Chasing sawdust.

Peace and quiet here at Applewood headquarters. It's been a beehive of activity for the past two weeks. We've been building our first "Ship's Ladder" in the cabinet shop for a lake cabin loft. Been interesting to observe the building process as well as all the peripheral activity that goes hand in hand with this endeavor. …


I basically stayed out of the way, took pics, volunteered to sand (but was turned down) and cleaned up sawdust that made its way into my home. I will possibly be nominated for the most zealous annoying wicked maid. And it wasn't just that there was a mega amount of sawdust in the shop. It rained for a week. And nature decided to contribute to our sawdust supply by taking down a huge tree limb. So we had wet saw dust covering the ground between the shop and the house- remnants of the branch removal.

Sawdust is like sheet rock dust. It infiltrates everywhere. Clings to boots and clothes and skin. Not to mention what it does to lungs. I won't even go there. And if any of you know me.. one smell I hate is stale sawdust. It's the complete opposite of fresh. It just smells like sawdust mixed with dirt.

So as exciting as the creative process was to build basically an entire staircase that could be transported.. it had its moments! But on the upside… the Carpenter super enjoyed the project and our young Carpenter Apprentice got his first taste of real wood crafting. I think he is hooked.

Recently I heard about our local coffee chain, Caribou Coffee, http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140417005982/en/Caribou-Coffee-Kick-Starts-Spring-Planting-Grounds-Ground#.U2mD68ZLFuY giving away their used coffee grounds for compost. I asked the Carpenter about bagging up our "ground wood"  for compost. He wasn't interested. I researched and it does make great compost! And it would be a very "green" gesture on our part to give the lovely stuff away. Just saying.

The Carpenter asked if I thought we should advertise to build more ladders in cabin areas in northern Minnesota. That might not be a bad idea. It would certainly be a niche for us. Hmmm… I might want to invest in a big sawdust sucking machine. Attach to the door of the shop and turn the switch. 

Keeping it real.
~the Artist

Here's another post I wrote about "Ship's Ladders" http://carpenterandtheartist.blogspot.com/2014/04/ships-ladder.html