Thoughts on Earning Money for 2025

Posted on March 26, 2025 by Kelsey

I am doing a lot of work for the money I am earning. I can go and spend loads of time in town just to scare up $100 in earnings for the day. A third of it goes right back into the fuel tank on the car. Then I still need to account for a third for taxes. Well, $60 out of an hundred is not leaving much to cover bills and food and the like, and if I am not careful, that third can vanish on a meal and a bottle of water for the car just like that. When I said we could get by on hobby jobs, this is not what I meant. I did not mean jobs that just took up all our time and gave us nothing in return.

I cleaned up in the shop yesterday evening in the hopes I can transition to sometime in there making some things to sell at market. I think it might be nice to start to transition off the driving for free and into something I can do for a little money. But then, that might be a hobby job, too. I guess we’ll see. I am also getting set up to sell firewood soon. I need to get that rolling and I need to be ready to do a lot of cutting, so I have the proper chain sharpener on order and arriving Monday, and from there, I will be able to put the chains I have in use, and get some serious cutting done. A good sharpener is a fair chink of change, but it is on PayPal, and I got a decent price, and there is meant to be a bit of cash back and a rebate to account for, so it will come in around $100 cheaper than what I could have bought it off Amazon for. Well, we’ll see when it settles in against the credit account. Then I get six months to pay it off interest free. Well, considering it was the only hurdle left between me and that serious cutting, yes, I considered it a necessary purchase.

I have not been able to maintain my chains very well. I find files break in my bag and go dull too easily. So I have half a dozen chains just for the big saw that I have not been able to keep consistent sharpening on. Every tooth needs to be pretty consistent, and I am not good at doing it. So I think the machine will make up the difference and will be easier to keep chains running longer for me before they are too worn not to discard. But right now, I have good chains with dull tips I just can’t seem to bring back to life by hand. That sorted, I have a lot of good chain to use right now. I also have two other saws, and one of our kids has one, so we will need to be able to help him keep in order while he plans on being down here to cut wood for his place. I want to be able to bring a couple of conditioned chains with me when I go get wood, because it takes a second and no intention to completely dull a chain. So it would be good ot have a couple of extras ready to go since they are simple to change.

In other words, I feel good about the purchase of a sharpener, but the price is high. And in typical fashion, I go for professional grade, so I don’t have to buy it again in a year. It’s meant to be for life, and to eventually go to a kid or grandkid. I will eventually get diamond blades for it so I don’t have to dress the stones, and they can produce even more consistent results.

So, the plan is, I am getting some cleaning done right now in my free time. Then, in the next few days, I will also get the oil changed in all the equipment. I have to four stroke motors that need freshening up with the season. One on the sawmill, and one on the log splitter. Then I get the wood milled for a sales stand for out front. In addition to that, I get splitting wood to start drying for said rack. I will have to set up for a couple of types of wood. I cut about 20 inches for myself, but people tend to like 16 inches for their fires, so I will do that for public firewood.

I am also planning on cutting rounds. There is meant to be lots of rounds! They seem to be the preferred method for drying wood for a bit before splitting them. I could go straight for the split, but my theory on why I keep seeing them around on people’s fences and the like is that they are like round bales of hay. The shed water more easily, and cand be drying a bit from the ends like a log will do anyway, but the dry gets into them much faster than a whole log. So they are a good way of setting aside wood for splitting as an intermediary step before committing to a big pile of splitting wood for the shed or the rack.

Okay, so there is a lot of work talk. On a personal level, I have been doing good at it all, despite the tragic condition of my health over the course of my life. So that has been wonderful! Keeping physically more active than I ever thought I could has kept me in good cheer despite not making a lot of actual money. Being able to strategize more possible earnings has been good, too! I am lay in bed typing this, and I feel muscle pains for the activity I have been up to, but good hell, this is so much lighter than the day-to-day pain I used to feel when the joint inflammation was there. I worked yesterday for several hours, then came home and cleaned up a lot in the shop. I also kept up on my chores around the house, and when I say I feel better than I used to, in the old times, I would feel worn out from say, walking across the yard. So, yeah, slight improvement.

