So there is a bug called the Lac bug. Lives in the far east and they converge on tree limbs and secrete bug juice all around themselves. We scrape them off the limbs and grind them up and cook their crustyness up and melt it and draw it thin and then dry it and crack it all up. What you have then is Shellac... the "shell" of the "lac" bug....I think it looks pretty myself.

Then you add denatured alcohol and let it sit for 24 hours....

Then you smear it on your furniture LOL.... and it looks pretty on it too. This Shellac is called garnet shellac . I always make mine from scratch, I do not buy it ready made. I am a purist myself when it comes to shellac. Garnet shellac makes such a warm glow to the wood. Beautiful.
The lid was done here and the interior was not.



The next chest I am making for someone.... will be stained a darker color. But still use garnet shellac

It was a 6 board Blanket Chest......


Ta Daa

Made some notches in a couple of boards

Cut some rabbets in 2 other boards

Most of the boards are now sanded, joinery cut and stacked on bench. Still some work to be done ,just keeping them flat until I can put all together

My newest project. See if you can figure out what it could be. I will post progress pictures of it as I do things

This first group of pics is just the preliminary ones. Have to get started somehow.
Planing and cutting the wood. This is always a fun part

Gluing up pieces to make 'em bigger ...like my big Wood?


Doing some geometry work on one of the 6 boards....knew this would come in handy one day lol

The results of my geometry lol


Besides the pictures I DID put a clue in there somewhere.... so that is it for now....

Hey Santa Baby... all I want for Christmas is a tighty under my tree .....

xoxoxo

Love this video about a Program that went on in Kansas City , MS . These cops were "deputized" by an anonymous wealthy buisness owner to give out Thousands of $$$$$$$$ to people they judged to be especially needy. Just watch and smile

I know everyone thinks all I do is drink coffee and read woodworking magazines and go to my shop to drink coffee and do woodworking.
I want everyone to know that I do have other interests! I bought a new book recently. A Novel! A work of fiction! And I am enjoying reading it too! Sitting back and reading is what I enjoy too. I love books and always have loved them!
What's the book you ask?
Well this is where I fear most of you will laugh now lol


It’s a screwball comedy set in 1937 about a woodworker who heads the U.S. government’s agricultural “Broadcast Research” division.

Along with his staff of four women (all severely injured WWI volunteers), Calvin studies “broadcast seed, nutrient and amendment distribution technology and practice” – that is, what happens when the poop actually hits the fan.

But the four women are more interested in developing the world’s first supercomputer (using abandoned punch-card machines), and Calvin is more interested in woodworking…and in one particular woman: Kathryn Dale Harper, host of the radio program “Homemaker Chats.”

How best to woo her? Why, a radio show: “Grandpa Sam’s Woodshop of the Air!”

It’s an almost-overnight sensation (for measured drawings, write to “Grandpa Sam’s” and be sure to include a 3-cent stamp to cover the cost of duplication). But – as Calvin discovers – success breeds jealousy… a dangerous thing when one’s enemy has friends in high places.

Can Calvin and his friends save the world through woodworking, one listener at a time? Perhaps – but first, they’ll have to save themselves from Nazis, the clutches of the FBI, bureaucracy and wooden legs that break at inopportune times.
-description of book by Christopher Schwarz

So you see ....it's not all woodworking and coffee lol... Here is a pic of me and my new book

Well at the meeting this morning I had to keep from smirking so I doodled to keep myself occupied

By Jove that was a lot of pens!! LOL.... finished a commission on pens today YAY!



That is more of that olivewood imported from Bethlehem . Awesome and beautiful stuff is that!!