decade or so has gone in a blur, but what amazing people to share it with. 

Middle daughter is smart, clever, cuttingly funny, good at everything she turns her hand to. Life is better for having her in it, and I know those that know her think the same. 

Chicken Coop from 20 Years Ago & Old Photos of Me!

 I was looking through some old photos the other day. Before I left mum and dads I did a lot of jobs around the place and built quite a few things. One was this chicken coop as I was always keeping chickens. It wasn't the first one I built, as that was for my GSCE woodwork project when I was 15 (well it was a duck house but near enough). 

I'd been hatching chickens out in an incubator mum and I bought, we got some different eggs and moved away from our hybrid layers for a little while. This coop would for the basic shape of my next few ones before I moved away from building them with wood cladding. 

Invincible Pear

It's called invincible as it flowers twice, meaning if the first gets hit by frost you'll get a later crop. Apparently sometimes you'll get two crops on the tree ripening at different times. 

These are my first pears from our tree here (I think I have three trees in fact) . Quite sharp at first bite, but enjoyable to eat. Lovely to have at the very tail end of October fresh from the tree. 

 The pears were good this year, but I'm really looking forward to when my dwarf trees start to produce. This was the first one really from what I planted a few years ago. That said I did have some tiny Asian pears, but they were too small to eat, I should have thinned the fruit! 

Other than Conference, what's your favourite pear?

Another Simple Wooden Axe cover

Talking with John in the comments on my last post, I thought I'd share another wooden axe cover on the course from a young carpenter, Ethan, who had this one in oak. 

 Very simple design that makes the axe easy to recognise in an instant, protects the edge and has a nice decorative element to it. 

 I think in the days before phones, TV and social media doing something like this around the fire would have been a nice way to spend an evening while chatting with friends. 

Do you prefer a more simple design like this? Or more complicated one like the previous post? I may have to make another one yet.