What I brought back and update

If I told you I did not brought back any tool, would you believed me? Probably not... :-)

But like I said earlier, while I shop for woodworking related tools and products in the States, I tend to stick to stuff I don't see here back home in Canada or a good sale. I find that on average there are no big price differences, after accounting for the exchange rate. Power tools are a different story, but I'm a Galoot...

So truly, the only WW things I brought back from Buffalo was a wood steam bending kit from Rockler and a Fine Woodworking DVD, from Michael Fortune on making a garden chair.

My only WW related purchases in the States

I quickly look for flea markets in the Buffalo area but it was on Week End only and we arrived and left on a Sunday. I had plans to drive thru the Eastern sea board and hit the Tool barn and others mecca, but changes of plans to accommodate visits took precedence's.

But fear not, I made up for it, upon our return came across a few find in my regular local flea markets places this past Week End.

This past week end finds

Mind you my tool budget right now is severely crippled by my high taxes bill this year Grrr...
So will have to cool it off for a while...

We Canadian Veterans are currently in a fight with our government over benefits owe us for our injuries suffered while serving. Not all injuries are visible... After more than 10 years in Afghanistan we have LOTS of injured veterans...
A visibly frustrated Prime Minister Trudeau was quoted saying to a vet during a Town hall discussion this past February, that Quote  Veterans are asking for more than we can give right now  Unquote.
So I send a partial payment to the more than $4,000 I owe in taxes (over some benefits) with a short note: You are asking me more than I can give you right now... :-(

That comment from our PM as really touched a raw nerve with us vets

End of Canadian Political rant, we now return to our normal woodworking blogging in progress

So what about these new to me antiques I picked up?
2 Chisels:

A pair of Stanley 750s, one (1) inch and half (1/2) inch

for $5

Yes the one inch has a greatly damaged handle,

but Heh, it's wood, I can make a new one :-)

1 plane:

A Record No 3 with a replacement front knob and a make shift bolt/nut

for $8. Blade is full length

Good solid bones

Original Rosewood tote

Complete water transfer decal on top 

Sticker on one sidewall says something like:

Canadian Mar... Company.

Guessing a distributor marks?

And yes, the ubiquitous white paint droppings on the tool.

Never understood why white seems to be the preferred color splotches on tools :-)

and 3 saws:

A St-Catherine On (Smith?) back saw, precursors to what became Shurley-Dietrich & Atkins in the 1930s. I paid $20 for it, my most expensive purchase :-)

The seller had a date of 1887 on it, but that is for the patent date

for the Grover saw nut patent (Like a Chicago bolt)

The tooth line is in remarkable order, not messed up

Fits my hand like a glove (The first thing I always check when buying a saw)

It is a 12 inch saw, small tenon saw

Another back saw, this time a more modern Disston, 14 inch backsaw guessing roughly 50s, 60s (?)

Solid saw, will make a good user. Pretty blocky handle, may make a new one someday (??)

Not bad for $4, I'm happy

And lastly, an older Disston hand saw, for $1, who could resist, and no I did not haggle over the asking price :-)

It is a rather small saw at 22 inch long, complete with the original saw nib still present

The handle shows signs of wind/rain erosion, the way the wood grain is worn off.

And yes, fit my hand just right. Probably another candidate for a re-handle job.

Tooth line is straight and in remarkable good shape

Meanwhile, we transplanted some trees on our property. Some ornamental "bushes" are growing too big, too fast too close to foundation, so out they went.

One tree, now out on front

The other, flowering on the right was also moved in this location

The new garden plot were I dumped the extra top soil from my fire pit installation

has now been rototilled (ouch my back)

Found the time for a quick get away to the woodshop to finally made progress on my infamous Boring till project. Got my two hardwood dividers cut to size and drilled all the holes on the drill press. Now just need to cut the slots, apply a finish on them then screw them in, attach till to wall on its French cleats, load it with tools and Tada, almost done I'll say :-)

While we were away we had two frost warnings texts, and since coming back, we keep getting frost at night,  most night lately it seems... It is murder on our gardens. Turned furnace back on yesterday to drive the chill out in the house. Daytime temps reach high teens sometimes low 20s.

