Menno Simmons, Our New House, and Selling My First Plane

Menno Simmons, Our New House, and Selling My First Plane

Lately I've been curious about the origins of the movement encouraged by Menno Simmons. I've been very interested in the documents that came from the meetings of his peers whether Mennonite or Swiss Brethren. 

You can find links here to those documents.  

http://www.gameo.org/library

My deepest interest like I said is with the early history. I've tried reading a variety of Menno's early writings and I think I just haven't found the right ones yet. Most of what I have found so far has only been fluff meant to encourage his followers or has been brief paragraphs about "the ban".  His most thorough writing I've found thus far has been about the educating of children, there is no mention of college. Menno's educational references are all made towards the word of God. 

I've only begun to read, so if I find any interesting pieces I will bring them to your attention. 

Here is a link where you can specifically find Menno's writings. 

http://m.ccel.org/

Simply do a search for "Menno" and you will find anything you are looking for. 

Menno was known as a prolific writer, so there is a fair chance that I just haven't found his "meat and potatoes" yet.  

It's surprised me with what I have found that he can write so much and say nothing, but yet clearly he has had an enormous affect on Christian history. I'm certain there are writings I am missing or perhaps better translations. 

Our New House

Last weekend we received our appliances so now our house is a home! All of our furniture is in as well. Now we just need to take over the rest of our library and we will be set. 

I do unfortunately have to update that during the move Elizabeth Ann's loom was damaged and will not be usable until I am able to repair it. I'll try to remember to do a post on it. Including pictures. 

Hand Plane Making

I've not yet even begun to make and sell wooden hand planes yet, but I have already "sold" one to a good buddy of mine. It's a good motivation booster and also encourages me all the more to leave truck driving. 

Well with all things in our life, everything is very fluid. We'll try to keep you updated. 

Michael E McCartan

A Poor Update

A Poor Update

Alot has happened in the last 4 months. We've been so busy between my driving for a living, moving into our house, and everything else in-between. 

Elizabeth Ann is still healthy with our child. Everyone save a lone individual is certain that the gender is male. We'll see coming the first week of May or so. 

Elizabeth is eagerly looking forward to her homebirth. 

It seems that aside from one weeks break, all of my weeks driving have been spent going to Pennsylvania. Ordinarily I would enjoy this, but the routine has become less than pleasant due to weather and rushing to get home by the weekend. 

It looks like I'll be able to leave driving in another month. I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish by April 16th so that when I have to go renew my license I can have it changed to a civilian license instead of commercial. That way I won't be able to go back to driving. 

I'll be staying home to watch our child. It's not the way we prefer things to be, but being the first generation to convert requires us to make some sacrifices as our name's first plain family. 

My sons will not be put in this situation as they will have learned a trade before they marry. 

I have so much to tell about woodworking news that I am disappointed that I can't even leave a teaser! It would leave to many questions! 

Bottom line is that I've made many new and good connections and have also acquired many new books and tools. I will try so hard to keep an inventory for this blog once I am home fulltime. 

This blog will be much more active once I am home. 

I am very encouraged that I will have a two car garage to use as my woodworking shop. It will have all the room I'll need for anything I pursue.  

Elizabeth and I are not your typical plain people. I think as the blog goes along you will learn more about that. 

Just one unique example, Elizabeth and I both believe that through proper diet that the body is able to restore health to the teeth. 

We'll explain how and tell you about our discoveries/realizations as we have them. 

Elizabeth will be making some bone broth pretty soon, I'll try to get a blog entry out of it. The idea is to use the marrow to strengthen your own bones. 

There is much more to strengthening your teeth than this, but it is one example of a much greater picture.  

Orchard!

Our property has .8 of an acre. It's not alot but it is plenty of room to have a small orchard. Something great for us is that it already has a fruit bearing peach tree! We've not yet decided on what trees we will have but we will need to decide soon as the time to make an order has come!

A small update on our chickens. We've still got only two, both of which molted and are no longer producing eggs. Once I am home fulltime and we can let them out of the coop more, we will see if they resume laying eggs. If they don't, then their fate becomes questionable as chickens are not intended to be pets for anyone but children. 

We'll post some pictures of them, they are both very fat now and could use some good sunlight. 

We apologize for the absence of photos on our blog, it's not out of principal but rather that most times we are updating our blog from our cell phones which often causes us trouble. We have many photos we'd like to upload and will in due time once we figure out how to reliably. 

