Down the Rabbit Hole
With the new handle installed, it was time to sharpen. The steel was pitted from its time in the woods, but had plenty of metal and potential. With my new-found interest in woodworking, I’ve been working on my sharpening skills. I’ve tried several systems from wet/dry sandpaper on a glass plate to carborundum, whetstones and diamond plates.
I enjoy restoring old tools. It’s fun to buy a new tool and investigate the abilities it brings, but there’s something about finding an old tool, removing the corrosion and dirt, and repairing and sharpening that are especially satisfying.
We live on a wooded acreage here at Roy Creek Ranch, and I’ve always imagined using some of that wood to produce furniture. Consisting mainly of Texas Live Oak and Ashe Juniper (“cedar”), some of the trees are substantial, and might produce some usable lumber. I prune the Live Oaks regularly, and have worn out several chain saws trimming back the “cedar”, so a ready stock of wood is always available.
In the course of working on some friends’ Tiny House, we learned that the non-standard nature of it had a big effect on cost. For instance, the Tiny House required a front door that measured 78 inches by 27 inches — very non-standard. We could find one manufacturer that would supply a door that size, only it cost $1400. Not very practical. So, we decided to design and build our own door.