Change (,) of course

I recently received an e-mail forward from my father-in-law. It read "one of the greatest secrets of life is to have both wisdom and patience". At the bottom of the e-mail was a photo of a bird dog watching a skunk eat out of its bowl. In a rare feat, I have managed to bring wisdom and patience together in my shop. I am postponing the building of the Chestnut Prospector.

I purchased a 1:12 scale model of the Prospector back in October. As of the middle of December, I had managed to build the strong back. To scale, it would have taken me 18 months to get the strong back built for my real canoe. After some reflection, I realized that now may not be the best time in my life to try and build a canoe in my only work space.

This, of course, creates a project vacuum. To fill this vacuum, I am going to build a workbench. It is going to be a traditional workbench, more or less Ulmia style. Thanks to Woodraft's current deep discounts and free shipping, Santa Claus should be dropping a side and tail vise down the chimney real soon.

I hope to pick out the wood for the bench top this weekend. I'm gonna have a look around in the lumber stash, but according to Big John, there is some ash that is a prime candidate for the job. White oak is a possibility, but I do not think it is dry yet. Also, the ash came off of Uncle Hiram's place. We sawed it in August of 2003, so it should be nice and dry. I am not sure what kind of wood will be used for the trestle base. I may use some black walnut for accent on the tail vise and end caps. I am just not sure right now.

Regardless, the canoe model and book has been shelved for the time being. The workbench is the big project.