That poor tree did not took to the chill easily... 

The cherry tomatoes plant that we started this winter inside, was doing fine

transplanted outside until all these frost came. There are signs of green shoots in the middle, so not quite dead yet (??) The Cana plants are also severely damaged, sigh.

So there you go, you are now catch up on our happenings around the Casa Chaos :-)

Bob, who should start dividing my tools into separate piles for my son's tool kits, to see what I have and still need (?)

Back from Buffalo, New York

As mentioned recently, we went to Buffalo NY for the combined American and Canadian African Violets Societies convention.

This was only my second visit there, I went thru quickly back in 1979 while I was attending AF trade training nearby in Ontario.

A dramatic re-enactment of my first visit there :-)

Don't think they had my beer back then...

Due to its geographic location near the famed Niagara falls, which prevented ship traffic across, Buffalo quickly established itself as a large and prosperous trade center. For example: All grain shipments from the west by ships  had to be stored in Buffalo for trans shipment into barges via the Erie canal in order to go around the falls. By the turn of the 20th century (1900) there was more millionaires in Buffalo than anywhere else in the USA. They mostly built their mansions along the same road which was nicknamed Millionaires row.
Buffalo fortunes would declined rapidly after the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway  in 1959  along the coasts of Ontario Canada and the US, allowing large ships to access the Great lakes from the Atlantic via the new canals (Seaway). This will render the Erie canal essentially obsolete and numerous American cities along that canal would see a decline in their economic activities.

Today Buffalo is making an economic comeback and they are revitalizing the downtown areas, including along the harbour sides and the Erie canal.
For a city of its size and its long economic center status, I was surprised that there was not much woodworking related around. All I found in my googling was a Rockler woodworking store

The Rockler store in Buffalo.

Bought a few things...

When woodworking related shopping in the US, I mostly will look for unique products not available back home at LV for example. Prices wise, I don't see big difference (after currency exchange) so unless on sale or unique, I'll pass.... (usually :-)
The only other woodworking supplies store which shows up in my search, besides a few wood and veneers suppliers, was  the Woodworker Club house, which bill itself as a community woodshop , but has for sale some of the regular shop supplies and a selection of woods

Love the signage at the door.

Our tools... Your shop

They have a large selection of woods

and a small assortments of shop supplies, glue, screws, biscuit, clamps etc

A very large and well equipped wood shop

Handling large man made sheet goods? No problems

They have a Saw stop and a good old Delta Unisaw

Laguna bandsaws

And of course the ubiquitous owner's shop dog :-)

Quite an impressive operation. Spacious, well equipped with good machinery, most of the small supplies to keep you going. Proper orientation and safety introduction to the machinery is carried out by an obligatory course before granting access to the shop. Similar to what we do at my woodworking club.  Yes mostly a power tools shop, but there are a few hand tools guy working in there, including one who seems to possess one of every tools ever made by Lie-Nielsen :-)
If you live near by, you ought it to yourself to check it out!

Not far from the infamous Millionaire row, was a sprawling house complex known as the Darwin  Martin house.  That house is remarkable in two ways.  It is the only house on the street not lining up with the street curb, rather it is aligned properly on the sun cardinal points, and perhaps more obvious, it is markedly different from every houses around.  Surrounded in a sea of Tudor and Queen Anne houses this one is screaming, look at me, I'm different.

If you haven't guessed it yet, it is a house which the American architect who built it, called his Opus.
His name? NO less than Frank Lloyd Wright....

We took the one hour tour, which was part of a tour packages we did from the convention.
Quite the interesting tour. Only whishes we had the two hour tour and explored the house more.

See how the house is skewed from the sidewalks?

It is aligned perfectly to play with the sun position throughout the day and the seasons.

