Free time

 If you have some free time, you can make something useful : https://www.ssvp.fr/

   Woodworking and woodcarving !

After a day on computer simulations of virtual atoms, nothing is better to relax and free the mind than carving wood with chisels and gouges. I am trying to teach myself woodcarving, little by little. So far, I realized dozens of objects, including spoons, decorated boxes, picture frames, and small statues.

I use tilia (lime wood), prunus (cherry wood), pyrus (pear wood), juglans regia (walnut), quercus (oak), etc.

Recently I started learning furniture-making using the techniques of our grand fathers (no electric tools), following books or the excellent videos of Paul Sellers, The English Woodworker, Mr Chickadee etc.

Of these activities I enjoy the creativity, with the freedom to shape any form you like, and the craftsmanship, with all the feelings you get from cutting the wood. No result is perfect, each one is beautiful to me.

To enlarge: right-click + "open in new window"

a technical picture: if you set the chipbreaker close to the blade edge, you can plane smoothly through a knot on pine even with an absurdly large plane mouth. I was quite impressed the first time it happened to me!