no need for japanese mambo jambo

Somewhere I read that all the info you need to become a good woodworker was free. I totally agree with that. And I think it's morally reprehensible to put knowledge behind paywalls of any kind. One doesn't have money because one is smart or worked hard. It's mostly related to the special skill of choosing one's own parents. Born white and with money in a first world country sets you on top of a few million people, if not billions. Make it even 20cents dearer for them to know what you know seems like a crime to me. Mostly when you, your parents, and your grandparents have profited of the exploitation of those people be it by slavery, economic dependence or simply by producing far more of your share of pollution to have the life you have and don't give a shit.

So when my friend Gabe speaks in japanese mambo jambo about triangles I go back to my old friend pitagoras and start from there to splay legs. Pitagoras theorem is free, like the concept of wheels and diesel engine. Google's algorithms are not. Neither several life saving medicaments or technologies. Without been boring about the whole story of the concept of copyright, it stems from the same place as capitalism, colonialism and the like: england 1600s. And as every reactionary idea, it attempts to present as natural what was once imposed.

That's why there is a little sign at the end of my blog that says something like all this crap is creative commons. Ya know, it's supposed to help the common good.

So today I used the spare leg for one side, and then made another one for the remaining one.

The first leg is "just" 3mm undersized, well, in fact the mortice is oversized. The others are quite decent. We needed to have dinner tonight so the bench was moved down before I could finish plane it. Once I put shellac on it I show some close ups.

It's much easier than what I feared, and you can solve this with simple geometry and pitagoras theorem. In the case of this 50x50mm legs I needed to cut 3mm from each side to make the diamond shape.

A few tips: cut the bottom of the legs at the end. If you already cut one bottom, you can use it as a paring block. Make a paring block if you haven't cut a leg's bottom. And not only use it for paring but also for holding the chisel at an angle when you hammer it.

 The bench sounds like crazy when we sit. Well, mostly when I sit, it holds julia without complain. The dog sleeps under it. I hope it doesn't break.