Frank was a very peculiar man, he did not just designed you a house, he designed everything: The landscape and how the house interact with it, the furniture inside (often built in so the occupants would not move it and lose "his vision".  He did not like square box, so every room seems to flow into the next one, and the walls are non - bearing, some of the outside walls are topped with glass. The trick he used is from his knowledge of building of sky scraper. A steel structure is holding the building up, the outside walls can be sheeted with glass, they bear no load.

This house was the first residential house he built and he never had a fixed budget on it. Construction was from 1903 to 1905, in pure Frank form, nothing was left unintentional. The feel of the room, how the sun light change the projections thru the light screen (the term used by Frank instead of window)
The tree of life pattern on the top part of the glass, change its projection with the day and season as the sun hit at a lower angle. Would love to see that.  The overhang from the roof shield your eyes from the direct sun and protect from rain, you can leave the "light screen" upstairs open in a rain fall.

The Tree of life stain glass pattern is shown in this entrance porch picture.

Even the light fixtures are of Frank's design, no surface was left untouched by the master.

Shortly after the house was build, the enclosed portico / green house was added.

Of course Frank had to add some "architecture elements" to it.

Complete with a cast replica of a famous Greek sculpture.

Original was cast in plaster and suffered lots of damages.

This replica (using original molds) is cast in Fiberglass reinforced cement, should last longer

The lady of the house was a bit disappointed in the lack of room in her greenhouse addition, so she later added a "regular" greenhouse . Frank offered to put in some of his touches into it,

but she declined, citing they have enough of architecture elements around. 

The gardener house shown in the back has been renovated and will open soon, in front is were the original greenhouses are being rebuilt

I bet you would never guess the use of these posts in the yard, there are four.

They are... Clothesline post a la Frank... I kid you not.

And since Frank did not built basement in his houses, when the owner insisted he needed one, Frank compromised and build him an elaborate room called the Ball room (not a basement).  He must had unknowingly have started the Man cave obsession we have today :-)

Strongly recommend this tour if you are around.  Quite the house and contains a few woodworking surprises inside. Sadly you can only take pictures inside on a special tour, so I could not.

Before heading to the botanical garden as part of this tour, we stopped at the original place were the famous Buffalo wings came from.

Who knew? Buffalo wings came from Buffalo! :-)

There are two other Frank Lloyd Wright legacy in Buffalo.
The first one was the commercial building he build for the Larkin Soap company (Darwin D Martin worked and made his fortune at this company). Truly an innovative building way ahead of his time but unfortunately, fell behind in taxes dues, was abandoned for years, fell in disrepairs and was demolished. Only a small part of a wall remains to remind us of what was once a masterpiece.

The Larkin soap administrative building.

Built 1903 demolished 1950

In this short computer recreation you can walk around and see inside the building to give you a senses of its grandeur. What an awesome building it was...

The other legacy left in town was a complete set of blue prints for a gas station he designed but which was never built.

Inside the new Buffalo Transportation museum, part of the Pierce Arrow museum, you will find a complete reproduction built as per Frank design. It truly was and remain a "quite different" gas station.
Frank believed that you should refresh yourselves and feel at home in the lounge area while you car is being attended to.  Full service anyone?

My car parked in front of the Pierce Arrow museum

A picture of a bike from Ken's youth :-)

Frank's ideas of a gas station.

Just like the client thought at the time, it was not cheap to built...

and here is my car awaiting fueling,

looks like in 1940 (minus the bugs stuck in front :-)

Of course no visit in Buffalo can go without a cruise on the harbour side. That was the other tour package which we did.

It was an enjoyable 3 hours cruise with a good spread of food and cash bar.

The harbour difference between the once busy industrial harbour side on the right,

the downtown core to the left

Sun set on (or toward) lake Erie

The Peace bridge between the USA and Canada in the background

And back to dock a block or two from our hotel

Now if you'll excuse me Rudy is getting antsy about something...

Recognized him?

