Christmas has come early!

After some farm down time where we've been nearly entirely devoted to another project (details forthcoming soon, I promise), we received our early Christmas present today.  Its our timber framing tools!  We ordered these hand forged chisels from Barr Tools (check them out!).  These are heavy and well balanced chisels that should last several generations if properly cared for.

From left:  2" chisel, 1.5" chisel, corner chisel and slick.  The ruler on the right is a 2 foot ruler for scale.

The house plans are also coming along so we should be ready to start cutting timbers once this other project calms down a bit. 

In the meantime, we're studying up on organic grape growing so that we can get our mini-vineyard up and going next year (hopefully).  Winter is a great time for rest and getting ready.