Wee bench from a Log

Brought the girls to a new playpen. As they could not be left there unattended I took the opportunity to do some more work on the bench. Drilled the last hole today, and got the ends of the legs small enow to drive into the holes. They are left quite rough so they grab inside the holes. this is green wood and they will come loose as they dry, but they can simply be pounded in a bit more when that occurs.

At this point the thing will work, but it's very ... uh ... rustic. I should take a drawknife to the legs so that they are smooth and graceful, and shave the top a bit more to remove the axe marks.

What a great way to work!

Rain

Fourth day of rain. Hope Noah got that boat finished. A little colder and all this would be snow. Quiet pretty peaceful snow

Making another bench

These simple benches are real easy to make and I suspect were fairly ubiquitous.

Here we have already hewn the main seat plank and are making holes for the legs

This is a funny bit, a little difficult to get started. The first hole I wimbled a pilot but for the second I didn't. The pilot didn't seem to matter much, but I'm not too particular about where the hole is, as the bit does wander around before sinking in.

Thirtieth day of march

On this day the river did runners over its banks

Though it has not yet reached the garden, more rain is expected today

Peas

Though the snow be gone, and all the work ahead is plainly seen, it is till too cold to be doing much of it.

I did manage to plant some peas today, in a perennial bed so as not to interfere with the plowing to come...

Winter won't let go

14.4 for the low last night

First day of spring

A high of 51

Green eggs, no ham

Second egg today, same chicken

Egg

First egg of the season today

Snow

Not much of this left

Wind

Much wind on Wednesday, big col, 13 last night. Racer doing her dance when reached for. Greater celandine is green, daffodil and iris putting up shoots

61.9 for the high temp yesterday. Really should be setting my seeds

The snow is trying to hang onto the garden

Heads

Mud

At 52.5 degrees today, we now have less snow and more mud

More bowl work

Keeping the bowl in a bag when not being worked upon is a good idea and has slowed or eliminated the checking that began to plague me on his project.

I've taken a bit more out if the interior, steepening the inside walls. I am also working in getting the rim smooth. The axe is much better at traversing the grain. The sides are too thin to get a good purchase and the tool is tending to dive deep and tear the wood. I'm sure it needs a bit of sharpening at this point...

With limiting myself to two tools, the axe and the gouge, you really have to apply the tools correctly and in the right way. The axe for the straight bits, and the convex surfaces, the gouge for the concave areas. So today is the first time the gouge saw the outside of the bowl. I've been having issue with getting the endgrain finished off nicely. It is too fine a work to be struck with the axe, yet too rough to be shaved off. This is part of the learning experience, and I'm sure with greater proficiency with the tool this wouldn't be an issue. But the presence o these protruberances could easily come up into a handle of sorts or at least a design element, so I did up the one end with the gouge.