So the shop is getting cleaned up for the season. I need to get the big beams for the woodshed finished and out of there. I have asked a lot of those who have come out to access the freezer in there for having to walk over those beams! I won’t be doing that anymore. Time for them to have to push around a piece of furniture instead! But yeah, just getting up all the wood shavings and clearing the floor and what was on the one bench went a long way to getting it sorted out in there. I also got rid of some scraps of wood that were lying about and clogging things up. There is only so much someone can save! But there is also a lot to do in there still, and I think that I will be able to with the physical limitations severely reduced. So I am going to have to put free minutes to use and go balls to the wall. I need to get the steam box sorted out and get after some steaming. I have everything I need to do some shaker boxes except the practice. So, there is no reason to keep putting that off. I should separate off a YouTube channel and do the woodworking under the title of The Angry Woodworker or something like that. Anyway, the point is, I am getting myself set up to try to make some money in the shop as well as the firewood yard.

I have a kid who has a wood stove in his basement. He likes to be busy, too. So he has it all figured out that if he buys a trailer and sets it up to haul firewood, he can come here and get wood where I do, then keep his house warm all winter while also allowing to spend time with family and such. If he comes through, then we will be taking the tractor to get the wood, making that part of the job much easier, too. Once logs are on the property, we should be able to process them into all kinds of saleable stuff. Not to mention I can sell the time on the mill to make slabs and beams and such for folks. I am more ready to push than ever, and I am more able to, as well. So here goes what may be the best warm season of my life yet. I hope.

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First Day of Frogs

Posted on March 25, 2025 by Kelsey

Today is the first day of frogs for 2025.

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Writing on a Driving Break

Posted on March 21, 2025 by Kelsey

I really need a hobby for while I am driving and there are slow times. I do log into a second driver app, but I don’t like to unless I have to. The second app seems to like to send me out among the lilies. I can more easily control where I am heading with the one at a time. I think it might be slower today because there is a $2 per delivery bonus incentive. I don’t know, but I would think I would be busier than I am, and I’m not. There are probably other drivers out thinking they should be busier. Maybe I will turn on that second app.

So, today, in lieu of a hobby, I brought my computer along so I could press keys and moan about it all. I ate a lunch at Del Taco, just to see if I could get something more friendly to a low carb diet there. I am pretty happy with it overall. I will see how I feel later. That is the real test. I did not have any immediate negative effects. Sometimes, such as when I have a burger in a bun, I can feel the pain in my wrists from the inflammation right away.

There. On. Let’s see how long till I get an order. And done. McDonald’s but it is something.

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Driving BS

Posted on March 20, 2025 by Kelsey

Driving is just fine, but I broke any hope of a diet yesterday and today. I had two Egg McMuffins on each day for breakfast. Least awful thing I could find on a menu, and fastest decent meal I think I could have thought of. I also had a Three Musketeers bar on each day around noon. I need to not do that again. I need to go find a salad instead. My goodness!

Anyway, I was frustrated today. The checking account notified me that it was going to relieve me of $35 for not having any money in it. Gee, that helps. And can I also add, AGAIN! It told me that just before noon, and I had only earned about $35 by then. Noice waste of half a workday! “Pissed” is only a summary. And summary is the king of execution bankers deserve for pulling this kind of crap on poor people. It’s not right.

The day was not as profitable as i had hoped it would be. Now I have three days on the trot of long work days ahead, and I only hope to make up for what I was short today. Then again, I was short on energy. It may have had something to do with the candy bar, but when I came home, Missus soon had a wonderful homemade shrimp curry on a plate of rice, and I ate the hell out of that. I mean, man, did I ever devour the plate and a second. Now, that is a lot of rice, so there’s no good coming for me after that. But I needed it. I will have to do better tomorrow, and try to eat healthier. I am just so damn food bored. And delivering for every restaurant in town only to find none of it appeals to me is insane. But alas, here we are.

