Far too long

The drawback of being mildly active in Instagram is that I feel like I posted something when in fact the only thing I'm doing is to take pictures. The whole meat of thinking, critical philosophy and bacon are missing from there.

So I will try to take this again as the favored means of expression for all things wood.

So, first things first, my new handles:

I'm getting more and more friend of french polish. Very thin shellac, a rag and patience is all you need. And sand a bit if you want at the end. Micromesh is your friend if you want mirror finish.

(That's how far 10usd will take you in files in a Chilean flea market. Old Nicholson, Erizo and a Swedish one. )

The handles... I've spent quite a long time thinking about them. Or rather thinking on them, as Roubo would say. The sharpness of the lines doesn't come that easy. You need to gouge carefully and make scrapers that fit nicely on the curves. The one on the right is my favourite atm.

On the japanese department I rehandled a chisel and re-ura it on the grinder.

Making the ura was simpler than what I thought on the electric grinder but not as reliable as to do it with all my chisels. I'm thinking of a jig to help with this. I like skinny uras. Ideally though on should have different grinding wheels for different chisels. My wheel is 8" and anything larger than 15mm is not possible to make in one pass.

So, why did I end up handling my chisels? I was making a new blade for my small brass lie nielsen plane with A2 steel. What a piece of crap is the steel. It's like eating european meat when you have lived all your life in chile. A hard rubber without taste, it takes ages to sharpen and scratches super easy.

What else? Got kidney stones. First time in July for my birthday and then last week again. Not fun. That got me into bed for longer I'd like and implied that I had to spend more time working in front of the computer to catch up after that. But now summer is around the corner and we need to prepare for the summer school 2017, where we will finish the roof of the Kincho in puerto varas.

Impossible joint and instagram

I'm still alive.

I got sucked into the sub-world of instagram to connect with fellow chilean woodworkers and that made me lazy to write and gave me lots of input to practice. I see a joint I haven't tried, and go to the bench to make one similar.

Today saw the "impossible" joint in the column and could not figure out the drawing, so went ahead and cut a test joint:

This is the drawing:

I cannot see the numbers. After lots of thought and the aforementioned fucked up test cut, I discovered the numbers. The dovetails  on the big side have sizes of 240-188 and 188-134. The slope of the dovetails are not the same (as I was expecting since the mitres are at 45 degrees), one is 52/200 and the other 54/200. I guess that's allowance so they can slip into each other.

The test I made had the upper dovetail going inwards instead of outwards, so it doesn't work. But I think I know how it works so I will try it again tomorrow or the day after.

Furthermore, I've came to realise that working only with handtools is a lot of physical work. I'm making a "small" 1.5 meters box for julia for 2 months already, and I doubt it will be finished any time soon. The thing is too heavy and the wood is to hard to handplane it to thickness.

So I've been doing more smallish stuff.

I brought some bows with me last time I came from Germany, and I've started to play with them. Broke the head of one while trying to re-camber it, and I'm working on a frog of Curupay since don't have ebony at the moment. I'm practicing the movements, procedures and tools you need to make the bow hoping that I can spend some time at a bow maker next year if I go to europe for summer.

I've also done some work in Cumala, something like mahogany but softer and oily, a pleasure to work with. Here is a poorly designed stool that falls of you touch it on the wrong place. Should have kept the 3/10 slope of the japanese.

The tools for violin making are slowly arriving, have new small planes and japanese scroll gouges. The cheap chinese planes are kind of nice, if you like to file your tools before use. These are the ebay ones, thing of them as rough casting and you won't be too disappointed.

The pin on the left one was bent, so I complained and they sent another pair of planes.  Still waiting for those though. For 15usd each you cannot complain.

Got also a new kiridashi real thin and fragile, perfect for f-holes

and that's pretty much it, the things in Chile with the woodworking community are moving albeit slowly, but have met a few really nice people interested in learning the dark arts.

Finally, I think the next course will be a week long class making a small stool, sharpening and eating. People have complained about not having enough time and doing only exercises without a final result. my idea was that people didn't want to pay for repeating the same joint several times in a project but seems that the joints in abstracto are not so interesting as for me. This class will be far more expensive than previous ones and will require a basic toolset and sharpening gear. I will provide dimensioned wood for the project. Lunch will still be a community thing.

