What a crazy month! Fortunately the election madness here in the States seems to be calming down a little. Still, caused a few sleepless nights for me! Aside from all that, it’s been a pretty busy month here.

My mate Derek helped show me how to properly do stop motion. We spent about 8 hours making a 10 second clip! It was a steep learning curve for me, and I’m looking forward to doing more stop motion in the future. I’ve shared the video with my Patreon supporters. Thanks to all of you supporting me via Patreon, it helps give me the time to create more videos and to write more articles on green woodworking and it’s a way for you to get access to content before anyone else.

A big chunk of this month was spent at the lathe. The last batch of mugs for 2020 are all turned, oiled and are currently in the curing cabinet. The natural finish takes several weeks to fully cure, so I’ve closed the books on mugs for the year as I won’t be able to get any more turned, dried, oiled and cured in time for Christmas now. I’ll keep making them so I’ll have a few ready to go right away when the books reopen in January, but it’s nice to be able to focus my efforts on other items.

After focusing heavily on turning for most of this month it felt really good to pivot back into carving. Mugs take such a long time from splitting them out of the log to finally slapping a shipping label on them. Utensils on the other hand are a much less involved process. Mainly because I’ve carved a heck of a lot more spoons than I’ve turned mugs. For example, I’ve turned about 60 mugs this year. But I’ve made over 300 spoon blanks and just over a hundred finished utensils. And i’ve been making utensils a lot longer than I’ve been turning. So the muscle memory is there. I also really enjoy the physical sensation of carving. The way the edge interacts with the wood, leaving a smooth fresh surface in it’s wake is deeply satisfying. So I’m cruising through the orders you’re putting in. The USPS shipping deadline is around the 18th of December, so I’ll probably be closing the web shop on the 11th so I can guarantee items to arrive by Christmas. I might close doors earlier if folks more organized than I am do their Christmas shopping early. So if you’re thinking of picking up some utensils for yourself or loved ones, please consider putting in your order earlier rather than later.

With that, it’s back to the shed with me! Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the rest of your November.

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