I had some boredom time today. I really need to bring a word search or cross word along with. I had Uber and DoorDash open and spent an inordinate amount of time waiting for a beep or a ding. I would like to get something done during the dead periods. I think the puzzles would be like watching commercials. Sure, it is watching TV, but is it valuable time spent? I don’t know much of what to do in the car. Writing turns into partial thoughts and distractions. Photography just looks dodgy, though I see a lot of things I would like to shoot pictures of. There is no pub. Ha! What a time THAT would be! “Right boys! I am off to drive a delivery across town, one way or another.”

Well, anyway, today was a bit of a frustrating day. I am fed up with being behind. I am tired of not catching up when I need to. But here I am.

So, I came home more tired than I think I have ever been since starting this endeavor in January. I am still not in any serious pain like before. So that’s great! But I was exhausted because of too much sugar, or lack of food, or over-worked-ness. It makes me worry about tomorrow, and the whole of the next three days, really.

Oh! I must remind myself, I need bottled water, sausages, and half and half and two gallons of milk, tops, tomorrow! Believe it or not, just writing it here will be enough to remind me. Just you wait and watch! Also, I can look this up while I am out.

So, I got an order to Hyrum today. Drove it out there, and the GPS took me down long dirt roads to short-cut over to town again. Holy stupid! I hated that! The guy was laughing at me when I got there. Apparently he was following my progress online. Great!

I showered fresh for tomorrow. Best be on my best dietary behavior! Off to sleep soon enough! Too tired to live anymore of today.

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Driving, and Chainsaw Grinder Justification

Posted on March 19, 2025 by Kelsey

I have not been at the keyboard for a bit because I have been at the wheel instead, delivering food to whomever required. It is a trip driving professionally again. I have got nothing to say about the food. I go to wherever I am required, so it is not centralized. Instead, I can be just about anywhere in town and get a delivery request, then fulfill it. From anywhere, to anywhere. I don’t get a chance to make any friends, and that comes with a certain feeling of loneliness. When throwing out tendrils, it is good to have trust, and there is no such opportunity for that working gig work like this. I mean like, literally not one. So it has come with adjustment.

Yesterday I got an alert for a grocery delivery. I went and picked it up, then went elsewhere to get a drinks order and then deliver it before I went to deliver the groceries. Oh, what a joy! I backed into the driveway wondering how for up I would have to take them. Then I performed every contact method in the app that I could, but the customer would not answer. I knocked and rang the bell as well. Nothing. I tried to contact the help in the app, but that was useless. There is no person to reach, and when there it, it becomes even more useless. There is no good way to resolve this, including taking the stuff back to the store, so I left it all on a side step and took a photo with the app for proof.

All the while I was doing this, I was overshadowed by a flag on a flagpole across the street which was unlike any I had ever seen before. It was s big black flag with lettering that read, “My Neighbor Is A Karen.” That had me nervous! Was I at the Karen’s house? Once I got the picture, I went away to finish the in-app completion of the delivery so I would not be there to get yelled at should I have been getting set-up for a complaint. I can assure you, at $7.50 for the delivery, I was not getting paid enough to deal with the hassles I was facing, much less a Karen, as our society defines it now.

On the other side of things, I am thinking on getting an electric chain sharpener for the chainsaw chains. I am piling up with them, and would save a load of money if I were using the ones I have got rather than buying new ones whenever they are dull. I have tried hand filing, but there comes a point when a person has to admit they are no good at a thing. I am not. I need the consistency of the machine and the speed. I have a 20 inch bar, so the chains are something like 44 inches each. It would be of great help! I also foresee diamond wheels on the tool in the future. Not straight away, because of the cost of the machine. But It will be of help because the profiles of stones change as they are worn, they can shatter. I’d rather not.

