tripping over obvious solutions

The answers might be right under your feet

I have a problem.

I love carving wooden spoons.

It’s a good problem to have.

I begin with a piece of firewood, ideally a bit green and unready to burn.

I whittle.

If I’m successful, I have a spoon.

If unsuccessful, I have kindling for next year.

Win / win.

I wanted to make some improvements.

Unsure of what to do I set out shopping.

Scroll saws?

Band saws?

Those could be useful to cut out the shape.

Build a traditional English shaving horse?

I spent hours clicking links and making comparisons.

Then, I went into my workshop. It was there that the answer became obvious. The answer was so obvious that I tripped over it.

On the floor of my workshop, there’s an old vice that was once part of the workbench in the house. It is a massive, heavy and hard to adjust hunk of iron.

It seemed too big for my current bench. Besides that, there didn’t seem to be a place to attach it.

That old vice of mine never worked properly. The bolts were too long. The clamp was imprecise and didn’t release well.

With nothing to loos…