Fun with butcher block

[jeremy.farlow]

So I started this year with my shop under contract and a suburban badly in need of some love. I sold my house last year so I had some money in savings. I also lost my 103 y.o. grandmother which netted me a few bucks. Honestly I’d give all of THAT back for one last visit with her NOT dying in a bed. I’d keep the house sale money though.

Anyhow, faced with having to move... A LOT of stuff, I pulled the trigger on standardizing my storage solutions... and then, because I’m extra as can be... decided to make those new boxes really nice by decking them in butcher block. Totally unnecessary, but I WAS positioned really well... before the virus.

It’s not a sob story, but I’d have made some different decisions knowing then what I know now...

Anyhow, despite the building sale falling through I have some really nice toolboxes... with REALLY nice tops:



I built a bunch of these carts for a boss a while back... I managed to score myself two of them... though number two is on an indefinite loan to a friend. Mine got the treatment as well:

I bought a couple extra pieces of butcher block. I didn’t have a purpose for them, but needed an order minimum and had money...
Since I’m waiting on parts for the suburban and just CANNOT stay at home watching Netflix the honey and I started talking honey-dos.
Turns out honey wanted a new coffee table.
Here’s the top:


The top still needs more polishing... I’m pretending I’m Daniel-san... wax on, wax off...
And making this post to give my shoulders a break.
I hit the maple butcher block with a combo of propane weed-burner and surefire propane torch. And then started sanding... and polyurethaning... and sanding... rinse. Lather. Repeat...
And the pieces of falloff from the Lista cabinets are finding uses here and there:

This little fella is destined to keep my tables clear of lathe chucks and mill vices. I’m giving it a couple more days for the polyurethane to set hard. Then I’ve got a rotary table and indexing head that will reside up top.

And this Christmas EVERYBODY gets a cutting board:

Sharing... mostly because I’m bored... and my shoulder hurts. And, while I don’t recommend anyone spending money on frivolous stuff like butcher block for themselves right now, I’d always thought of butcher block as prohibitively expensive... especially for this sort of application... I bought ALL OF this for $750. Not money I’d spend right now, or am likely to spend anytime soon... Floor and Decor has butcher block priced very reasonably. It’s decent enough stuff... finger jointed, solid maple. Not as stable as it could be, so it needs to be sealed.

I’ll post pictures of the coffee table when it gets done. Current plan is to use the aluminum box tube here:

For legs. Missus and I are still working out the design details.



Be safe, stay healthy out there.




Jeremy

[JAH]

Wow!  Very nice (as usual), Jeremy. 


I'm sorry to hear about the economic issues caused by the virus.  It seems those kinda' stories are everywhere at the moment.  I feel blessed that my very sick Mom and I are in the financial position that we are.  My Dad (RIP) is still taking care of us, eight years after his death, just like he did his whole life. 

Alas, it breaks my heart to see so many folks hurting.  I hope this thing will fade ASAP, and folks can get back to work and get the gears turning again. 

Good luck to you.

[jeremy.farlow]

Thanks JAH...

Honestly, I’m doing WAY better than a lot of people. Yeah... I spent a lot of money that I SHOULDN’T have... but hindsight works that way. I count myself as fortunate and certainly wasn’t looking for sympathy.

I’m glad that your dad had the forethought and ability to take care of you and yours so well. I hope you’re thankful, it seems so to me. Not everyone is so fortunate.

I will be completely honest... losing my grandmother last year is the hardest and longest lasting emotional thing I’ve encountered in 37 years. I honestly might give the house sale money back to get that last visit.

I saw her the weekend she died... she was gone enough SHE wasn’t there anymore. Thankfully she didn’t linger... she wasn’t the sort to impose on people. She had 103 really good years and I’ll grant her the balance of the almost 104 as pretty dang decent... the last pandemic ALMOST took her and she spent some time in the hospital after a school bus crash in the 30’s. There were a couple stays in the hospital over that century but NONE of it even touched her spirit.

There was no reason for her to fight the last one, not after so much... I talked to her... my mom and my son talked to her... and she went peacefully... thankfully in the night when none of us were there. That was her way. I’m thankful most of all that she didn’t make me do what I was prepared to...

