Oyster Box

Hi all,
I'm finally making some headway with the oyster box. The base is done; it was cut out with the scroll saw set to a small angle and then sanded on the belt sander and by hand.

I am now working on the lid, which is made up in layers like this. These were the first three layers glued with wood glue and clamped. I have also done a bit of rough sanding on the belt sander to reduce the corners on the second layer to see how it looks.

Here I have put the last two tears on the lid and, although it looks a little bit like an ugly duckling now, I'm confident that it will turn into a beautiful swan.

I will show it you in my next post.

When I was doing this oyster box it brought back memories of my time as a "Reluctant Pom" in Australia when 16 years old. An Aussie friend of mine had heard that a shell fish called Abalone was worth a lot of money to high end eating places in Melbourne. He said he knew where to find some, so off we went Abalone fishing with two kitchen knives and bucket.

If you would like to find out how we got on with this money making caper, you can find out for free if you download a copy of the book, "The Reluctant Pom" from Amazon on either the 31st of March or the 1st of April.

To get your free copy, click on the books tab at the top of the page and then click on the book's cover. Please enjoy.

Buns

Hi all,
I will be doing a scroll sawing and pyrography post soon now that the weather is warming up. I have done a bit of work in the workshop recently and have made an extractor for when I'm sanding with my rotary tool. I made it from an old washing up bowl and a brush attachment from the vacuum cleaner. My wife won't find out because she is a stranger to the hoover. Anyway, I will show you the finished article in my next post.

What I wanted to share with you today was a couple of things to do with buns. Tomorrow is Good Friday, so I decided to have a go at making some hot cross buns in the bread maker that my wife got me for Christmas. I kid you not, I have been making all our own bread this year and very good it is too. The bread maker cost only £50 and I would recommend it to anybody. It is so easy to make a loaf, it saves money, you know what ingredients went into making it and it tastes amazing.

Here is a photo of one of my loaves.

Not bad looking even if I do say so myself. The hot cross buns I made today don't look bad either although I think I could have used a better recipe.

The other bun I wanted to tell you about is my second book in the Fishing Detectives series, "Bun In The Oven" is free today and tomorrow (24th and 25th March 2016) to download from Amazon.

To get your free download, just click on the books tab at the top of the page and click on the book. I hope you enjoy it over the Easter hols.

A Staffordshire Boy, Free Copy

Hi, just a quick between post to let my regular readers know that "A Staffordshire Boy" is free to download from Amazon today and tomorrow (17th and 18th March) please grab a free copy. This is the first time I have offered this book for free on Amazon, so please enjoy.

To get your free download, click on the books tab at the top of the page and then on the book cover.

Good News

Hi all,
I've got good news and bad news. First the bad news. I'm afraid I'm going to have to increase the price of my books, I have been selling them at silly prices that couldn't last forever.

The good news is that I am doing it slowly by changing the price of one book each week. The other good news is that several of my books that have never been available for free on Amazon will be doing exactly that in the future.

This new regime will start today with a price increase on "The Fishing Detectives: Carp Rustlers."

However, for those of you who are following this blog, you will find "Carp Rustlers" will be free to download from the 9th until the11th of March, so please grab a copy while you can.

"Carp Rustlers" is the first of three books in the "Fishing Detectives" series so it make sense to offer that one for free first. The other two books in the series will have their prices increase shortly so if you would like them at rock bottom prices, please download them soon.

If you are wondering why there isn't any news on the scroll sawing or pyrography front, it's because there isn't any. My work shop is still colder than an Eskimo's mitt and I'm not working in there till it warms up a bit.