Every chain I have ever used over the last ten years is hung on a hook in the shop. I have them all. I have bought maybe two chains a year! I must have a load of them. Either way, there are enough to make it worth doing this. I have a lumber mill, and I go through the chains every summer while using it, and while getting firewood. I could not beat having a few fresh chains along with while doing that. It would be of great help to be able to just throw a new one on while working where I acquire the wood. I could do a lot more to prepare it properly for hauling. Also, I have a kid who is thinking on joining me there to get as much wood as we need to heat both of our houses. He is even considering getting a hauler of his own to bring down, so I can load and bring my tractor to get the wood loaded up in his hauler and make quick work of it. We could do two or three trips a day like that and then pile up enough for us to heat in a couple of days over a weekend. I could also mention that doing all the work manually in the heat is hellish. But doing it with a machine makes it a lot more tolerable. Then he could come by a couple of days in the summer, and we can cut and split logs here at the house. We’d be all set.

So, I am convinced of the need of the grinder to sharpen the chains. I would like to be burning through them. I know how to not dull them too quickly through poor use. But one cannot avoid dulling, and there are things in wood that can make it worse, such as nails and dirt in the crotches and the like. So, it cannot be avoided. It is a link in my work that hampers it when I have a dull chain and I end up having to drive to town and spend money to sort that out. It is enough to have to buy gas and oil! Luckily that actually works out fairly cheap, even with two kinds of oil required for the saw. I only get that every year or two. I imagine with a grinder for the chains, I will use the saw even more. Both saws, actually! Oh wit! All three! I have three! Two gas of different sizes, and a battery operated one. There are different jobs that require different saws. I have a small one for reaching high because it is lighter, and once a branch is in motion, it is better to be able to move your ass. There is the bigger one because getting through wider logs requires power. The electric one is for work that requires quick cuts, since it is much easier to set it down between cuts than a running gas machine. So that is good for parting up smaller branches.

So that’s where I am right now. I regret the price of the grinder. It will pay for itself quickly, especially with the number of chains I have got ready for it. But who need that kind of cost right now? Then again, I do. I need to be able to use those chains and thus use the log splitter and the sawmill. It’s no good fighting with dull chains in those processes. And I am working on the road to pay that cost. But honestly, I could sell a few cords of firewood and pay it back, too. So, there is that! Those would sure cut up a lot easier if there is sharp chains to do it with.

I have got a fresh chain on the saw right now. I have a bunch of damaged tips on the right side of the last chain, and it is cutting left bigtime. So I put a fresh one on and cut a couple of cuts with it. Oh wow! This is the best on I have had in ages. It plowed right through, and it cut straight as can be. The engine did not bog down much, either. It was pretty sweet! And that encouraged me to buy a chain sharpener, too. I actually enjoy cutting when the saw is sharp. It is easier, I can get more done, and I would like to free up that time and produce the wood to do more in the woodshop. I think it will help!

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Dreaming of Quitting the Road

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Kelsey

There is a hole in Logan that the GPS can take a person to, but it is not where a person is meant to go. What is worse, I am programmed to follow the GPS no matter what. I got a delivery today that took me to 750 N Main St. The GPS took me to the border of Millville and Providence where a short stretch of road has three names, one being Main. It is on the border of the two cities, so the two other names run into each other like that. They are both at the 700 block, too, one being North, and one being South. So, the GPS found it as 750 N Main. But the only thing there is a field on the side of the street where the even numbers are supposed to be. On the other side, I was surprised to find a new house labelled 760. So I would assume then the house next to it, fully under construction, would be 750. No house number, anywhere on the house or next to the road or whatever.

I tried phoning the customer and got no answer. I texted and got no reply. Several minutes later I looked to text again and saw a reply which simply read “read directions.” WTF???

I tried Dash support. India. Useless. I gave up and took it back to the restaurant and told them what has happened. Wait. 750 N Main? Smith’s Market? I tried that. It was it. I apologized to the lady profusely, and she sent me a $5.00 tip after.

