It’s that time of year again when the mountain laurels bloom and I once again can’t resist taking a bunch of photos.

I assumed this would be a retro gimmick that I tried once. Then I loaded up my subs and I found I genuinely like it. I just dropped in to a video from Wood by Wright and sat through the whole thing. Is this about the paradox of choice or just a fun format? channelsurfer.tv

Look at this lovely grain. I joined a guild with a community shop 45 minutes away. Today, I resawed these small Koa boards there with a bandsaw. I’m a hand tool shop, but there are times when I want to use a bandsaw. I love the idea of community-shared equipment, and not just for woodworking.

I had an old regular shooting board I wasn’t using so I made a donkey’s ear attachment to shoot long 45 degree miters. I wanted something fast to build and precise, so I mounted the board on two cheap plastic rafter squares. It’s not pretty, but works great and completed it in about an hour.

Experimenting with a new box design and getting better a matching grain around the sides. This has a floating base and raised top. All completed with hand tools, except for one cheat: I cut the hole in the lid with a forstner bit.

Beautiful spot where Beaver Creek meets Antietam Creek in Washington County, Maryland. Fishing wasn’t good, but the scenery was great. Normally at this time of year, the water levels are a couple of feet higher. Like much of the country, we are in drought conditions in the spring. Not great.

Recently returned from a trip to Western Maryland, where we stayed in one of the few mid-Atlantic spots with no cell service (look, a phone booth!). The fishing was excellent, but the water levels are way too low for April.

Just finished installing a three-barrel rain catchment system for our backyard with a kit from BlueBarrel. It was a fun project. BlueBarrel is worth checking out if you’re looking for rain barrel options.

I’ve been away from posting online (and woodworking) for a couple of months, so I started back up with a simple project. This is a barebones bed frame to hold a tatami, creating useful storage space underneath. Total lumber cost was... https://troykitch.com/2026/03/04/ive-been-away-from-posting.html

there's a discworld humble bundle to get 35 of the books with a $16 minimum contribution

I finally got around to gutting and cleaning up this old, broken German radio. Now it has a HomePod inside. I use the iMac next to it to hold an iPad, so now I have a fun setup in the shop for streaming music. The tube radio parts I removed are fascinating.

My wife shot this image of a golden eagle this morning using her iPhone while we were out near Gathland State Park in Maryland. I think it’s an impressive image given the equipment. The most impressive part was the proximity of the eagle, who couldn’t care less that we were so close.

The trend of using verbs as nouns greatly annoys me, e.g., compute, spend, build.

I switched to Fastmail’s macOS app when introduced a few months back, but I switched back to FMail3. It’s better in many ways, notably not an electron app, small size, and more features/benefits. See: Fmail3

North Point State Park, near Baltimore, yesterday morning. If you look closely, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is in the far distance. Interesting place with remains of an amusement park from the early 1900s.

The bevel kabob. What a clever idea for drilling straight angled cuts: blog.lostartpress.com/2025/11/2…

I’ve listened to Fela Kuti for several decades in total ignorance of his story. Highly recommend this podcast series, I learned so much: Fela Kuti: Fear No Man 🎵

Genius. www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/o…

We noticed this bee on some woodland sage in our yard. It hadn’t moved in over a day, so we poked at it. Nothing. So we assumed it died and brought it inside for a flower display of sorts. The next day, we discovered … not dead. It bega... https://troykitch.com/2025/11/20/we-noticed-this-bee-on.html

Final wood box with removable bottom drawer. Mistakes were made, but made it work. I planned to dovetail the sides, but grain directions were wrong. So I went with mortise/tenons, but they were shallow I worried about strength. S... https://troykitch.com/2025/11/15/final-wood-box-with-removable.html

I’m trying Asahi Linux on an M1 Macbook Air and it’s great, except that the battery continues to drain A LOT during sleep. That’s not so great. In comparison, I have a 2009 Macbook Pro running Peppermint OS that is also great with a battery in sleep that lasts for months.

