Sanding dust in a small shop

I kicked up a lot of saw dust today from the stationary bench sander

(including the making of an axe plus 4 hatchets crates).

hammers waiting to be restored sit there with a layer of sanding dust dandruff

on the other end of the small shop is the evidence that i foolishly did not run the dust collector during the sanding session.

if not for keeping the work space clean then at least for keeping my nose from being plugged up.

Bottling mulberry cider and beer closet storage

Last night wifey and i bottled our mulberry cider.

as usual i had too many projects and completely blew off running the cider into a secondary.

started july 14th, it had about 7 weeks in the carboy.

 from the fermentor

to the bottling bucket that has the priming sugar

to the bottle (we made it easy by using all gasket top bottles and growlers)

and then

to storage

for storage we have a basement closet dedicated to brewing supplies.

one of those small closets that are roughed in from the inside but looks finished on the out.

because the studs were exposed in the closet, when we moved in years ago i immediately built some quick little shelves between each stud, tall enough to hold 22 ounce bombers for storage and aging.

this closet gets no light and has the most even temperature in the house. perfect.

there is always that little bit in the bottom that allows me to ice and have a quick sample to get an idea as to what the final product is probably going to be.

even though it sat in the fruit for almost two months there was no tannin flavors, nor  was there any bitterness.

this will be very smooth!

Mallet for hanging axe heads

I needed to cobble together another dedicated mallet solely for hanging axe and hatchet heads after cracking my great grandfather's.

i hit the parts bins to put this new mallet together.

first a 2"x2"5.5" block of bubinga left over from an extreme croquet mallet build

and

an old hickory hammer handle kept from a hammer restoration.

i cleaned and sanded the handle.

i will put enough grit into it with time, plus i wanted open up the pores a bit for a good soaking with long oil. the handle was in excellent shape and i wanted to keep it that way.

i "ovalized" the handle's wood that will enter the eye and cut a slit for the wedge.

for the head, i drilled in a blind mortise joint. 

the grain of the wood is very nice and i wanted to keep wood visually uninterrupted with a joint.

the bottom of the mortise is a bit wider so when the handle is pounded in, the wedge will spread out creating a very reliable joint.

joined, painted and oiled this tool is ready for action!

Wink and a nod - sunflower and goldenrod

Garden with some prominent yellow.

with a wink and a nod, the sunflower gives the golden rod a look.

the entertaining part (for me) was that the sun was high in the sky yet all but this sunflower were faced to it.

Carrom powder

Labor Day started with labour 

and 

ended with delabouring.

a game of carrom to lower the blood pressure:

carrom powder waiting to be streaked

enjoying how the freshly laid powder sits on the board.

Alcohol swab and Labor Day

Today, Labor day, started with work and a quick swipe with an alcohol swab:

there is nothing better to complement a bloody alcohol swab than an industrial blue bandage.

Hops based inferiority complex

I was comparing some of this years hops from the yard:

the summers here are just not ideal for a perfect English Fuggles hops harvest.

when compared to the American breed Cascade hops the Kent breed is just damn puny.

on a positive note, under the leaves there is still some good lupulin. it will still be brew-able. 

American Cascade on the left and English Fuggles on the right

cup of inadequacy