Good People Down There

The New Zealand Libertarians were kind enough to let me join their mailing list, and it's pleasant to keep an eye on our colleagues in the South Pacific. They're fighting the same sorts of statist diddlydowops we are.

The latest I have from them is a notice that their next meeting won't be a talkity-talk session. They're gathering to lend a hand to one of their own who has a mission:

"A friend of Liberty is running a working bee to continue upgrading his facilities north of Auckland. Graham Crawshaw continues his independent campaign to provide literacy skills to boys (mainly) falling through the cracks in our education system so I thought we could have lunch there and pitch in."

So, if you happen to be in the Aukland vicinity this weekend ...

Cutlery

A couple of annoying obligations kept me around here over the weekend. At least there was enough dead time to give some of the shop tools a workout, and there's a new letter opener on my desk. With it's symmetrical dagger blade (decent enough stainless) and sturdy walnut handle, it looks a lot like a dangerous knife, but that's just a coincidence.

The other one is that trashed out Navy Mark II Kabar I mentioned a few days back. Draw filing and polishing erased nearly all the pits, not to mention about a quarter of the original blade thickness. Its walnut handle is rough cut, just enough to make me think this one will turn out well, so I guess I'll take some pains with the final finish.

It's fun to plug this minor hobby of creating useful edged tools from junk. The required skill level isn't very high, the cost is negligible, and the rewards are substantial. I'll post a picture or two when I return from a short trip south.

(I urge caution in recommending home brew cutlery for readers who live where Great Britain used to be.)

Happy Brithday to Me

TheTMR is a year old today.

Seasonal

The November morning sunlight at 43 and a half degrees north is a limpid thing, watery, like lemonade overly diluted. It's one of the real tocsins of winter, the sort of air to make a fellow wonder if he really laid in enough split oak for a long season.

A positive attitude is necessary. Just 30 days to the winter solstice, Then the light strengthens day-by-day, and official spring is but three months off.

Today will help. High in the 50s and fair skies are more than we expect when Thanksgiving is hard at hand.