My Shop

This is my woodworking shop, any resemblance to St. Roy's shop is purely coincidental. Yeah, right. Actually, the shop was a family project. We built it in 1995. My father in law, Bill with mom in law Betty were visiting from California. Bill asked when I would get started on the shop I wanted. My Dad, at the table too, volunteered some saw mill timbers that he had stashed. Work commenced immediately.The saw mill floor joists are 14 feet long and we had enough to go 26 feet long. Dad helped me with the layout of the foundation and framing the floor. Out of level less than a quarter inch. Saw mill siding. Recycled 2x4 studs from big pallets tossed from my work. Only real hard cash was the roofing and some roof rafters. Nails of course. The two windows in the pic were free, the picture window on the other side was $10.  My sons Michael and Jonathan hammered nails in the 1x3 subflooring, two layers at diagonals, then more sawmill boards for finish floor. Still waiting for inside to be finished. Meanwhile running on a 30 amp drop cord. One machine at a time. Good thing much of what I make uses hand tools. I love the space. My wife Diane helped me throughout with planning, window and door placement and  good encouragement.

Dulcimers

This is one of my latest creations. It is a little bit wider and deeper than the earlier ones. The sides, backs, and fretboard are black walnut. The top is cherry that came from a tree we took down in our front yard. It has a rich beautiful tone.

The one on the left I swapped a calculator for in 1975. The calculator did the basic functions and square roots. It cost a little over $100.00. The dulcimer has followed me around all these years and is in the process of getting a new finish and new tuners.

The one on the right is one of Dad's tree branch scroll dulcimers. It is walnut with a cherry top. He likes his tuners turned up for easy adjustment. It has three synthetic mother of pearl dots.

Here is a close up of one of Dad's tree branch scrolls. He likes the rings which show that this was once a living tree. We don't build this kind anymore because they won't fit in a standard case. If someone wants one perhaps a soft, padded case would work.








One of these two is in the first picture above. The camera angle makes them look different sizes but they are as identical as I could make them. Even the tops are sequential flitches from the same plank. The finish is clear danish oil with a wax topcoat. And yes, that is a broken string on the top dulcimer. Sometimes they just pop.

First Post

This blog is primarily for my woodworking. I use a blended shop approach though moving more and more to hand tools. I like the quiet. Also I may drag in bits of family and larger history including where Roaring Creek is and why I named my blog and woodworking after it.