Mom and I went up on a Friday. We sat with her until the wee hours Saturday morning and finally went to her house. I woke up that morning with the feeling that it was my responsibility to tell her she could go. I never found the words, but she went before I awoke Sunday morning.

My little guy has a memory of her... thankfully not enough so to miss her the way mom and I do. But he KNOWS who G.G. Marlie was. He knows well enough to treasure the things we gave to him from her.

I wasn’t there for it, but my mom got her last day of lucidity. I don’t know what she and mom discussed, but mom relayed her wishes for Saxon, my son: “be kind, KNOW and SHOW love...” It’s good advice for all of us. I’m SUPER!!! thankful that mom got grandmas last lucid moments and avoided the turmoil my uncle got before the hospice care really kicked in.

Here’s grandma at her 103 birthday:

With me and my son the last time we saw her, upright at least:

I’m the one that looks like hammered sh*t...

They got some time together and I’m thankful for that.

Grandma put me through college and in many ways facilitated everything I share with you guys here. I’m certain she wouldn’t have understood most of it. How and WHY for sure

Still... she touched people farther and wider than just me and was fairly spectacular in the way that only an unassuming, Southeast Ohio farmer’s daughter can be. My great grandfather Berry, who I never met, was a successful farmer and brought power to his neighbors before grandma was even born. That was ultimately what led to her fight with the 1918-19 flu, he also had one of few telephones in their area and its likely a neighbor calling the doctor infected her. She recovered and went on to put herself through Cornell for a masters degree.

Again, none of this is to be a downer... I’m proud and thankful for what I have. As grandma said, I’ve known love and I strive to show it as well. I’m not broke and don’t plan to be... things suck right now, but we’ll ALL make it through... TOGETHER... we just have to remember what we’re all fighting for.

Know love
Show love
Stay healthy and safe


Jeremy

[jeremy.farlow]

Reworked cart, loaded as intended:


The little cart has a PERFECT most-of-the-time living space:


Spot the square box stuff EVERYWHERE!!!


Core support, hood, bumpers and whatever they call the filler piece from core to bumper.
On the other side of the shop:

In the plastic bag is INDEED!!! my short block. Still waiting on heads.

The assorted butcher block projects helped me to step away from the suburban and get some clarity. Ultimately, the suburban is a project... not a CAREER... whatever phase I wind up calling this stage of completion, completion means the massive white truck and all of its massive whatever-colored parts, need to be outside and drivable, not strewn about my shop. 

Heads shipped Friday. I’m right downtown, so I can’t see not getting heads by Wednesday.


Jeremy

[JAH]

Great post about your Grandma, Jeremy.  She sounds like an incredible lady.  I'm sorry for your loss.

I know stuff like that is probably hard to share.  But, I also know (from my own perspective) that it can be a bit therapeutic sometimes. 

[jeremy.farlow]

It was definitely therapy... ideally beyond just for myself. This thing we’re all experiencing right now SUCKS!!! Flat out, human beings ain’t programmed for what we’re all going through right now. One of my fears is that we start losing too much humanity, “together apart”... My grandmother had an easy message. I wanted to share it. Honestly I’m glad it seems well-received. I stepped pretty far OT. Thanks all for listening(reading).

None of its meant to be Debbie Downer. I’m as scared as anyone... we’ve all got good reason to be. People are dying. In any case, I want to change course and look towards a brighter future.

Saxon and I went to Huntsville and the rocket park last Christmas. This is by far my favorite picture from the trip and probably top-ten overall:


It’s a SPACE SHIP!

He didn’t know it was obsolete. He did understand that was a real-life way into space.

Quarantine sucks. Lockdown sucks.

We went to the moon

We’ll make it through this.

Wear a mask. For everyone else sake.

[jeremy.farlow]

Like I told my girlfriend: “I know, I know… you don’t have to remind me every three months…”

I finally got the coffee table done:



We’re getting ready to sit and eat the first meal at it.




Y’all be safe now.




Jeremy