Monthly Archives: February 2006

Band-Saw Box #1

Posted on February 25, 2006 by joel
This is the first (of hopefully several) band-saw boxes that I've made. I really like the organic nature of these boxes, and they give me a chance to use some of the sculptural experience I got in high school. I can't wait to get started on another of these! The box is made of curly maple, and the finish is two coats of boiled linseed oil and 1 coat of paste wax.


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Scenes from Space #23

Posted on February 24, 2006 by joel
Don't worry - HAL didn't try to cut him loose. What you are seeing was a novel satellite idea. This unneeded Russian Orlan spacesuit was pushed out of the International Space Station earlier this month. Dubbed Suitsat-1, it was filled mostly with old clothes, and a radio transmitter. Suitsat-1 will orbit the Earth once every 90 minutes until it burns up in the Earth's atmosphere - which should happen within a few weeks.

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Gues Who’s Walking?

Posted on February 18, 2006 by joel
Last weekend, Sean could walk about three steps before falling down. This weekend, he can walk about thirty. It's amazing how fast they learn something new once they set their mind to it!

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Guy Smiley

Posted on February 12, 2006 by joel
This is just a small collection of pictures we took recently. Sean is smiling in all of them. And as most of you know, Sean is not usually one to smile for the camera. So these are quite a treat for us.



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Morris Chair Almost Finished!

Posted on February 12, 2006 by joel
The Morris chair I've told some of you about - and posted pictures of here - is nearly finished! Today I made the seat cushion for it. All that's left to do is make a back cushion. We are currently substituting one of our couch cushions for the back cushion, because we couldn't wait to try it out. The chair is made of solid black walnut. The finish is 3 coats of boiled linseed oil and 3 coats of water-based satin polyurethane.


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Scenes from Space #22

Posted on February 10, 2006 by joel
These tracks were made by the Apollo 14 crew's two-wheeled Modularized Equipment Transporter (MET) - which the astronauts referred to as the "rickshaw" - which was designed to help the astronauts explore the Moon's surface. It carried lunar handtools, sample containers, spare film and a Lunar Surface Penetrometer. The tracks in the soil show the path of Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell as they explored this lunar landscape.

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Make Just About Anything

Posted on February 3, 2006 by joel
Want to know how to make just about anything? Twenty years ago, you'd head to the library and hope for the best - maybe they would have a book on the subject, maybe not. Today, you pop on the web and you've got instructions at your fingertips in seconds. The only problem is that you've got to know what you want to know in order to search for it. What if you're like me, and are always looking for some project, but don't know what it will be and are looking for ideas? That's where two of my absolute favorite websites come in. The Make Blog over at Make Magazine, and the user-submitted project instructions on Instructables. Both are chuck full of cool ideas. I check them daily!
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Scenes from Space #21

Posted on February 3, 2006 by joel
This is an image of Europa, one of the four largest moons of Jupiter. Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo, along with Jupiter's three other largest moons - Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. This image was taken by the Galileo spacecraft, which was named for the famous astronomer. The surface of Europa is ice, and the features observed in this (false-color) image are believed to be cracks in the surface ice, which many scientists believe may cover a liquid ocean. This is very exciting, because scientists believe that it may be possible that Europa's subsurface ocean may once - or even may still - harbor life.

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Diary of a Mad Photojournalist

Posted on February 2, 2006 by joel
Those who know me from back in the day probably know Chris Crook. What some of you may not know is that Chris now lives in Ohio, is married, and is a photojournalist - and a damn good one at that. After an on-again, off-again romance with having an internet presence, Chris appears to have buckled down and started a blog. This is cool for me, because I have always wanted to know more about the day-to-day stuff in his work. If you know Chris, check out his blog. And if you don't know Chris, check it out anyway - because he is an interesting and witty guy, and it's a good read.
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Kagen Schaefer

Posted on February 2, 2006 by joel
Here's a woodworker that I find inspirational - Kagen Schaefer. He builds puzzle boxes of his own design, and they are quite clever and beautiful. A puzzle box is a small wooden box that is opened using a secret combination of 'moves'. Different types of boxes use different types of moves. Traditional Japanese puzzle boxes often used sliding panels moved in a specific sequence to open the box. Kagen's boxes sometimes use the method, but he has also invented many other opening methods. Aside from the sheer creativity of designing the opening mechanisms, the boxes themselves are quite expertly crafted. Check out his page for examples of his work.

I myself would LOVE to build a puzzle box. I think I have come up with a couple of different types of opening mechanisms, but so far I have not had the time (or the accuracy in my tools) to try and build one. Maybe I will try very soon!

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