Lord Bless!

I've got several ideas for topics of theological discussion that I'd like to touch on. Once again, that may be a while. We'll see

Sorry

I apologize for the lack of new content. Work has been more than steady and we are still adjusting to some of our life changes.

If we haven't mentioned it yet, we are now down to two chickens. One is Baldy and the other is a Red Star. They seem to be getting along like the best of buds. Both are molting though so we currently have no egg supply. Unfortunately the three other chickens we had with Baldy got picked off one by one by a hawk so we had to find some company for her quickly. Livestock tends to not do well when isolated. Due to the threat of the hawk we kept Baldy in the coop 24/7. She wasn't used to this and it's actually still the case till we can come up with a solution that works for us.

I'd really like to elaborate about what's going on in my woodworking world but really don't feel like I can do it justice till I am home all the time. My tool collection is steadily increasing as is my library. What is deeply lacking is me getting the experience I need and that will only come with me leaving truck driving permanently.

Today I was able to visit a Woodcraft store. I was pleased to see how inexpensive some lumber is, though I still think that I would feel compelled to order what I wanted instead of purchasing what's in-stock. I looked around at the tools they had for sale and it really made me comfortable with the selection I have.

My next two greatest priorities with woodworking involve a new bench and a milling machine. More will be sure to come after that like a table saw and perhaps a band saw. My choices will really be determined by how much work I have of what types.

Once my bench has been made or ordered my next focus will shift to making a Trying plane. Once I have made it I will have all the planes I need to thickness stock. My focus will then promptly shift to a need for a moving fillister. I'll need it for when I make boxes. It helps in making a rabbet around the bottom to raise the interior into the box. It all helps with the gluing surface as well. Depending on how lids are made a moving fillister can help with them as well. Usually the moving fillister will remove the bulk of the material and a rabbet or shoulder plane will come in and more accurately remove the rest. These tools are a real treasure to use.

I've got alot of experience that I need. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm only 29, so many times I think I'm 59 and the clock is ticking. Truth is I'm fine and have plenty of time ahead of me. Of course at this point having sufficient time to read the quantity of material I would like, would also help alot in advancing my "career". I'm not sure what my future holds, only what I would like to do.

Lord bless you in your path

Michael

First Real Woodworking Post, Insufficient…

I've felt conflicted this month. I've wanted to post some more about how complacent Christians are with witchcraft and magic, but have been to distracted lately with some life-changes that are happening with Elizabeth and me. So the only other thing that enters my mind at these times-other than prayer-is woodworking.

I'm not an expert or even an amateur by any measure but I know its in my blood and I can't ignore it regardless of how much I try. My greatest obstacle to becoming a better and to be honest "marginally relevant" woodworker is truck driving. When I'm done driving I will live in my shop 24/7. As things are now I've currently cached a workable staff of various tools and sharpening equipment.

On most weekends I am now either forced to skip a trip to my shop or if I am fortunate I am able to weasel in three or four quick passing hours. It goes too quickly. Most times it's doing small stuff like making a sidebead moulding on some poor piece of "furniture grade" oak that wouldn't pass even the most desperate furniture makers test or I could be doing something as simple as I did last weekend. I sharpened a chisel.

I'll say it again. All I did was sharpen a chisel. But as any beginning woodworker will proudly tell you, this is a very transformative time. When a man can go from simply using an edge tool to also being able to maintain and sharpen it-it is an enormous rush of potential. Anyone that has attempted to sharpen in the past may have experienced what I call the "false sharp". This is when you believe that you have sharpened your tool and begin to use it and the edge life only lasts a matter of short minutes if even that long. When you graduate from that to being able to use your freshly sharpened tool for over twenty minutes that is an ego boost like non-other. It's almost as exciting as the first time you thicknessed a board solely with hand tools. It's a talent and a skill that is an honor to own and maintain.

You may be wondering why I'm not spending my time with my pals in Eureka learning to make handplanes. Well the simple answer is that they really have taught me what they can without me really getting experience on my own. I've seen and learned alot from them. Now it's time for me to sink or swim. Albeit I have to wait till I am done driving truck. It's a tough situation to be in. But I know with certainty that the clock is ticking.

I'll try my best to take some photos of my limited tool collection. I'm sure you guys would like that. It might answer some questions or perhaps create more.

