I had only heard of this event a couple of days ago but it sounded interesting and I was going to be up in that area anyway so I decided to go take a look.  Having lived in this area all of my life, I didn't know this event had been taking place for over a decade or even that this place even existed!  That's the way these things go, I suppose.  You know what's going on almost everywhere else but not in your own backyard.

Anyway, this event was just a single weekend historical re-enactment sort of thing.  It was set at the homestead site of a well-known early pioneer of America.  There were probably 30 tents of various aspects of life in that period, this area, and the pioneer.  Of course, I walked around and eventually migrated over to the blacksmith and wood-working areas.  There were 2 blacksmiths working along with a few tents with people working on a shavehorse, froes splitting shingles and two hard-working guys chopping log beams.  I really enjoyed talking with these guys and seeing someone else demonstrating the traditional methods.  I did wish for a bit more realism and depth or detail to the re-enactments and demonstrations but that's a minor quibble.  At least they were there and honestly portraying their tent.  I heard from several of the reenactors that there are plans for expansion of activities in the coming years.  I look forward to seeing that, and visiting, next year.  And, I plan on seeing what else I've been missing in this backyard of mine too!

With the amount of traveling I do giving demonstrations, classes and workshops, I see a lot of other peoples workshops.  It wasn't too long ago that I was visiting another woodturners' shop while staying with them over a workshop weekend.  As is usual, we got into some deep discussions over the design of some of their woodturnings and woodturning in general.  I really enjoy these informal discussions and find it to be one of the highest points of my travels.  I learn a lot from getting all of these various perspectives.  I hope they learn a little from our talks too.

So, we got to talking and I started looking around for a place to sit down and think on things ... to ponder, you know?  Well, there wasn't anywhere to sit.  Not a chair, stool or bench to get some really good thinking done.  I found it tough to really think things through without resting my butt a little, stretching my legs out and lean back.  In my own shops, I have places to sit down and ponder all over the place.  I guess I do a lot of thinking.  Some might even say that my closed-eye pondering borders on sleeping!

Looking back on several of the shops I've visited over the years, I think they, too, hadn't had a place to take a step back ... both physically or figuratively ... to think and gain a little perspective on what they're doing.   Maybe we need to set-aside a little space in our shops to  think things through.

Not a week goes by when I don't get at least one or two people that I don't know call us wanting to sell a tree from their yard.   Storm damage, remodeling or just an old tree that has had better days are a few of the common reasons.

It's no secret that we log wood for many purposes ... not the least of which is for the bodging I do.  I go through a LOT of wood in a week and found wood is a great way to recycle and be able to use wood that would otherwise go to waste.

But, all too often city-dwellers are convinced that they have a nice little gold mine sitting in the yard.  Frankly, the vast majority of the time, it's not.  Not even close.  First of all, I and no professional logger I know of will put their wood mills at risk of a city tree to make boards from.  The problem comes from the fact that there's a really good chance that there's nails, wire or god knows what in that tree.  The same goes for any tree out in the country that might have been part of a fence-line.  We just can't take the chance on very expensive equipment.

Many times, too, that tree in your yard is the same type and species that is common in that area.  Around here, Walnut and Cherry is quite common.  And the bigger the tree, doesn't mean it's better.  That huge tree has a better chance of it being at least partially hollow inside.

Frankly, unless the tree is completely outstanding and rare, it's not going to be worth that much ... if anything.  The majority of the time, you should feel lucky if you can get a professional to take the tree off your hands with no charge.

With all of that said, please do keep contacting us if you have some trees you'd like to get rid of.  Especially, if they are out in the country and in a stand of trees with no fences nearby.  Just don't expect to make a fortune out of it.

I've had quite a few requests for some pictures of the tools that I use for Bodging so I thought I'd try working on it.  You can go to http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/BodgerTools.asp to see what I've put in there so far.  I'll keep working on this section for awhile and try to keep it up to date as I get or make tools.  I have a bunch of tools and other equipment that I use so keep checking back.

OK. Maybe somebody can explain this to me.  I'm not exactly stupid and I realize this may have something to do with the Relativity Theory and/or Aliens but, still, I'd like some clarification on this.

Why, oh why, does the promise of a few slow demo/show months of Winter to get some things done (making more stuff for the shows, galleries and retail stores) turn into a mad scramble during the March to fill orders and get those minimum stock amounts up for the upcoming season?  Where did those several weeks go?!

The middle of December comes and a huge sigh of relief comes.  The fall shows are done.  The retail stores are stocked for the "season" and won't need anything until April or May, at best.  The Galleries ... well, they are on their own time-scale and I can never judge one from the next.  So, I don't even try.  But those most-anticipated Winter months ahead of me during December are now a distant blur of memory here in March.  I have no idea where it all went.

I'm blaming the Aliens.  It can't be just my laziness.