This week in the Daily Dispatch, a chisel gets a grip, the forum takes off, and we express our deepest regrets (or not).
After last week’s exciting launch of the M&T Dispatch Forum, things started getting interesting. Our goal with the forum was to create a place for Dispatch subscribers to share tools, antiques, and information easily. And it is working swimmingly So far we’ve had book recommendations, tutorials, and videos shared – including one of a Chinese planemaker that was especially interesting.
In yet another segment of “Ask M&T” (these just keep on coming), Joshua and I talked about our biggest regrets with starting the magazine and what kinds of pie-in-the-sky dreams we might have for the future. We looked back fondly at the days of creating conservation inpainting kits for sale (just a little bit time-consuming) and envisioned ahead to a massive international woodworking festival here in the woods of Maine (that may or may not ever happen).
Joshua finished his chisel-handle tutorial over on the blog and shared a video of the finished product on the Dispatch. He talked about the value of faceted handles, and a handy strategy for dealing with a sharp or uncomfortable edge on a new handle – you can simply knock the offending protuberance into submission with a hammer. It is a subtler operation in practice than in print.
Going along the lines of what we discussed in our most recent podcast, “Thinking Outside the Shop,” Joshua shared some photos of his boys’ portable toolbox. This would be a fun project for anyone to take on in a weekend, and could become a tackle box, lunchbox, or tool tote for working on a jobsite or in the woods. Also of note is the graffiti that now covers the box, the result of what might be termed “undisciplined artistry.”
And finally, finally, our freight shipment of Worked and the reprint of Joined arrived! After multitudinous delays of vast proportions and nefarious origins, the truck pulled up to the song of angels and golden light from above. Actually, angel song rarely accompanies freight trucks, but the books look terrific. We can’t wait to get these into our customers’ mailboxes!
Until next time, that was this week on the M&T Daily Dispatch.
–Mike