I really appreciate my teachers. I owe them alot. I wouldn't be where I am now or have had the experiences I've had, had it not been for them.



With regards to sharpening, I will concede that I do still have alot to learn about various stones and which orders to best use them in. Convex and concave edges also present a new trick when solely using stones and not electric systems.

To make it simple on yourself just use a medium or corse India stone, and a fine Arkansas with a DMT diamond stone to flatten with. Initially it may seem expensive but you will have these pieces in your sharpening arsenal for ages.

At this point I have two things going against my sharpening escapades, #1 inadequate lighting in my  shop and #2 I'd like some sticks that have a 25 degree bevel on one end and 5 degrees more on the other. This is fine and typical for most irons and chisels. But feel free to experiment once you have experience. FYI I'm not there yet- Yet. The only caveat to offer really is that the steeper either of the angles or both angles are, the shorter the edge-life.

I wish you well with your sharpening escapades, Lord Bless You

Colonial Williamsburg And The Shaker Village

Last month Elizabeth and I took our first vacation in our married life. It took more than five years to make it happen but it was very worth it. We decided to focus our ten days off on several things. The first was an annual flea market. It had about six or seven thousand people in attendance but the lack of quality made it almost not worth mentioning let alone saying its name or location.

The second and greatest focus of our trip was going to Colonial Williamsburg located in the state of Virginia.

For any person interested in living off the land as a homesteader and living without electricity, visiting this place is a necessity if you can arrange it. For me it really put everything into focus with regards to intracommunity dependence when living this lifestyle. We as guys and women may like to think that we can do everything on our own but the truth is that we can't. We really do need to be a part of a community. It's also important that we bring a unique skill to the community for two reasons, the first is that we all need money to survive, the second is that for the next generation to learn the skills they need, they must have a teacher of the trade they want to follow. Whether the trade is weaving, shoemaking, tinsmithing, cabinetry, etc, etc. There is a multitude of possible trades out there but experienced craftsmen and women are rare in today's world.

The premis of Colonial Williamsburg is that it is supposed to be as identical as is practical to visiting Williamsburg in the years around 1750-1780. They have a multitude of craftsmen and great period correct architecture.

We spent three days there, we completely exploited it for all that we could get out of it and we were satisfied with that many days. However, to get the most out of your trip you will absolutely have to plan everything, with regards to days that the craftsmen are operating and also proximity to each other. We also suggest that if it's your first trip there that you first ride the bus they have around the perimeter of the campus, it will save you some sore legs.

I could go on and on about specific trades and what we saw, but nothing can do justice. We will be posting pictures in the coming weeks.

The third place we visited was The Shaker Village south of Louisville Kentucky. Once again absolutely stunning. Fortunately this is a place you can get all you need of in one day. The architecture will wow you. It really makes you wonder why more structures arnt made from stone today. I could go on and on about the productivity and genious of the Shakers but in order to really understand you really do need to visit their former community. It is no longer active as a community however it is a history preservation.

We took plenty of photos of all our vacation, we'll try our best to do it justice. If you have any questions just ask!

Raising Chickens

When our four ladies first made it to the farm last summer, I spent hours sitting in the sun watching them. Now that the temperature has dropped and the spring rains of Arkansas have started, I do not spend so much time with them.   Our coop is a simple A-frame with no artificial lighting. Although we may be losing out on egg production, we feel that all creatures deserve a rest and if God intended them to stop laying when the number of sunny hours decreases then so be it. Interesting enough, egg production ceased only for about two weeks in mid-December.

Now that January is almost over, I am back up to four eggs a day. I am already back into baking/hard boiling mode and desperately giving them away.   Even with the temperature dropping below the freezing mark, our girls stayed nice and warm bundled up in their straw. They did lose some weight, but they are looking better than ever with their feathers coming in. When Michael brought them home for me, their backs were bald from an over-zealous rooster. The worst of the bunch was our Barred Rock, “Baldy.” She feathered out quicker than the others and now we have a hard time telling the two apart!

Baldy

Chicken projects for this summer include attaching wheels to the coop and constructing a type of detachable outdoor pen. The first, will make it much easier to move. The second will give the chickens more room to dig and graze. Unfortunately, with all the wandering neighborhood dogs, we cannot let our chickens out during the day unattended.

What this blog is about....

This blog will be a place for us to post information about homesteading, sewing for plain men and women, non-electric woodworking and biblical studies.