Cutting the mortises for the hinges to hang the closest door I’m making. I always find this process a bit frightening.

This month, I’m marking four years with Fastmail and two years on Kagi in my ongoing quest to use better services. 🎉

Working on a long, narrow door to cover a narrow closet in our house where we keep sheets for bedding. The closet has a curved top. I’m using parts of a chair I got a thrift store that perfectly matches this curve and plan to veneer i... https://troykitch.com/2025/10/08/working-on-a-long-narrow.html

Breaking down a sheet of cherry plywood with hand tools isn’t easy, but it’s mostly figuring out how to hold the work in place.

What in interesting project. The Library of Time: libraryoftime.xyz

This was a fun, quick project: I used offcuts from the midcentury cabinet I just completed to make a small first aid station in the bathroom. This replaces an old, broken wall heater in the bathroom that came with the house. I made it rem... https://troykitch.com/2025/10/04/this-was-a-fun-quick.html

I completed my midcentury cherry cabinet, made with zero power tools. Here it is in place. The top sides are half blind dovetails, the base full dovetails. The door panels are 3/8 inch thick and slide along grooves. I’m pleased with how it turned out.

One of the sliding doors are fit in the mid-century cabinet project, one more to go and then on to the feet.

Years ago, a friend gave me an old wooden filing cabinet that was missing one of its side panels. Yesterday, I finally got around to converting it into a mobile tool caddy I can easily move around the shop.

I’m planning (hoping) to build my own treadle lathe one of these days, but this has my attention. toolsforworkingwood.com/store/ite…

I finished resawing the boards for one of the doors for the cabinet - I’m guessing this would take less than an hour or so with a bandsaw? It took me most of the day. I used a ryoba saw and had excellent results. My arm is spent.

Finished all the dovetail work for the mid-century cabinet and leaving it dry fit until I take apart to cut the grooves for the front sliding doors.

Finally back to work in the shop. I decided to start with a warm-up project: a cherry tea tray with walnut dowels and wax cord wraps for the handles.

Make your voice heard www.regulations.gov/docket/FS-20...

Republicans had a chance to protect public health. Instead they chose to put a dishonest quack in charge of it. They own the nightmares to come.

Herdling is OUT NOW! We’re stoked to finally invite you on this journey 🐐🦬🐏⛰️ Get the game now on Steam, Epic Game Store, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S or Game Pass, links below! We’ll give away 5 Steam keys among everyone who reposts this 🎉🎉🎉

All is on hold this month as I was diagnosed with Lyme disease and now recovering. I did not see a tick, nor did I have a telltale bite mark. I thought I had the flu, then joint pain began. If I can offer any advice, it’s to be vigilant and take precautions to avoid this.

J Michael Luttig

Three corners completed, one to go, then on to the cabinet doors. I’ve never cut so many dovetails at once in my life.

Milkweed is about to bloom in the mountains.

Sharpening some bits and want to share an interesting tool I picked up many years ago: a Millers-Falls “Buck Rogers” brace. A range of Buck Rogers tools were an interesting historical blip. thevalleywoodworker.blogspot.com/2015/04/b…

Two corners done for my cabinet build, two to go. I did through dovetails for the base, the top will be half blind dovetails. Sketching out plans for feet and sliding doors now.

My solution for transferring pins to tails on a 50x25 inch panel. It’s not pretty, but it’ll do the job.

I just looked at the iOS top charts and it struck me how far I’ve diverged away from the mainstream of app downloads. I don’t use any of the apps on the list until #35 (Discord), which I use occasionally.

Frederick, Maryland, this morning before it gets too hot to be outside.

Making some wooden nails with scraps (with a dowel plate) while I wait for glue to dry on panels, which are just tiny dowels shaped to a point with a chisel. They work great for small box projects and are a good use of small hardwood scrap.

Gluing up the bottom of my cabinet project with my random assortment of clamps. Project is going well so far. Going to attempt half blind dovetails across 25 inches.

What an inspired idea: wood embroidery. www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/06/n…