Welcome to the house.

I'm into a lot of stuff. There are so many cool things out there, how can I not be. I'm a recently reignited writer, amateur carver, fledgling black smith, wannabe vintage bike builder, sometime scrap artist, and all around scrounger. The proverbial jack you have heard so much about.

What do these things all have in common? Simple, the fine art that is creating something from next to nothing. Call it up-cycling, trash to treasure, scrapping, eco-living or whatever else they are calling it now.

I sum it up in my online moniker "CrescentSon". In British heraldic traditions the eldest son inherited the fathers coat of arms. The second born took a symbol, a crescent, called a mark of cadency to distinguish his crest from his father's, and went out into the world to make his own name and fortune. Crescent Son is the embodiment of being that second born son, given little, and sent out to make what we may with it.

That's what I do. I scavenge, scrounge, and scrap from whatever is available, and make whatever comes into my little brain pan. Whether writing, building, or crafting, I start with nearly nothing and try to transform it into something useful.

I collect discarded tree trimmings from my neighborhood. That is where my carving wood comes from. I "mill" it down with basic tools and make spoons, bowls, plaques, cutting boards, magic wands, and... whatever might be handy.

My carving ax and knives were forged from files, springs, cable, and saw blades whose lives were otherwise over. My forge is a re-purposed water heater tank. My "bellows" started life as a vacuum motor. My anvil is a 3' piece of rail road track.

It constantly amazes me what can be made with raw resources, or what has been discarded by society. I feel compelled to share that with whoever might be interested, and hope to pick up whatever I can from those with something to offer. In a world where everything is engineered for planned obsolescence and made in a industrial factory by people who hate their jobs, nothing makes me happier than seeing the enjoyment one gets from making something  in the humblest settings that is intended to last. As we go along I hope to share what I find interesting with a group of like minded folks who are focused on using meager resources to scratch together a life worth loving.

I think the universal consciousness is beginning to shift towards those of us who don't need the latest, greatest, or newest to be happy. All it takes is what you already have, a bit of readily available knowledge, and the time that would just be wasted elsewhere.