A Grand Rapids End Table

October 26, 2020

Design

...this tracing, I took some guesses and came up with a full set of plans. I used those plans to make full sized template pieces to cut and shape the curved parts. These templates, cut from scrap pieces of plywood, are stuck to the white oak I used for the nightstand with double sided tape and run against a pattern bit in a router table to shape the final pieces. I’m holding on to the templates in case I want to make another one of these tables. Whi...

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In Praise of Beaters

Mr. Homegrown

September 22, 2020

Thoughtstylings

30 Comments

...ing, not even a right side view mirror. One of Kelly’s relatives, a former used car salesman, told me that in the biz they refer to such cars as a “heater and keys.” What you’ll also discover is that the dealership really does not want you to buy this car. You will spend hours while they attempt to up-sell you on features and/or switch you over to a different car. I even had to fend off multiple sales people who came to outright resent my cheap-as...

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Make Your Own Furniture

Mr. Homegrown

April 9, 2021

Design

7 Comments

...cy Hiller’s book English Arts & Crafts Furniture: Projects & Technique and used it to make a Voysey chair. I’d also suggest taking some classes and a subscription to Fine Woodworking. Put all these things together and you’ll be down a rabbit hole deeper than those weird Q Anon folks. From the Lost Art Press book, The Anarchist Design Book. My Trad Life If hand tools are your thing or if, like me, you use a blend of hand tools and power tools, Lost...

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Seaweed Foraging

Mr. Homegrown

January 6, 2022

Food, Foraging

1 Comment

...of people if possible. Our choice of footwear, loose fitting rubber boots used in construction work, was not up to the task. The best option would probably be a wetsuit. The water is cold, the rocks jagged, and you’ll want to also step around carefully so as not to kill starfish, anemone or one of the many other lifeforms that inhabit the shore. In addition to Kombu we also encountered Bladderwrack Fucus distichus, the tips of which can be used i...

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Least Favorite Plant: Tree of Heaven

Mr. Homegrown

October 7, 2009

Least Favorite Plant

18 Comments

...t Detroit city lot for future harvest. We planted seedlings in beds of car tires. The tires protect the young trees while they are growing but also determine their lifetime to a size when the trunks are suitable for processing. We assume this period of growth to be approx. 40 years. Within this timespan we will maintain the plantation and keep the lot free of any kind of real estate speculation or building activity. The plantation has been realize...

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