Tree seeds

From left to right
Cherry
Peach
Plum
Hazel
Pawpaw

Flood

Rained 29th oct all day and night, into the 30th. Medium flood level, not to the garden

A great lot of weeding

A great lot of weeding today. A out half the garden is empty. The garlic failed, among other disappointments. The leeks are doing well an considerably tastier than the ones from the market. Tomatoes are finally getting good, bu as they are a new world crop, we won't talk about them.

Weeding and mulching

Hot today. In the garden are: garlick zucchini tomatoes calendula nasturtium leek

Repotting houseplants

With my motherinlaw

Cleaning up the asparagus bed

Before and after

Chest

Probably the last woodworking project for the summer, the garden needs attention.

First of this sort of chest. You might have seen it, partially assembled, at Birka. A very interesting build, lots of hand cut mortises. didnt want to invest in a plank for the lid, so using a piece of plywood to get the mechanics of the lid down. There's a few flaws. The lid hinge pins aren't quite lined up, and the back bows a little, enough to interfere with the lid. Really need meatier planks back there. Relish is fine on hot dogs, not in woodworking. And it's not square so it doesn't sit flat. Not that big a deal because the floor isn't very flat either. A real problem though is the bottom panels tend to drop out. They are half-lapped onto each other, but one of them reverses the half-lap so it can come out. I'm not sure if they are too short or I the sides bow out too much.

Pollard

Spring is finally here, the daffodils tell me so. So do the forsythia and early azalea, but as they are not period, we won't mention them here. Time to cut the pollard tree. An added bonus is a copious amount if sticks to use in the garden.

Before, after, and sticks

Drill press

Drill press

New table saw

Here is the new (to me) table saw, Delta 10" contractors saw. First purchased by my uncle, then from him to my father, and then to me. There's a bunch of it that isn't set up in my shop due to the tight quarters.

All set up and ready to trim the feet for the list posts

Posts for the fighting listfields

So there have been a number of setbacks which have seemed rather daunting. But there has been a great deal of progress made. All the posts are to size, and the feet are about 3/4 done.

Not having enough to do...

A project. You know you want in on this action!

Hutch - nearing completion

So the hutch is mostly assembled. Very little glue used, as most of the joins are across grain. All that remains is the lid. At 15.5 inches wide, it will take more than an ordinary plank. As the pin hinges aren't really working right, I may tack on a piece of plywood first, to see if it will work, rather than risk ruining a good board of that width.

Hutch- fitting the bottom

Each board is trimmed to fit in the groove only where it needs to be, middle has full thickness

Chest

On the right side, the central post is in two pieces. On the other side, it is one piece.

And here's a nice bone-headed move. Wonder why these nails aren't holding...

Top rail

The top rail stays with the lid

More woodworking

Gardening in winter, not so much. So here's some nice curls of shavings coming up out of the mortise.

Hutch chest end panel

The en panels are complicated, the top rail will be attached to the lid, and in this type of chest, bear the pin on which the lid will hinge. Pardon the modern clamp, the hands of the apprentice would normally fill that role. Besides, they didn't have to photograph their work. Mortises in the front and back will hold the side panels. This is the first of four.

Hutch type chest

Here the tenon is cut the full width of the board. It will be cut down to fit the mortise. In this way we need not be concerned about tearing the ends of the tenon because that part will be gone. Likewise te edges of the mortise will be internal and hidden.

Hutch type chest

So I've finally started in on a non-six-board chest. Joinery for the front is finished. Deep slot mortises, cut by hand, tenons roughed on the table saw then trimmed to fit w chisel and shoulder plane.