This was one of several problems that came up today. The power port I plug the phone into stopped working. The sound of the GPS voice stopped coming out all the time, though it did come sometimes. The rear right tire came up as low pressure. I mean, this was by far the worst day of all.

Tomorrow I am going to go to work, on a Monday, a day I normally take off. I am going to earn me enough to buy a big fucking Angus steak from Sam’s Club, and some food for Missus and the kids, too. Then I am going to come home and cook the shit out of it all for supper and pass out. This has been a nightmare of a day. If there is any time aside, I will use it to fill that tire and see what the hell I can do about the power port. Nightmare be done!

Now, the challenge. How to properly cook a two-inch-thick steak.

Oh, and one more thing. The weather will be quite nice for a couple of days this week. I need some time in the workshop for sure!

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The Mourning After

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Kelsey

It is the morning after, and the hangover is being felt. Honestly, I feel terrible this morning. Joints are stiff and sore, and I am still tired, even after a hard night of sleeping. What a party! And all that from a bread taco shell? I do not want to eat that again!

I have been down to the loo and the coffee maker, so I am set for a little longer before I have to get back out from under these wonderful blankets. I wonder what I would have felt like this morning if I would have just drunk myself stupid instead of eating that bread? I mean, a greasy breakfast, and I’d probably be on my feet and feeling good again! I’ll try to rest this off some more, then see what the work day is going to look like. I love that I can earn by driving. I just hate how long it takes me to earn a reasonable amount to get by on.

Alright. Here goes something. I’ll feel rough for the loss of the pain-free feeling I have been having lately. Then I’ll get back to it. And then, hopefully, I will start my day. I just need this to vanish off! Can it go within another hour or two? It’s Sunday morning. I can give it! Oh! My shoulder!

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Driving and Wood

Posted on March 8, 2025 by Kelsey

I went into town and earned money today, but only after dropping Missus and the kids to do a market in Preston this morning. I am disappointed that the app keeps telling my I am not taking photos as I deliver when I am and it says they are uploading. If I am doing everything right, then they are threatening to review my account, how do I prove myself? I have worked for people like this before, who prove they can override me and prove me not doing something I am supposed to when I am. Fraudulent authority. I think what really irks me about this though is that I can remember being told as a kid growing up that there was such a thing as GIGO, and that computers were perfect and did not make mistakes. Well, here we are, with a computer making mistakes and blaming me for them. No GIGO necessary.

Anyway, I earned upwards of $60 today and came back to the Market for a break from it; the work, and the stupidity of the blame game, and on top of it all, fighting with the GPS which has trouble orienting itself while I am still in a parking lot, so I have troubles figuring out which way I need to go out to head off in the right direction.

Missus got me a taco from the Senior Center, where the market was being held. It was such a sweet gesture. I hate to say it was the bread they served it in rather than a shell that then sent my inflammation sky high, and sent me to bed soon after we got home. Holy Hell did it hurt! But what a great reminder of how I used to feel every day for decades, and of how much better I feel nowadays! Working for hours at a time and not feeling pain after it is amazing. I thought that a full day’s work meant it would be naturally followed with so much pain that a second day would be virtually unbearable, and that was just how it was for everyone. I just figured most people bore the pain better than me. But to do days on end with almost no pain at all has me wondering how my life would have been different if I had discovered this sooner?

So I got knocked down this evening, and did not go back to work. It’s lovely that I have no excuses I have to make to anybody. That is one thing I really love about the gig economy. I don’t have to call some asshole and tell them I am feeling awful, then hear them tell me I could be fired and give me a load of bullshit that is only such because people make heartless choices of how to run their companies. I mean, don’t get me wrong. There is no health insurance, no retirement, and no way I could make enough to do well on this money, especially if I had a mortgage or rent to worry about. But at least I don’t have to answer to anyone but the collector of the other bills.

I’ll go in tomorrow. I am aiming to break my record for weekly earnings. At some point I will max out, but for now I would like to make enough to catch up some bills we are behind on, and take some stress off. I say that. Honestly, I feel no stress at all right now. But that is not the kind of stress I mean. I am talking about non emotional stresses.