New house

Today we signed the contract and got the keys. So we have a house. A house with no kitchen and in a very chilean state of "conservation".

When you enter you see this:

 At the left Julia's workshop

 Then the reason we like the house

 and more

 and another

 and this is from my office, on the other direction

 some sash to do eventually to replace that beautiful mdf

 The stairs. Need to change that metal handrail.

Very tall ceiling

Something Don will like to see. No portland no sir, this is real adobe over here. I think I need to repair that.

 And from downstairs. We have 4 windows in the upper floor, and 4 in the lowe floor.

 That the "ascensor cordillera" if you ever drop by here

And that's a bakery making bread with wood, the smell of fire and bread in our house is quite gezellig

 Next to the kitchen. You don't want to see the kitchen. There is no kitchen actually, we need to buy one soon.

 And the stairs going up.

There they took the moulding off or something like that, need to figure out how to repair it.

 And the hallway with all the windows. That's ceramic on the floor, over the wooden floor. Sigh.

Let's see how it develops. We need to hire a truck and move some tools, sewing machines, a couch and 2 bikes. An a dog, of course.

And sorry Gabe, I left the hammers in my Dad's place for the last carpentry class next sunday... next week they are here.

Onzes excuses: Gaggia Internazionale

I´m very sorry and very lathe with project mayhem. This week was crazy, had to legalise marriage, it was my birthday, didn´t go to valpo friday (thanks god), and got myself a lathe. Friday, while talking with Julia, she says something like "yeah, now I have a plan, I just want to sell healthy food, coffee and have the workshop next to it." So I just looked in Yapo for coffee machines, that usually go for 800 eur or more and found this beauty for 400. I mailed the guy immediately and told him I could pay it that day but only pick it out next day afternoon.

 You may not know, but before carpentry I wanted to open a cafe, I even bought a machine in holland and learnt to make some latte art, also read the 800pages book the History of Coffee, a lovely book from 1930 or so with all the info you need.

Lever machines are the way to go. No electronics, perfect temperature always, no moving parts and you can even use gas to heat them.

If you google Gaggia Internazionale you will not find a boiler as clean as this one. I look at the screw heads and it was clear the thing was never open after being made in italy in the 1955

22 liters of coffee making capacity. It is so cool that you actually don´t turn it off, it just empty the steam at the top and heats the cups. And you need to put water inside every so often... I guess you can make 1000 espresso a day.

The guys who used it before only used 1 group, the leftmost, and the other two are absolutely new.

I´m re-chroming it, maybe some gold on the sides and replace the gaskets of the used group. And take out the asbestos from the machine.

That´s it, when you come to teach to Chile, you will have endless coffee during lectures.

The revolution just got tastier.

All that to say that I go to valpo today and start cutting the joint tomorrow.

First fire

Today was a good day. Somehow, the municipality has a truck that comes every monday around and takes all your gigantic garbage for free. Everything. From trees to concrete passing by old crappy chairs.

So the house is very fast getting cleaner.

I also had my first "helper" today. Nico, the son of the girl who takes cares of my packages here in Chile and ex-neighbour, who wants to learn a bit of carpentry.

So in the morning I put him to plane some wood with the No 5. (You always need a plane you can trash, western planes are perfect for this.) I'm starting my morning grabbing one or two pieces from the pile there, and planing it clean, then taking the wood inside the house. The wood has been for several years there, just laying around, so most of it is really fucked up but some pieces are still salvageable.

This is "roble", the chilean one. So not oak, which is called encina here, but Nothofagus obliqua, a native species. It's used mostly in old houses for sills and the like.  It's a dense and hard wood, a bit like beech but with a wilder grain, perhaps reminiscent of ash. Or maybe just roble.

After the morning coffee and tacos with cheese and chili (I need to make a post of the food in Chile, I love the colours of it) we went downstairs to clean. The "closet" went out and under it a nice surprise.

Very mouldy rotten wood. It was a great idea not to put any kind of ventilation there. You can imagine the relation with my dad at the moment is a bit tense. Pretty much everything he makes is fucked up (save the stone walls) and today 2 axe handles where in the fire...

