The Barn on White Run

Now that I am in my approximately 4,000th day of organizing, reorganizing, cleaning and tidying the barn I am qualified to declare that Cleaning is Christmas.  Unlike my friends MikeM, Ripplin’ John and MartinO I am not by temperament nor habit fastidiously organized in my physical surrounding.  This means that combined with my forgetfulness about the details of my surroundings, organizing and cleaning reveals “new” contents of the barn that in truth I had forgotten either 1) that I even had them, or 2) where I put them, sometimes in a “special place.”

My current paroxysm of tidying the joint is just such a reality.   Sometimes the revelations are mundane, such as, “Oh, that’s where I put my favorite utility knife.”  Other “discoveries” are more meaningful.  Just a few days ago at the Plane Wellness shindig I was commenting to someone there that I was running low on the shellac wax I had ordered several years ago directly from the factory in India.  I was lamenting(?) the fact that I might need to send another big pile of money there to restock if I was going to continue using and selling shellac wax for more than another few months.

So, there in the corner tucked behind one of my workbenches were two full cases of shellac wax.   Enough for two or three years of consumption.  Suddenly that was one less thing I needed to worry about.  That alone made it a good day.  The cases were so embedded in the space (I had to actually cut the boxes apart just to extricate the contents) that I clearly placed them there before I built a storage cabinet and placed the workbench in its current location and then put stuff on top of them.

Then, as I was taking inventory of my polissoirs and packaged waxes underneath the workbench I use for that purpose, I found two full cases of the 190 proof grain alcohol I use for mixing spirit varnishes.

At this point all I have to do is persuade myself that cleaning is something I need to habituate myself toward.  Yeah, good luck with that.

Now I just have to concern myself with the fact that my polissoir maker is struggling with some health problems that are disrupting his broom-making output.  Yikes.

We recently traveled north to Butler PA for the 2026 edition of the Plane Wellness shindig.  What ensued was a terrific weekend of handtool woodworking fellowship.  In a way it was a smaller scale version of Handworks and a good tune-up for getting my brain and inventory set up for that venture.

My first impression of the attendees is that they were younger and more beginner-ish than other tool events I have attended, and that is a good thing.

A true delight was spending time with both old friends and new.

I was presenting on historic finishing, which drew an enthusiastic audience, and I was doing demos at my table throughout.

Keep an eye on their web site to put next year’s event in Washington PA on your calendar.

During our recent visit to flyover country to celebrate Ripplin’ John’s MFA exhibit I was able to spend most of a day with him in the shop.  John’s fascination with undulation has progressed well beyond ripple molding machines into the realm of Rose Engine lathes, of which he has at least two.

This is a gargantuan vintage machine,

which has been augmented with this modern unit made by Davil Lindell, if I remember correctly.

He let me noodle on the Lindell for a few hours, including the cutting of this pattern on the end of a small box.

What a joy it is to spend time with the people you admire doing stuff that is just pure, unadulterated fun.

My circle of friends is mostly populated with men who inspire me due to their knowledge, skills, talents, temperaments and character.   No person better embodies this than my long-time friend Ripplin’ John (you can meet him at my booth at Handworks).  Engineer, craftsman, and theologian, his company is a treasured enrichment to my life.

Mrs. Barn and I recently traveled to attend his exhibit as he received his Sculpture MFA safely into his eighth decade of life!  He is indominable rather than monomaniacal, a distinction worthy of note.  The exhibit attendees were treated to an impressive compilation of work and creativity; his thesis dealt with the question “What Is Art?”

The attendees in rapt attention as John elucidates the purposes of his artworks.

Congratulations, John, and thanks for being my friend and fellow Christian soldier.

Here are some pics from the exhibit.

One of the many beautiful objects crafted by John’s hands and tools

One of a series of miniature turned boxes John created with his Rose Engine Lathe, a creative technology completely unknown to most of those in attendance,

The assignment here was to create a sculptural artwork from a book. John excavated and epoxy-laminated a stack of pages, then turned the resulting block on his lathe.

John was exploring the realm of formed, enameled metal medallions.

One of the many facets of John’s program was to teach a class. This is the student workshop where he instructed the kids in basic metalwork. From what I could see they related wonderfully to this graduate student the same age and their great-grandparents.

No doubt, the most bizarre moment of the visit to the college campus was spotting this dispensary in the men’s restroom. Our culture is doomed.