I'm back!

I’ve had a long hiatus from this site, and from woodworking—blame summer for that—and now I’m getting back into it. There’s not really a point to this entry, but I’m a rebel so I’ll write it anyway. I’ve been doing minor “projects” the last couple weeks, mostly whatever I can do with a pocketknife and the scraps of sandpaper and exotic wood that I smuggle into work. The exciting thing is that I’ve been using scraps I thought were too small for anything—it’s amazing how many guitar picks you can make with a 1” x 1” x 1” scrap of sipo or padauk. My pocketknife has also proven to be uniquely suited to woodworking—not something I thought of when I bought it. It’s a single bevel tanto point, and I dearly love it. The flat back of the blade means I can almost use it as a plane, and it makes it easy to stay on the layout lines. The tanto point is just about like carrying a skew chisel, so paring end grain, or going across the grain to knock down high spots, is ridiculously easy. The bad thing is that now I really want a pair of actual skew chisels. Anyone have recommendations?

Anyway, now I’m relishing my first band-aid-free day for a week (whittling at work can turn bloody), and I’m trying to decide what kind of wood to use for a small picture frame for my sisters birthday. Possibly some white rosewood, or maybe a thin piece of redheart I’ve got. Goncalo alves? The possibilities seem endless at the moment, but I suppose I better make a decision and get to work—the birthday is tomorrow.

Sometime soon I’ll gather up the picks I haven’t given’t away and post ‘em as a project, but for now, I hear the faint voices of my tools calling to me.

-- I hate finishing. I never manage to quit while I'm ahead. --Chris