Shop Notes & Rambles
Welcome to the quieter corner of the shop — the place where sawdust settles, thoughts wander, and stories take shape. These rambles capture the rhythm of the work, the lessons learned, and the craft that holds it all together.
Shop Ramble Mailing List
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Shop Ramble Mailing List 〰️
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Ash
Ash is still healthy in Manitoba. Walk a windrow, a shelterbelt, or a river trail and you’ll see it — solid trunks, full crowns, and none of the hollowing that’s reshaped forests in other provinces. Green ash still anchors prairie windrows, white ash remains a reliable hardwood in the lumber trade, and black ash continues its long cultural lineage in basketry and traditional craft. The emerald ash borer is here, but the decline is early, quiet enough that most people don’t notice. Manitoba’s ash stands strong for now, but once a species begins to slip — whether it’s the commercial white ash, the cultural black ash, or the everyday green ash — the story widens fast across the prairie landscape.
Photography for Woodworkers
Woodworkers search all the time for how to do photography for woodworkers — how to light a project, how to make grain show up, how to take a simple shop photo that actually looks like the work you built. This Ramble walks through that in real examples: tools, tables, nightstands, and the same kind of shop light every woodworker already has. Controlled flashes, diffused sunlight, shallow depth of field, backlight, silhouettes — all the ways light can reveal the craft. It’s not about the camera. It’s about learning to see.
Douglas Fir
Douglas Fir is the wood that shaped my grandfather’s shop — the smell, the grain, the work of his era. Around here, fir belongs to yesterday, but the pieces he built, the boards that survived, and the finishes that still hold his touch prove how much this wood mattered. This is a story about the fir that built a generation, the craft it carried forward, and the way it’s scent can still pull me back to the place where my love of woodworking began.
What Woodworkers Really Do When the Power Goes Out
When the power goes out in a woodshop, everything changes. Machines stop, lights fade, and the whole crew shifts into cleanup mode, safety mode, or story mode — because a power outage in a woodshop isn’t a break, it’s a whole different way of working.
Cedar
If you’ve ever wondered why cedar is so light, so aromatic, and so naturally rot‑resistant, the answer goes back 70 million years. This story explores the science behind cedar’s behaviour, its deep‑time evolution, and why it remains one of the most forgiving woods in the shop.
Wood Doesn’t Lie: Lessons From the Woodpile to the Workshop
A lifetime of splitting firewood taught me the first truths about wood — grain, movement, strength, and the imperfections every tree carries. Those lessons followed me into the workshop, shaping how I read lumber, choose boards, and understand the character inside every piece of wood.
Spruce
Spruce is the quiet backbone of Canada — the tree behind the drywall, under the shingles, and in the bones of every house from the Prairies to the Shield. Not perfect, not flashy, just holding the country together.
Woodworking After 50: Why the Shop Matters More Than Ever
Woodworking after 50 is less about tools and more about patience, problem‑solving, and the comfort of a shop that’s truly yours. This Ramble reflects on family shops, the smell of Douglas fir, teaching grandkids, and the lessons learned over a lifetime at the bench.
Pine
Eastern White Pine isn’t just softwood lumber — it’s a fire‑forged species that rebuilt Canada after glaciers and wildfires. Its scent, its grain, and its history make it one of the most iconic woods in North America.
Cleaning the Shop, Living With Cancer
A shop reset during cancer recovery — clearing clutter, finding strength, and rediscovering the small grounding rituals that keep a woodworker standing. This Ramble explores resilience, healing, and the meaning of a clean slate.
Poplar
Poplar is the paint‑grade workhorse of the shop — a fast‑growing pioneer hardwood that’s stable, predictable, and perfect for the quiet jobs behind the scenes. This Ramble explores how poplar grows, why it’s so reliable, and why every woodworker depends on it.
The Mistake Every New Woodworker Makes (And I Made It Too)
Every new woodworker makes the same mistake: trying to force wood to behave. This Ramble follows a twisted spruce workbench, glue‑up problems, and the hard‑earned lesson about wood movement that every beginner eventually learns.
Walnut
Walnut has a reputation bigger than the tree itself. People treat it like a rare, luxury hardwood, but in the shop it’s just walnut — honest, stable, beautiful, and one of the most enjoyable woods to work with. This Ramble cuts through the hype and looks at black walnut as it really is: the tree, the lumber, the grain, the chemistry, and the truth behind its reputation.
Cherry
Cherry comes from the Black Cherry tree — a fast‑growing pioneer species with tannin‑rich heartwood, pale sapwood, and a history written in its growth rings. This Ramble explores why cherry blotches, how it ages, and why its warm whiskey colour keeps it one of the most loved hardwoods in the shop.
Early Balloon Frame Housing in Manitoba
Early balloon‑frame houses in Manitoba were built with true 2×4 lumber, mixed species, and whatever the frontier could supply. This Ramble explores the 1872–1885 transitional era — rough mills, rail‑shipped long boards, fieldstone foundations, and the improvised framing that defined Manitoba’s earliest light‑frame homes.
Grandpa’s Toolbox
A story of heritage tools, basement shops, and the hand plane passed from Grandpa to father to son. This Ramble explores vintage woodworking, generational craft, and the memories held inside an old plywood toolbox.
🍁 Hard Maple
Hard maple comes from the sugar maple — a northern, slow‑grown hardwood shaped by freeze–thaw cycles, tight grain, and dense, closed‑pore anatomy. This Ramble explains why it burns on dull blades, shines under sharp tools, and remains one of the most reliable woods in the shop.
Oak vs Oak
Oak on the Prairies meant different things in different eras — white oak in early 1900s heritage homes, red oak in the builder‑grade kitchens of the 70s–90s. This Ramble explains the real differences between the two oaks, the history behind them, and why each species carries its own story.
Red oak
Red oak is open‑pored, fast‑growing, and honest. This story explores how its earlywood–latewood contrast shapes its behaviour in the shop — from tear‑out to finishing — and why it remains the wood so many of us learned on.
White oak
White oak is one of North America’s toughest hardwoods — shaped by slow growth, tyloses, tannins, and a history of surviving where other trees fail. Its strength and stability made it the wood generations trusted to last.