The man who invented Super Glue has died.

Harry Coover, the inventor of the adhesive Super Glue, has passed away in his home in Kingsport, Tenn., at the age of 94. He originally developed it while working with high strength clear plastics for gun sights, during World War II and was most proud of its' use as a spray for battlefield medics to use to help stop bleeding. As a woodworker, I once believed myself to be an adhesive purest and would only use "real" wood glue. You know, the yellow woodworking glue, which is really just white glue with color added. I stuck with my lofty ideals for years until one day working on a job, I had a splinter of walnut trim come off in the worst place possible. With no good way to repair it using yellow glue, the stuff just doesn't work well on small repairs, a fellow carpenter placed a drop of quick drying Super Glue on the spot, replaced the very small, but very visible splinter of walnut back into its position, held it with the tip of his razor knife for a few seconds and the repair was invisible ! WOW, ok, no longer a glue virgin, I was sold. Although the yellow glue is still my primary adhesive, this stuff was amazing and I've kept it on hand ever since. It's now the only adhesive I use for the miniature spiral stairs the I make. Thank you, Mr Coover

Interesting fact on spiral stairs

As a builder of both full size and miniature spiral staircases, I was fascinated to find the following history on spiral stairs. As with many architectural designs, the spiral staircase has its roots in old European history. They were used as a defense mechanism for castles. When looking up from the bottom, exterior stairs were typically built against the walls of the towers in a clock-wise direction and in a counter-clock wise direction when on the inside of the tower walls. With the majority of swordsmen being right-handed, this design allowed the defending swordsman to swing his sword freely while either coming down the stairs or backing up in reverse, while the attacker, who again was usually right-handed, would have his swing blocked by the walls and the lack of a handrail made it easier to knock your opponent off the stairs. Also interesting, if you happened to be a left-handed swordsman, you were worth more than twice the price of a right-handed swordsman. Who knew. Go southpaws !!!   

Sam Maloof

Chairs by Sam Maloof Woodworking

Images by Gene Sasse

Sam Maloof was probably one of the most famous, recognized and successful woodworkers of the 20th century. Sadly, he passed away in 2009 at the age of 93. He has been a mentor of mine for over 30 years. His book Sam Maloof - Woodworker is about his life, how he started as a woodworker and made it his life long passion. It has been and continues to be a major source of inspiration for all of my woodworking and furniture. While I cannot pretend to be the craftsman Sam was, I can attempt to build everything I make to highest level of workmanship possible, as Sam would do.. His eye for simple design, balance and his "hard line" through out all of the many pieces he built, was extraordinary. His work is exhibited in famous collections such as the Smithsonian and the White House and is shown in galleries around the world. The furniture he built can sell for tens of thousands of dollars at auction, if and when it becomes available. I especially like how he used the term , woodworker,  to describe who he is and what he does.
As Sam would say "It's an honest word and that's what I am: a woodworker"
Get his autobiography "Sam Maloof - Woodworker" and enjoy it.
Or you can follow this link to his site Sam Maloof Woodworking

                                                                     

Goodbye winter ?!?

At last the Crocus are croaking, so maybe spring is actually on it's way. I know it wasn't a hard or real cold winter, but it seemed to snow more times than usual, so it felt like a longer season. The wood stove has been going full blast and I'm looking forward to letting it cool down. I think we've gone through about 8 rick of wood. On the positive side, we've used only about 1-1/2 tanks of gas compared to 4 tanks last year. Guess I'll start piling up the wood for next year! Maybe I should stockpile 10 rick this time.

Computer woes

Well...........just when I thought I had things under control and began to get on a roll.  WHAM!    The hard drive in my computer failed. If it isn't possible to recover files, I stand to loose about 4 years of work and pics I had on it. I know it's not the end of the world , but WOW what a pain. Life goes on................ I guess it's time to start backing up everything. Anyone else experienced this?