A Thin Veneer — Mindful Tooling (Part 2)

| February 16, 2026

The brace of knives laid out in the photo at the top of this piece are representative of those familiar to fishermen who crewed salt bank schooners sailing out of Nova Scotia and other East Coast ports at a time when wind and muscle propelled human endeavour beyond the thin veneer. Much of value can […]

A Thin Veneer — Mindful Tooling (Part 1)

| February 11, 2026

In maintaining life on the other side of the Thin Veneer, only True Tools, both the hard (technology) and the soft (skills), are carried. Which ones will depend on the environment, the job, the doer of it, alone or in company, and what interval of time and space will inform readiness for “self-rescue”, a now […]

A Thin Veneer — Birth of a New Companion

| February 1, 2026

Today we will look exclusively at the birth of my own khukuri, beginning with why I commissioned it to be made in the form that it is, and following it through the process as it was dutifully reported to me at every stage. My overall reasons that drove choosing it for integration into my garniture […]