The next day we were off to see woodworking friend- Ellis Walentine -Host of WoodCentral.com. I would have made a run to see Sagamore Hill-Teddy Roosevelt's home but I scheduled this trip pretty tight and we needed to get across NY City traffic. We made our way through Brooklyn to the Verrazano Bridge and crossed over to Staten Island.
We spent the afternoon and evening at WoodCentral Headquarters.
Ellis gave us the GRANDE tour ---I'd show you more but as they say in the military "I'd have to shoot ya"
We spent time in the shop. Here is the boss testing out one of the new Lee Valley Low angle block planes.
He got the shavings under a thousandth of an inch
There was ample opportunity to try several planes but I will not talk about my usage of the planes-
What happens in Ellis's shop stays in Ellis's Shop :^)
Many of us know Ellis as the Host of WoodCentral. But if that is your only comprehension of this man you are missing out on the depth of his experience and knowledge of the world of Woodworking. He had a very terrible fire destroy his shop several years ago.
A bit before crossing the bridge we glanced to the right and had a distant view of the Statue of Liberty. It was inspiring to see no matter the distance.
He has since re-built the shop over the old foundation and it is a woodworkers treat. What he can't re-build are the hundreds -maybe thousands of shop and project drawings and pictures that were lost in the fire.
We did go through a photo album of some of the work Ellis built back in his days operating his company-Woodrose . Some truly remarkable projects- including furniture-custom cabinetry and terrific built-ins.
Among the pieces we saw at WC headquarters were these two pieces you can find on the contest page of Woodcentral. The wall cabinet has a clever child-proof latch.
When not webmastering or woodworking, Ellis is a born entertainer. Here he is with a guitar he made some years back from beautiful figured maple.
After a tour of the headquarters and the shop it was time for dinner. If Ellis ever decided to hang up the webmastering he could open a rib joint. Wow!
I was delighted to find out we were to be joined for dinner by another Woodcentral woodworker- Joanne Adler.
Our visit was topped off with a sweet serenade of dueling guitars and vocals from Ellis and Joanne.-Watch out Alison Krause!
Mitch and Patti Adler were our hosts.
Alas all good things come to an end and we had to leave to get to our B&B before our carriage turned back into a pumpkin.
Breakfast-
French Toast and Pears in caramalized sauce, fresh fruit, orange juice blended with yogurt banana and topped with cinnamon.
The inside has many antiques such as this Quartersawn Oak Sideboard and Carnival Glassware.
Check out the wide pine panels and deep hearth of the fireplace.
More wide pine boards in the floors.
......................and window sills.
The outside grounds were beautiful.
I loved the old smoke house near the barns.
From Frog Hollow Farm we moved on to visit George Dart aka "The Col" and then the Baltimore Furniture Show
I thought I'd throw in just a few shots of the place we stayed called Frog Hollow Farm- A Bed and Breakfast in an old stone farmhouse not far from this beautiful valley in SE Pennsylvania.
