Descending Ashtray

It sometimes feels like my shop is nothing but a collection of tools and unfinished projects - I tend to get very excited about starting things, and not so much about finishing them. But today, I completed a sculpture I started over a year ago, my Totem Study, shown here in front of a wedding chest I made for my sister. I just put a coat of oil on both of them, which is why they look a little wet; they are.

I also started work today on another carving, which I’ll post tomorrow. I made very good progress, but I want to do a few more things on it tomorrow before showing it in progress.

Now that he has his own coveralls and tape, Ethan is ready to come help out in the shop.

I went to Miller’s hardware today to look for something to split firewood, when I came across this ingenius invention. For only ten dollars more, I just had to try it. So I took it home and it was splitting incredible! The wood just exploded off the chopping block. The wings on each side of the blade are spring loaded and expand out on contact.