As far as hobbies go, I have none. I have passions. I have activities that do me. I have been preforming music on a barstool on weekends at various cafes and coffee shops and writing my own songs for as long as I can remember. It is just as ingrained into my being a bad sciatic nerve. It is as much a part of who I am at this point as who my parents were. I wasn't born with an acoustic guitar or a mandolin or a pen in my hand, but chances are that is the way I will leave this body. The photo on my Icon is the photo on my 4th CD. It is called "The Purple Project". I do other things like hike, read, tell stories, I used to collect stamps, I carved rubber stamps, but music and songwriting own me. They posses me as fully as any woman could and are the only things that have ever made my Jilly Darlin' jealous in 33 years.
I’m getting a few more pen bodies turned on the lathe. From left to right are (2) Olive wood, (1) Cocobolo, (1) Spalted Tamarind, and the last one is a Cocobolo and Olive wood combination.
My friend came in unexpectedly from Tennessee today to visit his mother, and surprised me with a gift of a Shop Smith he was not using. His mother was feeling a bit low it seems, she is here alone since her lifelong friend passed away a few years ago. He decided on a whim to drive up and cheer her up with an impromptu visit. I had asked him and his wife if they could use some custom made pens/pencils a few days ago and had his wife pick out a pen style and wood that she liked. Well, I got her’s turned down and assembled and once Mark saw the pencil/pen, he thought he would use a pencil in his workshop. I decided to make it “bulletproof” and turned the pen barrel from aluminum. It turned out pretty cool.....and sturdy. Now, they are done and he can take them back with him when he goes back home on Monday🙂. His wife’s is stabilized orange dyed Buckeye. The pic kinda sucks, not quite the right lighting, and I’m not a photographer☹️
If their are any stamp collectors out their the Postal Service is putting a forever stamp commemorating the USS Missouri, I believe the date is June 11. For those who may not know this is the battleship the Japanese surrender took place ending WW.Two.
@RockyMountainBriar ~ Hey brother I was just scoping out these pens again and I was wondering if you had ever made one out of Bodock, or Osage Orange wood. Have you ever worked with it at all? It is gorgeous. I have a hiking stick and a flute made out of it.
@OlePops No sir, neither. I always thought Osage Orange was pretty nice though. I have not seen or heard of Bodock. I have not seen any Osage Orange on the site I find the wood pieces either. By the way, I have not forgot about a pen. Just been really busy.
I'm an artist, some call it a blessing but it's feels mostly like a curse. I like to draw, sketch and paint stuff. Im more of a musician, I play piano, mandolin, B-3, electric mandolin and do some synth work. I have written some stuff for plays and have an original piano solo album I produced some time back. I like to cook, I call myself a pretend chef. I wish I had more time for fun.
@RockyMountainBriar ~ They are one in the same. Here in Tennessee we call it Bodock, but down further south it's Osage Orange. I think an Osage Orange is what we call a Hedge Apple. They aren't much good for anything except keeping bugs away. The wood is strong and out west some tribes of Indians used to make hunting bows out of it after fire hardening, but there is a yellow and red tint in some of it that is gorgeous. Even when it is not colored, the natural grain is quite nice.
I decided to make a matching shaving brush to go with the dubl-duck Pearlduck Special No. 1 straight razor I made the scales for awhile back. The wood for the razor scales and the brush handle is Plum-wood salvaged from one of my mom’s dead plum trees. We cut it down a few years ago, the wood has been drying since. The brush is a natural boar bristle.
I just fit a new Gransfors-Bruk hand axe handle to a Norlund Hudson Bay pattern hatchet head I cleaned up. It is sharpened now too. It will shave hair off of my arm. I don’t think I could shave my face though, not quite that sharp😬. No, I am not going to try.
I enjoy theology, reading, most of the work involved in organizing the Chicago Pipe Show, Runescape an online game, spending time with my wife, gardening, woodturning and travel.
