QUOTE=Chet R Parks;2754115]Mike,
Your having way to much fun. The coopered top, carvings, inlays and design are truly inspirational. Thanks for taking the time to share your build. BTW the flower arrangements look great and your tenon saw in the second picture did not go unnoticed, beautiful saw. Hope you and your neighbors are staying safe from the fires.
Chet[/QUOTE]

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Chet,


Thanks for your far too kind comments! My wife Sherrie is very "artistic" – she has some kind of weird knack I completely don't understand, for color/shapes/ textures. She's really good at photography, floral design and interior design; probably a big reason why for the first 10 years of our marriage most of my woodworking projects "somehow" never made it into the house, despite my best intentions.


Those early furniture projects always somehow seem to be gifted to friends/family who "you know it doesn't really work for our house, but so-and-so (fill in the blank) I think would really appreciate it". A large percentage of my "shop furniture" today are projects I thought of as "quality furniture" when I built them back in the day, but in reality have ended up in the shop as places to store finishing supplies, camping equipment, etc. In all honesty, I have to admit she's always been right about my projects. Even though I've occasionally submitted projects to juried shows etc. (with no results speak of), it's 100% true her approval to put one of my furniture projects in the house is the highest compliment I could hope for


The shop made backs saw in the picture you mentioned has a "Mexican Kingwood" tote. Probably one of the hardest woods I've ever worked. Although this saw turned out okay, I'm not planning to use that wood again. I'm at an age/physical condition where selecting "hand tool friendly" woods for my projects is the prime directive.


As a native Southern Californian, we've always had fire seasons - not surprising given we live in arid/desert like environment. Even though this past winter was one of the wettest on record, the brush always dries out (it was 76° in San Diego today), and I'm amazed how quickly these wildfires spring up.


I would think in this information age people couldn't be "surprised" by a fire in their area, but it happens all the time here. Couple years ago we were evacuated. Helicopters dropped fire retardant right in our house and 3 houses on our street were burned. I guess is as one of the reasons my boys are always nagging me to add some kind of "news alert" to my phone so we don't get caught by surprise. I guess my old school approach of just looking for the smoke on the horizon is not a very effective strategy.


I hope you've been enjoying a nice fall season up your way. Always great to hear from you.


Best, Mike