Ikea equipment rack

If the below makes you wet yourself just a little...

...then you need a good place to put them.


Apparently, the spacing between the legs of an Ikea "Lack" table are the same as for electronic "rack" gear.

That's pretty clever.


More here:  https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack


Addendum:  no way!  There's one on wheels!  US$50.  That's a **very** good price for a wheeled rack unit...

--GG

Vocal stylings

Hat-tip to Cynical Brett for turning me on to this guy, who does very convincing impressions of the vocal stylings of various singers:


(Adam Levine:  singer of the band Maroon 5, apparently.)


--GG

Idyllic morning

This morning the kids Tae Kwon Do class had a special "Saturday session":  an optional class where all the various branches met at the same place and had a three-hour training session, with a potluck afterwards.

During that session I sat in the car, with the windows rolled down, and read recording magazines.  It was a warm, but not hot, morning, with fairly consistent breeze -- so it wasn't at all hot while sitting in the car.  I'd brought along a "fake beer" (non-alcoholic), and after I finished that I walked to the 7-11 less than a block away and picked up a large slushie.  Then, back to reading.

It was the nicest morning I'd had in a long time!  When I win the lottery, I aim to spend most mornings like that...


--GG

Are your truffles too squeaky

Two days ago (Wednesday), during my lunchtime walk, I happened across a small "natural foods"(?) store downtown.  It had only been open for three weeks.

Among other things, they had Mrs. Dash seasoning.  I hadn't noticed that it's not available here in Brisbane, until I saw it and realized that I never see it in the grocery store.  Bought a shaker of it.

They also had truffle oil: little bottles of oil, with slices of black truffle in it.  I'd never tasted truffle before, but I'd heard of it, so I was curious.

Yesterday and today, I tried putting it on my microwaved veggies at work.  It was tolerable -- but it didn't make my food taste better -- just "different" (and a little weird).

Since I was just tolerating it, rather than enjoying it, I figured it was a waste to force myself to use up the bottle -- because someone else would actually appreciate it.  So I'm giving it to a co-worker.

But, now I know:  I don't appreciate black truffles.


--GG

Tiny houses

A friend sent me this link to a blog about tiny houses, sheds, and such.

The blog has videos, as well, such as this one:


I can totally see myself building something like that.


Good stuff! 


--GG

Being odd

I liked this.

It's apparently a quote from the movie The Breakfast Club.

(Source: http://thebloggess.com/2014/10/i-fixed-it-for-you/)


--GG

Possible wood from Chinese elm

I'll preface this blog entry by saying that although The Lady's family refers to this tree as "Chinese elm", this is technically incorrect -- although it's a typical misnomer.

It's really "Chinese celtis" -- although it also goes by the names celtis, Chinese elm, Chinese hackberry, Chinese nettle-tree, hackberry, and Japanese hackberry.


Anyhow.

It's a "junk" tree around here:  not only is it an invasive species, but it also rots pretty easily, if left out in the weather.


But.

I have a piece of it that I carry around in my pocket for good luck.  It's a wedge that's about the size of one-eighth of a ping-pong ball.  I've had it for a few years, so it's thoroughly seasoned.  It's hard enough that I can't make a mark in it with my fingernail.


A few days ago I rescued two small logs (sections of the trunk) from my in-laws' firewood pile:  each about a foot and a half long, by about 6 to 8 inches diameter.  I split them into eighths (to minimize splitting while they dry), dunked the ends in boiled linseed oil (to slightly retard checking), and used a scrub plane on one of them to check out the figure, then rubbed on some Danish oil.

Here's what I got:

You may want to click to enlarge:  I've intentionally left it full resolution (and thus, full filesize) per photo.  On the left it's essentially quartersawn.  You can see a hint of flecks -- not as much as I'd hoped.  It might show up better with some stains or dyes.

A fairly subtle grain:  that could be a good thing, or a bad thing.  Reminds me a little of balsa wood.

Whiter than pine.  I've left this piece where the sunlight can hit it:  I'm curious to see if it yellows over time.


Here's the end grain (with boiled linseed oil) of the same piece:  the left, underside is essentially quartersawn -- and it drifts into something beginning to approach flatsawn.

An Australian woodworking forum says it's not very good for woodworking -- but so far I'm finding the opposite.  Your mileage may vary.


Meanwhile, I've stored my sections of wood -- most of them riven "blanks" -- and I'll come back to them in a year or two.  Might make an interesting (or, bland?) wooden box or small wooden chest.


--GG

Asymmetrical bench or pew

Just got back from a trip to Sydney.


Saw this pair of wooden benches (or, pews?) in a lounging area of a museum, and thought they were interesting.


They're not part of an exhibit: they're just for sitting on, while waiting for your kids to finish drawing. 

Why are they asymmetrical? The right ends are capped, but the left ends are open.


I asked the two staff members on duty -- but neither of them had noticed the benches' asymmetry.


The benches are old enough that I don't **think** the creator would have done it just to be "funky". (But, maybe?)

 

There's two of them -- which suggests that these are part of a set.


The Lady thinks that maybe they're church pews -- and that the ends along the aisle were open, and the "closed" end was near the wall. But if so, why not just make **both** ends open?

She also suggested that the "open" end was done that way to conserve wood.  But it doesn't seem like it would save enough wood to bother:  seems like it would be faster to make benches where both ends were the same.

 

Any ideas?


--GG