I like “good” coffee. Coffee was in quotes because tastes differ and what I like, others may not and vice-versa. I decided to roast my own coffee beans...again, just to see if I can. I bought 1 lb. of green Ethiopian Yirgacheffee beans the other day and gave it a go. I used a “Whirley-Pop” popcorn kettle on top of my MSR International backpack/camp stove. The aluminum is a bit light on the kettle, so I used a cast iron heat diffuser between stove and kettle. I did the roasting outside because it generates a bit of smoke. I roasted two batches, one to “first crack” and the other to “second crack”. I generally like light to light medium roast coffee. The first crack is light roast and second crack would be about a medium roast. Each batch took approximately 12-15 minutes. I completed both within about an hour....including setup, pre-heat, roasting, cooling and cleanup. Each batch was roughly half of a pound. I think I could do a full pound with similar results in less time. I just wanted to try different roasts. I am not a coffee expert, but the light roast came out, near as I can tell, the same as the professionally roasted beans I usually buy. The medium roast was, as expected, different. I still liked the medium roasted beans, but preferred the light. I brewed the coffees for my co-workers to taste test....they were impressed. I usually brew at least one pot of good coffee a day at work for sharing. It beats the company provided Folgers 100% Columbian we usually have, although free coffee is nothing to complain about. Here is a quick pic of the light roasted beans. It was so easy, quick and fun that I plan on roasting more beans. Oh, a 12 oz. bag of the same roasted beans is $15.00. I got 16 oz. of green beans for $6.00. Some mass ~15% is lost as water is roasted out, depending on how dark the roast, etc.
@Londy3 I bought mine from a local roaster, Mazevo, here in Billings, they delivered them to one of their coffee shops with their regular coffee order for me. They have a website and sell green beans online. I have seen some on EBay as well. I can’t attest to quality of any of them. The Mazevo beans make good coffee for me. We have a Costco warehouse store here, they had green beans online awhile back, but not in the store, and only in a case of 4 or 6? 3lb? cans. I don’t remember the specifics because I did not want to buy that much for an “experiment” that may have went awry.
A Kuksa I carved from another piece of my mom’s plum tree. I have had the cup roughed out for at least three weeks, and put the finishing touches to it tonight. The dang thing instantly split in three spots when I poured some “cleansing/sterilizing” Jim Beam Devil’s Cut in it. I will just fill them with epoxy or superglue. I am not sure if I want to use it as a shaving soap mug (it would complete my plum wood shaving set), a drinking cup, or maybe a tobacco drying cup. I guess the last two could be used either/or, just not at the same time😬
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I had asked him and his wife if they could use some custom made pens/pencils a few days ago and had his wife pick out a pen style and wood that she liked. Well, I got her’s turned down and assembled and once Mark saw the pencil/pen, he thought he would use a pencil in his workshop. I decided to make it “bulletproof” and turned the pen barrel from aluminum. It turned out pretty cool.....and sturdy. Now, they are done and he can take them back with him when he goes back home on Monday🙂. His wife’s is stabilized orange dyed Buckeye. The pic kinda sucks, not quite the right lighting, and I’m not a photographer☹️
No sir, neither. I always thought Osage Orange was pretty nice though. I have not seen or heard of Bodock. I have not seen any Osage Orange on the site I find the wood pieces either. By the way, I have not forgot about a pen. Just been really busy.
Ahh, just looked it up. Bodock is Osage Orange.....or is Osage Orange....Bodock🤔
I am not a coffee expert, but the light roast came out, near as I can tell, the same as the professionally roasted beans I usually buy. The medium roast was, as expected, different. I still liked the medium roasted beans, but preferred the light. I brewed the coffees for my co-workers to taste test....they were impressed. I usually brew at least one pot of good coffee a day at work for sharing. It beats the company provided Folgers 100% Columbian we usually have, although free coffee is nothing to complain about.
Here is a quick pic of the light roasted beans. It was so easy, quick and fun that I plan on roasting more beans. Oh, a 12 oz. bag of the same roasted beans is $15.00. I got 16 oz. of green beans for $6.00. Some mass ~15% is lost as water is roasted out, depending on how dark the roast, etc.
https://www.google.com/search?q=green+coffee+beans
I bought mine from a local roaster, Mazevo, here in Billings, they delivered them to one of their coffee shops with their regular coffee order for me. They have a website and sell green beans online. I have seen some on EBay as well. I can’t attest to quality of any of them. The Mazevo beans make good coffee for me.
We have a Costco warehouse store here, they had green beans online awhile back, but not in the store, and only in a case of 4 or 6? 3lb? cans. I don’t remember the specifics because I did not want to buy that much for an “experiment” that may have went awry.