Normally gunsmithing class runs from eight to three. This week we’re making up snow days, so it’s eight to five — today I spent two extra hours at the lathe. Now my ass is dragging while my fiancée grabs us sushi for dinner (it’s actually kinda hard to complain when I have a partner in life as good as her). If you’ve never stood at a lathe, it looks simple from a distance. Steel spins. Tool advances. Chips fall. Up close, it’s constant decision-making. Do I take another pass?

I Need a Rotary: A Journey of Creation and Reflection I need a rotary to hold steel barrels for engraving. These barrels are heavy, and most rotaries for laser engraving are cheap. The Creality Falcon 2 40W is all I have in this economy, but I am determined to make it work. I’m a pessimistic-toned masochistic optimist. I can see all the ways I might fail, yet I’ll still be back tomorrow, wearing a dumb expression and asking for more. More Than Machines This project—and everyt

Clear Vision Doesn't Exist Without at Least a Little Light: A Journey with Dirt Farmer Industries The Early Hours of Inspiration My fiancée is reminded of this every morning between 3–5 AM when I wake up for my most productive part of the day: twilight to sunrise. She knows I can't help my restlessness—my dreams are too big to fit in my head. They are usually scribbled on countless St. Jude notepads scattered throughout the house and shop. It's that restlessness and ambition

It’s probably been about 14 years since I wrote my last blog entry. Some of you might remember the old blog I kept while living in Slovakia; it was an emotional, sometimes humorous, sometimes dark exploration of a recent college grad navigating the Great Recession living and volunteering in an unfamiliar world with unfamiliar words. It was a place to document and process the work I was doing, the mission I was called to, and the lessons in humility and grace I was learning al