Sorry, no pictures with this post. For much of the last week I have been sanding both the communion table and the baptismal font. I have to admit that my least favorite part of woodworking is the sanding required to get a piece ready to be finished. It's both mind numbing yet extremely demanding requiring one to carefully work through a series of ever finer grits until everything looks right. This week I have been rubbing on a tung oil varnish, one coat at a time, then clearing out of the shop to keep from kicking up dust onto the wet finish.

I have been asked by the church commissioning the project to not post any pictures of the completed pieces until after they both have been dedicated. So, to honor my commitment to them I am refraining from posting any further 'work in progress'  photos for the time being.

A friend sent me a link last week to an interesting website, www.patronsaintofknives.com, put up by a knife sharpener out in Washington state. The gentleman calls himself the Patron Saint of Sharpening. I thought I had a large ego! The videos on his site are great. I really enjoyed the video shot in Grendel's forge ( love the name, unfortunately my parents named me Steven. A nifty norse or hobbity sounding name would have better suited my self image) showing Grendel making a knife from a railroad spike. I watched it over and over because I was trying to work out the details of Grendel's stacked fire-brick, propane heated kiln which he uses to heat his work to a red heat. I use a similiar set up to heat treat my plane blades. But, I am always looking for a better idea. By the way, my friend set the Patron Saint a wreck of a knife with a broken tip, the patron saint does mail order sharpening for $5.00 a knife, and was extremely pleased with the razor sharp blade that was sent back to him. Wonders never cease. Thanks for stopping by.