It is coming up to 9:00PM. I have mitigated the cause of the joint pain as best I can without medication or tablets. I wanted to write. Soon I will put on some woodworking videos on YouTube and hopefully tire back out and drift off, and with any luck, for the night. We will see!

Yesterday our oldest was by with his little family. It was sure good to see them. I had to bugger off to work, so I had to leave him at the log-splitter with his chainsaw. He needed some firewood, so I told him that rather than going to the dump and getting all muddy there, we could cut up some of the sawlogs I have out back, and asked if he could do some rounds for me and then take whatever he needs. He agreed. I hope that was a good deal for him and got him set up well. I just sent him a thank you, since we are on the topic.

Enough for now. I am going to get me some woodworking knowledge. The more I know the netter off I am when I get to the bench.

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Dashing Through Time

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Kelsey

I got together a few of the smaller pieces of scrap from the walnut in the burn bucket in the shop and put them on the lathe. I was thinking of egg cups, but they were too small. I turned them into handles instead that could be used on any future furniture projects, such as a Shaker style candle box or drawer. Then I was reminded later today that one of the small projects I wanted to do at some point is bobbins. I could have turned a couple of those pretty easily. So I am disappointed that I didn’t. Somehow, I think a couple of walnut bobbins would be quite luxurious.

I had to mess about with the DoorDash app quite a bit today to get it to show me Preston. I think what it wants is for me to not just enter the zone physically but actually take a delivery there before it will remember the zone for me. It seemed to earlier today. So, I guess that’s how I solve it going forward. Drive back from Logan after a Sundy delivering and go into Preston and take a delivery, then I can be set up for the week. Otherwise, I have to do it sometime on Monday or Tuesday, whenever I can get into town. Stupid thing will require me to be there to notice any runs, though. So that would be a lot of guesswork. Best to drive up and catch one on the evening when people are fancying something nice before going back to work for the week. It will be a challenge though, because I am tired come that time of a Sunday night, after working the Friday – Sunday weekend.

Missus just called out to tell me that we finally got our first review on the hairpin lace looms on her Etsy shop! Five stars! This is great! A few of them went out and we are looking forward to seeing what people say, and how they are received. This particular review read…

“Fabulous loom, I had one in the past and you cannot find them anymore. Love it.”

Etsy Customer

Well, that’s exciting! She seems to have used them before, so I am happy that she might have experience with them, and she is happy with what I made. That is important to me. I give this customer a five-star review!

I am feeding the llamas and goats in the mornings now. That way I can be free the rest of the day, and work in the shop, or do food deliveries, or both. It is more satisfying than doing it in the evening and usually having to fit it in or forget it. They don’t like it when I forget it. I remain logged into Door Dash now till 8:30PM. That’s another 20 minutes. If it grabs me, then I go. Otherwise, after 8:30 I will start thinking about bed. I like to relax and read a bit or watch news and Late Night or maybe some woodworking related videos before I nod off. These days suit me just fine. I like them. I especially like still being able to do the school runs. That ride home listening to how the kids’ day was is very important to me. And the ride to and getting them psyched up for their day is also such important time.

Time keeps on ticking, to both the near future and the far.

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What Do You Do?

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Kelsey

Oh! I am glad you asked!

I am a couple of things. First, I am a husband and a father. Nothing comes before those.

I do delivery on the weekends to help make ends meet. I also catch a photo here and there where I can, while out to do the deliveries and at other times.

I manage a small hold farm with llamas and goats.

I gather loads of wood that would otherwise be sent to waste, and I use it to make furniture using mostly hand tools. What I cannot use from the logs I gather, or any other waste, I make into firewood to heat our home, or yours, if you come buy.

And finally, I am a chandler. I make beeswax candles both with molds, and by hand dipping.

These are my primary occupations.

When required of me, I also assist my wife’s business by making what she needs to sell, so for example, we got started like this with hairpin lace looms. They took off, and we have been selling them since through her Etsy store and at Farmer’s Markets.

