Mahogany Shuttle

For our Iron Anniversary, I got Shana an enameled cast iron pot (because it had to be iron), but the present I was really excited about was this little pair of stick shuttles. Shana recently scored a loom, so I'm working on outfitting her with the necessary accoutrements. I wasn't exactly sure what these were for when I started making them, but a visit to Susan the master weaver set me straight. It was my first time working with mahogany and it was a dream. I tried to do as much as I could with hand tools, so I resawed and planed it by hand and shaped the arched faces with a cabinet scraper. However, the thought of cutting out the mouths with a coping saw and filing them smooth made my head hurt, so here I used a scroll saw and a spindle sander. The little oval hole with narrow saw kerf was my addition to the standard design; a place to hold the end of the thread as you start wrapping it. Next, I'll tackle the warping board.

Cold Frame Revisited

With winter approaching, it's time to reconfigure the old cold frame so we can keep fresh, late season veggies growing long past the first frost. The original design incorporated a salvaged storm window, but it was too long to face south in the new raised beds and it's paint was flaking badly. I was worried that there was lead in the paint so I decided to build a new window out of raw cedar. Note the bridal joints and through tenons. I chopped the old box down to fit the new window.