Anyway, we left that there to dry and I sent nico to the clean the roof and I took a few pictures.

After that we cut that old dry pine in the right with the big madonoko I got. It cut so well that I went to make a handle for it, it's a really really fast beast, more info will follow. (I'd love to make video to show you the speed of these things, a la tanaka, but my camera is crap for videos and Julia's ipad is coming in november with her... so we need to wait)

Around 5 we were dead tired. We spend the rest of the afternoon cutting trees to let the sun reach the house, so a lot of machete and sawing and moving around. For sure not the same kind of job I was used to in Graz.

After dinner, we went down, and made the first fire in my old house,

and decided that tomorrow I take it off and go to Santiago to buy some nice wood and see friends.

(BTW, I implicitly assume that if you read here, you also reading Jason's blog. Yesterday he nailed it and wrote the best ever intro to saw straightening, really eye opening. Give it a read, and then another one, this is very subtle stuff and you need to experiment and read, and then repeat. I'm very much looking forward to part 2 http://mypeculiarnature.blogspot.nl/2015/05/japanese-saw-tuneup-straighten-out.html  If everything goes according to the plan, by summer 2016 we will have documented the whole process of metate and the saws will start to sing again.)

First post: things changed and changing things

I was asked by the woman of customs what are you bringing. Tools for carpentry, I'm learning violin making (I was smuggling 4 violin bows so needed an excuse for that too). And for how long you stay?, she asked. I'm coming to stay, did my phd in Holland and now I come back after 6 years or so. Ok my darling, (in spanish she said "mi niño") for this time you can pass.

Like that I brought my 60 kilos of tools, boxes, stones and the few clothes I got to start a life here. Lessons learnt: I have too much stuff and smiling to old chilean women still works like a charm.

I last lived in this house:

My mother used to have a  garden in front of the house and there was not so much dirt around. That bench you see there is pretty much standing firewood.

In front of the house there was the rose garden, nothing fancy, just grass and a few roses where the trees are now. It looks dry

Inside, the living room is the the only thing I like. Except for the ikea lamps, that is. And the social housing iron window.

 Da roof.

Then you go into the "small room", it has a "closet" made by my dad. On the bottom you see the fucked up wall and humidity stains.

 This is one window one of the renters changed. Sturdy aluminium construction that almost doesn't leak.

From the small room you have access to the toilet and the sleeping room. That fake wall was not there so it made is slightly nicer and easy to walk, more gezellig too.

That's the bedroom wall with cables for tv something like a bookshelf. Good I left most of my books so I can take that out without remorse. I had to lighten up this picture, at 4pm it's kinda dark here already

 Now it get's better. The kitchen

Those blue "tiles"  are plastic. The white death cabinets need to go asap. There is some tile fixing to do in the back and perhaps do something with the ceiling?

 A clean corner with proper electric wiring

And more abstract painting with electricity

 This one is called "white on shite"

some presents the last guy renting here left.

I need a big container for all this crap, pardon, presents from last renter.


Ok, now a look at the outside for damage assessment

First wall is actually nice.

That's the place where I want to make a winter garden / greenhouse. Something glassy and woody and squarish on top of that nice concrete floor last renter made.

 Water management

Now going behind the house.  I remember this to be green. And there was a fucsia there.

or was it here? anyway now looks slightly dead

more water control over here.

And finally, we arrived at the japanese section of the house: the roof.

And some japanese wabi sabi cabinet for what do I know. I love the proportions of this all... next to it there is a big box with OSB cover. For keeping stuff I would guess.

last picture. I'm squatting the dinning table for my tools. Counted around 17 saws. I may have a problem.

Anyway, the house downstairs was a big bummer. Need to get rid of the trash asap and start building anew and properly.

To avoid depression and breakdown, permaculture guys always recommend to start from the core out, they call it zone 0. I'm trying to do that with my room in my dad's house, then move the workbench and workshop downstairs to have my own clean and ordered space. A room of your own as Virginia said. Once that is done I can start with the wiring and insulation, if you have any ideas about the latter please share. Then make windows for the house.

If you made it till here, congratulations.

So, new settings, new look. I changed the top of the blog and added some pages that I found interesting to stick up there. They will be updated soon.

Now it's time for some tea and get going with that cleaning.