2021

In December, I became the proud owner of a gorgeous petty knife (a chef’s small knife) handmade by Marcus Ranum. The blade has a grain on it, very similar to a burled wood grain, that is a byproduct from traces of carbon on welds in the original piece of wrought iron that was forged into the blade. The handle is made from Wenge wood, a super dense African hardwood, and it is trimmed with a resin-based ivory. If you are interested in seeing some of his work, do a quick Google search of Marcus and Badger Forge, and you can see pages of his fine craftsmanship. Marcus has also recently started turning wood bowls on his lathe. An average wood turner would make their product from whatever hunks of wood they could obtain from any nearby downed trees. Not Marcus! He sent me a photo of a beautiful bowl turned from “4,000 year old bog oak” that he acquired through a source in Ukraine. Marcus has been a craftsman since our days at Gilman, and it is nice hearing how he has been dedicating more regular time towards exercising his artistic muscles.

reported by Willy Moore '81

2020

I have been practicing to be a hermit for decades, so being forced to be a hermit has been a great big ‘who cares?’ for me. So far, so good.