Ah Ha its not a Squirrel, its a Chipmunk

Bob, singing, Who let the dogs out, who, who :-)

Another deed done...

Heather was an avid African violet grower, and she was hoping to make it to one more African Violet Society of Canada (AVSC) convention, in Calgary AB 2016, to see her violets friends one last time..

Heather at her first big show, the Ottawa AVS show of 2003.

She won big and the rest is history... 

Sadly that was not to be, and she passed away at home while the convention show was being judged.
To everyone amazement, the second best in show was a plant that was hybridized by Heather, called Demers Fundy fog, a trailer which was grown by her good friend Dr Bill Price from Vancouver BC.

Heather and Bill at the AVSC convention of 2006 held in Ottawa.

Heather was then president of the OAVS and organized the convention.

Bill was the then president of the AVSC

As it became quickly obvious that she would not make it to go see our violet friends, I promised her that I would go to the next convention for her, to say her goodbyes.  Canadian conventions are every two (2) years).

Well this year, in 2018, they had a joint Canadian and American violets societies convention (AVSC & AVSA) in Buffalo NY. Bonus, I would be able to see more of our friends.
When we lived in Ottawa Ontario, she was not only a member of her local club, Ottawa AVS but also NY State AVS. She used to entered plants everywhere on both sides of the border it seems :-)

Being a joint convention, I also thought that it would be the perfect place to introduce a new award in her memory; The Heather Demers Memorial Award for the best Canadian origination.  In other words, the best of the plants originating from Canada entered in the show.

This year, the first award went to her good friend Dr Bill Price from Vancouver BC with a plant called Demers Pixie Bell, another trailer from Heather.

In a show of 600 plants, this plant won second best in show

and totalized US $410 in award prizes.

To say that it was a bit emotional for me and Bill would be a gross under estimation...

Dr Bill Price holding Heather's plant.

Sorry for the soft focus, was a tad teary eyes...

Demers's Pixie Bell

Best In Class, Best Trailer in show, Best Canadian origination, including Heather Memorial,

and second best in show. I was both proud and humbled and yes sad that she missed it all...

So yeah, there you go Heather, I said your goodbyes for you. All is good, you are remembered fondly...

Jean and I are both members of the First Halifax African Violets Society, and so we were both part of the Nova Scotia delegation that attended, all from our club. It was Jean first African Violets convention.
For me I have been to quite a few of these but it was the first time that I travelled to one without any show plants... So much easier to travel...:-)

The convention was at the Marks Hotel on the harbour side of Buffalo, from the 20 to 27 of May.
We drove and stopped at friends and family along the way up and down. A big thank you to my military brothers and sisters, you guys and gals are the best.  Love you.

Sadly in our travels, we had to make a few emotional visits.  A good friend is slowly losing his wife to cancer. She is in palliative care at home, like Heather did.  I can so related to what I know he is going thru, hang in there buddy... We stopped both ways to have a good visit, which meant not much time for other visits, but we of course spend some time with our sons in Ontario.

We could not take Rudy with us, so he stayed with Jean's mother, Rose, who just happened to have a small poodle Diva, who is currently Rudy girlfriend's :-)
The two of them had lots of fun and Rudy was not pissed at us when we came back. That's a relief. He was never separated from us for two weeks before.

Rudy's girlfriend Diva

The two of them caught kissing on the couch :-)

When we went south in the Caribbean this past winter for a week, he was pissed at us when we came back. It took a visit from the grand daughters to bring him back normal.  Relieved it was all good this time around.  Besides Diva, Rose, Butch and Carla also kept him occupied I don't think he missed us too much, but he was happy to see us back this time.. .

Next, I will tell you about what woodworking related discoveries I made in my travels, and yes brought a few things back to add to my coll...errr... assortments of tools

You know you travelled thru New Brunswick late Spring, early Summer

when you bring back a fine collection (or a large assortments :-) of bugs.

The Trans Canada Hwy runs close to the St John river.

Bob, still scrubbing away bugs from the car