A couple weeks ago I went on a crazy quest for a simple way to make a treadle lathe. The basics of a treadle lathe are pretty simple, but they are rather involved to build. Then I heard about the lathe that Richard Starr built out of an old bicycle. That's the kind of redneck engineering that I can get behind.

First let me say that I really loved Guy Ritchie's version of Sherlock Holmes. I thought he did a great job of both making an entertaining movie and portraying very colorful characters. I also admire his boldness in being willing to bring such iconic characters back to the screen. The Homes stories have a wide following, both in print and from Basil Rathbone's classic movies. Comparisons are inevitable, and people are bound to object when the image of such a strong character, which they've held all their lives, is portrayed differently than what they're used to.

Last night I did more work on my bathroom vanity, and used a hand saw to cut the drawer fronts and backs to width. I was, once again, amazed by the ease and accuracy of cutting with a hand saw. By following good practices that I've read about online and in print, I was able to saw lines that were square to the reference edges, and only need a couple of quick passes with my shooting plane to dress them up. In fact, the ends on these boards, after a couple passes with the plane, were cleaner than the machine-cut rabbets on the drawer sides.

This is a day late, but a co-worker pointed it out, and I thought I would share. If you've never heard it, the first half, before it begins narrative, can be really shocking.

With Black History Month just passed, we're probably all sick of hearing about slavery and the civil rights movement. But a woodworking blog that I sometimes read had a very different perspective on the matter.

After learning that the cord on my ear buds was just about long enough to tug at my ear while I was running, I decided it was time to check out other options. I've had excellent luck with Acoustic Research products in the past, and I figured I'd see what they had in earbuds. I found them for cheap at Amazon, and they arrived this morning.

I'm not a gigantic fan of lots of noise, so I've been fascinated by hand tools for about a year now. I recently acquired a very nice Disston panel saw second hand. Since I also have a set of drawers to build for my wife, and the material at hand to do them, this looked like a fine opportunity to try out my new saw. This made doubly opportune because the stock I bought is too long to easily crosscut on my table saw, and too wide to use my miter saw.

The new printer is here, and it's everything I hoped for, plus more. This machine was ridiculously easy to set up. My hard-wired Linux computers found it on the network right away. The printer comes with a CD that includes a Postscript Printer Description. As far as Linux is concerned, a PPD file is a driver, and right away I could print to my new printer.

Since my wife has been on a successful weight-loss plan, and I've been on a weight-gain plan on the new job, I decided it was time to do something about changing my weight. Because I've been unhappy with how thin my legs have gotten, and how little muscle tone there is, I decided that running, as well as some weight lifting, would be a good bet for winter-time exercise to encourage the weight loss.

Today was a big beer day. First, Jeff Lawton, Karl Schultler and I brewed up ten gallons of oatmeal stout, to replace the five gallons I dropped on out last brew day. This is the very first time we've pulled out a full ten gallons. Now, the downside is that I don't think this beer is as strong as it should be. The initial gravity of 1.032 is way under what you normally get in an oatmeal stout. The flavor seems like it will be good, but the beer will be too light, and I don't think we can justifiably call it a stout.