Thursday, April 29, 2010

Stuff David Does on the radio!

I recently had the opportunity to be interviewed by David Gaffney-Rosenfeld of This Joyful Noise. David broadcasts live from WHCR 90.3 FM and streaming live at WHCR.org every Monday from 2 to 3pm.

We talked about music, fighting bears, and technology and the wilderness. At some later date, his broadcasts will be available in downloadable form for your listening pleasure.

David and I have known each other for a good portion of our lives and I can call him a close friend. Due to this, whatever I say about him is inherently biased, but I still think that I can say the following with some objectivity:

Keep a close eye on him, he will be doing amazing things before you know it.

In closing, some fun I had with a photo editor recently:

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Paletas! (Spatula-things)

I made a run of 5-6 of these 5 years ago, and I loved how they turned out so much I made another 5. They are great for cooking.

I was given the wood by my dad when I saw him in Venezuela recently. He still had the template I made to cut them out last time. Here is the comparison of the older (left) to the newer (right):



The older one is slightly smaller than the new...not sure how this happened, considering I made them from the same template. Part of it may be that the edges of the older run were initially sanded with a belt sander, removing considerably more material. I had no belt sander on hand this time, and used a palm sander. Both were finished by hand sanding them to a nice finish.

A difference in color is also apparent; this is due to dryness/oils absorbed. The older one has been used for the past five years in the kitchen and thus has absorbed a good amount of oil. It also has shown surprisingly few signs of wear; no splitting, splintering, or cracking at all! This wood, red oak, is amazingly resistant to heat and wear.



That being said, remember to oil (mineral oil is best) your wooden kitchen tools regularly, if they don't come in contact with oil already, and never put them in the dishwasher.