We have just had a lovely visit from our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.

It was great to see the Learning Tower being ‘christened.’

Happy Days!

My progress towards building a 10 foot clinker dinghy is faltering somewhat. A case of one step forward, two steps back! The problem? Making space in the garage.

Buccaneer is out of the garage, and in Fareham Creek; and we have shared a couple of hire skips with our neighbours, and cleared out loads of stuff too.

But, in clearing out loft spaces, we have been left with several boxes that need to be gone through. The result? The garage is as full as it ever was!

But, it’s not just boxes of accumulated ‘stuff’ that is holding back my progress. Last Saturday, my friend Richard and I headed over to a place just north of Winchester to look at some wood that a man wanted to get rid of. As we drove down, Richard said: “I can’t really call this one – it might be nothing much, or it could be a gold mine.”

Well, gold mine it was!

In a metal clad barn, down a small leafy lane, was a stash of wood that would fill half a garage or more. The owner had got it about ten years ago, from a man who made long-case clocks. The wood was almost all hardwood, and generally of very good quality. I spied some boards that were about seven foot long, over two foot wide and varying from one to three inches in thickness. We took thirteen of these, leaving half a dozen that had rather too many shakes (splits).

Now, elm is rare these days, after Dutch Elm disease, though some survive in Brighton. In fact, I recently heard of some newly felled elm being available from there, which I had planned to have a look at this week. No need now, as we found several pieces of elm in the barn, and they are fully seasoned, not freshly felled. The size of council paving slabs, but thicker, they were duly added to the haul, together with a selection of the smaller hardwood stock.

After two trips with a large trailer, we called it a day. This lot will keep me going for a good long time, and there is that small issue of storage!

A little project from which I have learnt a lot: Lily’s Learning Tower.

Putting screws into the ‘end grain’ of plywood does not make for the strongest joint – the risk is that the plywood will split under load along the glue lines of the laminate.

To make this simple piece, made from 18mm birch ply, I used dowels to provide a cross grain hold for the screws.

I used the same sized dowel to plug the counterbored screw holes. With hindsight, smaller plugs would have been better, I think.

Anyway, here it is:

I have a few coats of clear varnish to apply, and then I am looking forward very much to seeing some photos of Lily trying this out.