Odds

I've been neglecting this blog for a while. To be fair I set it aside for fun little projects I'd like to show people and lately I've been working outside and on the house. As an example, couple weeks ago I re-did part of the barns roof and no one wants to see that. Come to think of it no one actually really looks at this blog so I might as well:

I could go on about how the shingles are matched perfect and staggered special, how the chimney is actually not a chimney but a roof vent made out of old chimney parts in the hopes that the barn won't be so damp with it there. Not really interesting stuff. Oh, and if you caught the movie reference in this paragraph we might just be friends!

On to bigger and better things. I'd bought one of those compact pruning saws a while back, and though it cuts real nice it's really too compact. Myself being short doesn't help reaching branches that need to be pruned. So, I ripped it apart and made a new, longer handle for it. You can see the original handle in the middle of the picture.

The weird taped up wire and handle contraption at the bottom of the photo is actually a tool to pick Seaberries. Them bastards have really nasty thorns and it's quite impossible picking the fruit without getting stung at least a couple of times. Here's how it works:

With a bit of practice it's possible to strip a whole branches worth of fruit in one swoop. I put a tarp down on the grass, rip the fruit off the branches with the tool and then empty the tarp into a bucket.

Yes, a slingshot, because in the end I'm a thirteen year old boy with access to power tools... hold on, my dad had given me access to power tools by the time I was thirteen... So errr nothing has really changed.

This last one is part of a bigger project. I'm building a Makila (a basque walking stick) and I want to try a bunch of techniques I haven't before. So, resin casting, decorative punching, nickel plating. Those are the kinds of things I want to try out with this project. This bit here is the soul of the Makila, the hidden spike or spear.

It still needs to be heat treated and polished. Just imagine that spike on the end of a four foot stick and you'll get the idea.