Some Sawhorses

I was getting tired of my wobbly old sawhorses and went searching for some good designs online, I found I wide variety of designs ranging from complete hack jobs to what could best be termed heirloom sawhorses made with fancy joinery and expensive wood and finishes. I do most of my work singlehanded and I am always clamping stock to saw horses in one orientation or another, so a design with a number of faces is important to me. I cobbled together the design above in Google Sketchup combining some of the best features from the designs I found online. The modified I-Beam work surface is comprised of a verticle 2x12 and two horizontal members, one 2x4 and one 2x10, both providing anchor points for the legs. The 2x4 horizontal surface secures long stock clamped to the verticle 2x12 for planing or routing or whatever. I haven't put the finishing touches on the design yet, and I am tempted to make the top horizontal board wider to allow you to clamp horizontally oriented stock more securely and to possibly provide more reinforcement via trusses or shelves to the lower legs, after I finalize and build I will post an update.

The Real Secret Sauce

Why do so many dishes cooked in high end restaurants taste so much better than those prepared at home? Steakhouse steak almost always tastes better for example. There are a few reasons for this actually, some you can do something about, some you can't. Firstly they use a LOT more salt than you do, way more actually. Secondly, they probably use better butter than you do, and more of it. Third, I often hear it said that restaurants get much better cuts of meat than a home cook can. While this is undoubtedly true if you get your meat at a run of the mill grocery store, you can pretty easily find excellent cuts of meat at a butcher shop (yes, they still exist, you just need to look). I find both Whole Foods and Costco have excellent meat, try to find "Dry Aged" meat rather than cuts straight from the Cry-o-Vac. The Fourth item on the list is heat, commercial stoves, broilers and grills can get exceedingly hot and easily produce a nice sear on the meat without over cooking, not much you can do about that. Lastly, they probably used a touch of Demi-Glace on it, or more if there is an actual sauce accompanying the steak. Demi-Glace is a French concoction that is basically Veal/Beef and Veggie stock which has been reduced down to a super concentrated, turbo stock. The trouble with Demi-Glace is that it takes forever and a day to make. The concentrate pictured above is a high quality, shelf stable Demi-Glace paste. You'll choke when you see the price given the quantity, but in reality it is much cheaper than going it on your own. Give it a go on your next steak, whip up a little Demi-Glace mushroom sauce, you won't regret it, like a good Catcher in baseball, Demi-Glace is a value multiplier. More Than Gourmet also makes a number of other sauces and stocks that are quite good, and their site has a number of good recipes incorporating their products. More Than Gourmet

Blundstone Boots

While we are on the subject of oddball footwear, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Blundstones, or Blunnies as they are known colloquially. If you have spent any time in the Pacific Northwest, you probably familiar with the conceptually similar "Deck Slipper". Since you can't really get deck slippers on the East Coast, I picked up a pair of Blundstones on closeout from L.L. Bean. That was 15 years or so ago, and they are still going strong and are probably the best knock around boots I have ever had. Comfortable and indestructible, Blundstones make superb work shoes and I heartily recommend them, although not without a few caveats, as follows; Blunstones originated in Australia, and while it may not snow in Oz, it certainly does in New England, and Blunnies are slicker than goose shit on snow - dangerously so in fact. The most comfortable traditional Blundstone Boots (the one pictured) have no steel toe or any reinforcement of the toe box. If you drop something (like a hammer for example) it will hurt. Keep in mind, despite the premium price, these are not high performance hiking boots and are neither insulated, or waterproof. All that can be said of other shoes and none of it is a show stopper for me, but you should know the deal going in.

Vibram Five Fingers Shoes?

This new trend in footwear has been brewing for a while now, primarily in the running community, though I have yet to see anyone wearing these in the wild. Advocates claim that they are better for your feet than the now ubiquitous running shoe. Personally, I don't run unless there is something is chasing me, and I haven't tried a pair yet, but my guess is that we will be seeing a lot of these in the future. They may be weird looking, but certainly no more so than Crocs, and I would be willing to bet they are a lot more comfortable. A pair of these would be perfect for the beach and most likely for driving and generally bumming around.

Nimbus Motorcycle (What Hagrid SHOULD Have Ridden)

Unless you are a hardcore bike nerd or Danish (of the non-pastery persuasion), you have probably never heard of Nimbus motorcycles. Unlike the Nimbus 2000 of Harry Potter fame, this one runs on petrol as opposed to ye old magickal spelz. Note the unusual (for a bike) 4 cylinder inline motor. If you look closely, you will notice another oddity, these guys were shaft drive, even way back when. The Nimbus was made by a Danish company that also made vacuum cleaners and was manufactured from the 1920's until 1960.

Manhasset Music Stands - Not Just for Band Geeks

Even the most rabid HS Band Fanboys probably never gave a second thought about what was holding up their copy of "The Wizz". That's okay though, because the Crinkle Black Manhasset music stand is so common that almost nobody knows they exist, outside of music store owners and orchestra accounts payable clerks. It's a shame really, because it's very good at what it does, namely holding stuff up. Manhasset now makes a variety of stands, all with the more or less the same music desk that graces countless high school stages. Besides being good for holding music, the various stands have loads of potential for usage outside the music hall. The table top stand pictured above for example would be great for holding cook books up so you can more easily read the recipe while you are cooking, or for holding textbooks in an upright position for studying and transcribing. The company also makes a wall mounted version and the familiar height adjustable model, both of which would be handy for a host of uses where there isn't room for a table or when you need to consult reference material while standing - plans in a woodshop for example. Oh, and they are made in the U.S. and come in different colors. The Manhasset Specialty Company

Tecumseh Small Engines - Closing up Shop

Well, a truly sad day for motor heads, Tecumseh closed it's U.S. small engine plant and apparently there will be no more Tecumseh engines produced. The power equipment Co. Ariens always used Tecumseh engines and they were incredibly reliable. The Tecumseh Snow King engine on my snowblower is close to 40 years old and still runs reliably, burns no oil and starts on the second pull every time.