Let me show you my first proper piece of furniture. It was a small table with a drawer in the front. I made it following direction in a video course I purchased online. The exciting part of it is that there were no plans or measurements. It was simply freehand, much like earlier furniture would have been in small rural shops across the colonies.

Terribly sorry about the resolution! But this is the table. I am very happy with it, but it does not get much use as it is the only one I have in my collection. I would like to build a few more and sell them. They are not difficult for me to make. I just need the dry wood to work with, and that is going to require putting my mill to work. I am learning on that and trying to get to the point where I produce good wood with no warping or cupping and properly dried with little waste.

Importantly, some of these are some of the tools I made the table with. After general stock preparation, the whole table was built by hand, with hand tools. Even the taper on the legs was done with a hand plane.

The candle stand was made by outlining the star shape and etching the designs with a laser, then cutting out the star shape with the bandsaw. The center was even found on the laser, then, with an egg-beater drill, I put the screw hole in the middle, then fastened down the candle cup. I was able ot make several of these fairly easily.

A birthday candle is fairly quick and easy to hand dip and depending on the length can cost a little or a little more. The labor is the same, but the materials have to be accounted for.

Larger candles are more expensive. This is an example of one I have dipped then straightened as I go, with no weight at the bottom of the wick to hold it there. I rely on my hand to make adjustments as I go to straighten it. It has, I think, a more primitive look to it, and is suitable to someone who wants either that, or the look of a candle made out on the trail. With a weight attached to the end, the candle naturally comes out straighter. There is a little more work involved. But it looks like a candle made in civilization.

And as a final example, I turn you back to the one in the star up above. That is a candle made in a colonial style tin taper mold. They are very consistent. They are all sized the same and are reliable for candlesticks.

Finally, on the topic of candles, this is a handmade candle box filled with beeswax candles. I refuse soy or other candles and use only beeswax because it is natural and seems to have more benefits than ails. The smell is warm and lovely, and the wax in the air attaches to the dust, weighing it down and cleaning the air for you.

I built two Roman workbenches. One for the shop, and one for the front porch. I am modifying the one for the porch so it can do a lot more than the one for the shop. It is meant to provide me a warm place to work over winters, if we still have those in the future. This Roman will serve as a place for grandchildren to come visit Grandpa.

This is the porch bench in progress. It ideally will serve also as a sort of shave horse when it is finished.

I had a container for sourdough starter that lost its lid to breakage before I ever even got the chance to use it. Then my oldest daughter asked to use it, so I made her a lid to go with it. She never has done anything with it since. Snob!

Another project for the lathe and for the walnut wood a neighbor gave me has been to make carver’s mallets. I like this type of mallet, a lot. I keep saying I am making them to sell, but I like them too much to let go of. I need to make some to sell!

Finally, I needed a place to store a few tools out by the sawmill. I thought it would be fun to make it look like a place nobody would want to come snoop around in. The best part it that it would very easily convert into an actual outhouse. I think a plastic bucket to catch waste in under a little bench built on the supports of the bottom shelf, and we would have the necessities should we ever find ourselves without proper disposal. Just dump the bucket way out back when you are done!

Those are some of the things I have made. I will next move on with the skills acquired and make some more of the same, and some things new. I intend to get more complicated as I go with designs, but slowly. When all was said and done, the table was not that hard. A couple more and I will be totally convinced of that. I also will make them of different shapes and sizes, adding to my maker’s skill, and further convincing me how easy it really is. Also, having built the one, I already have ideas on efficiency.

So, this is where the new woodworking season begins. I really look forward to it getting under sail. Then there are also some things to do with the sailboat to get it up and running and in ship shape, which is it not, by far, right now! I could use some teak to really get it set up. Maybe the hand planes will reveal some under the grey wood that is there now. That could save a load of money!

Posted in Candle Making, Journal Entry, Woodshop | Comments Off on What Do You Do?