Nice Things

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I think I once mentioned my favourite indigo dyed Levi’s sweater.

Here it is in comparison with my back-up one

[MJF9]

2 hours ago, Duke Mantee said:

How’s the flavour?

Really good mate... it helps that I used some quality beans from Friedhats... but, as Foxy said, it's a solid machine, pleasingly hand-powered too

[Double 0 Soul]

House plants anyone?

String of Hearts and Pachyphytum Compactum

My kid's Asparagus Fern

Mother-in-laws seat in vintage Hornsea pottery

Monstera

Prayer Plant

My kid's Marimo Moss Ball...sometimes it sinks

..I'm just germinating some mango seeds

I'll wrap them in wet paper towel till they sprout and plant them in some hipster muck

Let's see your mini-jungles...

[Spiraltoy]

Fun idea with the potted plants. I’ve got loads. Here’s one I got today. I think it’s a a Sulcorebutia rauschii f. violacidermis. Please correct me if I’m wrong, they didn’t know the scientific name at the nursery.

 

[Double 0 Soul]

Show us more!

[chicote]

Here’s a couple of my bigger houseplants:

Got this from my boss’s wife while they were moving house - she said it’s about 15 years old. Didn’t bat an eye about saying farewell to it; it had been growing in a dark corner of their kitchen for its entire life. New leaves have been exploding off of it for the past couple months, now that it’s directly under a skylight. The three plants over in the corner are all about a year old and grown from cuttings - they’re doing okay.

Over on the other side of my living room ive got a couple more plants - also a year old, but fertilized a bit more and put in better light. I used to carry them into the shower and run warm water over them for a few minutes every other week but now they’re getting a bit unwieldy to pick up.

This one makes a new leaf every week or so during its active season, I love the colour of them:

 

Got a few more in other places but the light from outside is too glaring for them to show up in photos. Maybe I’ll try and get some pictures of them later in the evening.

[Double 0 Soul]

Lovely place you have there @chicote the plants cartainly look happy.. damn you Americans and your year-round daylight!

The recent bike damage..  was you riding home from your boss's house with a giant plant under one arm by any chance?

 

[Cold Summer]

I recently "got into" making quality coffee after being interested but putting it off for years. I'm using:

• Timemore adjustable burr hand grinder
• Hario scale
• Aeropress
• Beans from a couple local roasters

So far I'm extremely pleased with the quality of coffee this is producing and it's easier and faster to make a good cup than I expected. I know lots of people are tempted to splurge on fancy espresso machines and other complex gear, but to be honest I'm not sure I've ever even had an espresso... I just want a good, black cup of coffee with no wacky process or stuff in it, so my setup does that quite nicely. I guess at some point I might get a fancier grinder, but only if I have problems arise with my current one, which seems pretty solid so far. I also enjoy the more "analogue" process of doing this all by hand and don't feel the need for expensive machines when I just want to make about a full mug of coffee at a time.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Cold Summer

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

1 hour ago, Cold Summer said:

I recently "got into" making quality coffee after being interested but putting it off for years. I'm using:

• Timemore adjustable burr hand grinder
• Hario scale
• Aeropress
• Beans from a couple local roasters

So far I'm extremely pleased with the quality of coffee this is producing and it's easier and faster to make a good cup than I expected. I know lots of people are tempted to splurge on fancy espresso machines and other complex gear, but to be honest I'm not sure I've ever even had an espresso... I just want a good, black cup of coffee with no wacky process or stuff in it, so my setup does that quite nicely. I guess at some point I might get a fancier grinder, but only if I have problems arise with my current one, which seems pretty solid so far. I also enjoy the more "analogue" process of doing this all by hand and don't feel the need for expensive machines when I just want to make about a full mug of coffee at a time.

Aeropress is nice, chemex (just a pourover with aggressive filter) is probably my favorite "analog" way of making coffee. But yea, you're set with what you have.

Once you grind your own beans, you're already most of the way there in making something tasty. That said, I'm mostly an espresso convert these days - machines are not cheap but a good espresso machine can be bought open box for less than some of the higher end do it all machines that make meh espressos at best. 

The reason I like espresso - it's self limiting. With pourover/drip black coffee I will sip it all day and drink too much. Espresso is consistent caffeine amount - it's also damn good. But Aeropress is pretty consistent too in that sense. If you haven't had espresso really should try it from a local shop though. A double espresso is less caffeine than a normal drip brew cup of coffee btw.

[Thanks_M8]

while we are on coffee again.

baratza encore electric coffee grinder

the do it all electric grinder we got. hand grinding is a bit of a hassle, especially in the morning, so this comes in very handy.

 

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

Yea I have to vouch for the electric if you've got stuff to do. But whole bean and attention to the brew temp/time/amount really gets you so far, and for not a lot of money - the rest is almost working on the margins.

Edited March 30, 2022 by AlientoyWorkmachine

[smoothsailor]

My wife is the plant keeper in our household. I do like them I have to say.

some “nice things” in the background that I showed off earlier

 

[zachary12]

What's the bike with the brooks?

[smoothsailor]

5 hours ago, zachary12 said:

What's the bike with the brooks?

Made it myself, on page 10 of thuis thread are some more pictures

[Duke Mantee]

Martin @ Sidewinder Apparel made this for me - cool as fuck

This qualifies on two counts because a) it’s a nice thing, and b) what Martin did is a nice thing

Edited May 2, 2022 by Duke Mantee

[beautiful_FrEaK]

So you bought 20 pairs of FW jeans just for this?!

 

 

[Double 0 Soul]

59 minutes ago, Duke Mantee said:

Are these for your tassel twirling routine?

[Duke Mantee]

You’ve seen the show?

[Duke Mantee]

37 minutes ago, beautiful_FrEaK said:

So you bought 20 pairs of FW jeans just for this?!

 

 

I’ve more than that 

[Geeman]

Don't nipple covers come in pairs usually?

Second ones in the post ?

Industrial accident we are unaware of?

Little Kim influenced? 

Nice work Martin. 

 

[Double 0 Soul]

Ercol Model 354

Blue label so 1954 to 1976

Lovely bit of elm with beech legs

[MJF9]

@Double 0 Soul Lovely - great design, great wood. Have you just acquired them?

We’ve got the new fangled versions in ash. Old is gold though.

Edited May 9, 2022 by MJF9

[Double 0 Soul]

Haven't had them that long but i spent months trying to get the right set at the right price.. i drove all the way down to Bournemouth to pick them up so they didn't get damaged in transit.. 8.5 hours it took and i nailed it with no traffic/diversions just lots of dead deer on the roads around the New Forest..

I wanted elm and the key for me at least, was getting the tops in 3 panels of wood or less.. less jointing with more consistant grain structure.

[MJF9]

Well worth the trip. That grain is lovely.

I haven’t looked in a while but vintage Ercol prices seemed to be just going higher and higher. At a rough estimate a few items (chairs, day bed, that desk we’ve got) had more or less doubled over the last 5/6 years. So great investment too.

[CSL]

I have a set of those that belonged to my parents. They probably had them before I  was born.

After my parents passed away one  of the neighbors was lusting after them. No fucking way!

They came back to the US with me.

[FurnitureMaker]

21 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

 

I wanted elm and the key for me at least, was getting the tops in 3 panels of wood or less.. less jointing with more consistant grain structure.

Yes!!

[Double 0 Soul]

I passed up on this set which was just down the road from me for that very reason

https://www.vinterior.co/furniture/tables/coffee-tables/vintage-1960s-ercol-nest-of-pebble-coffee-tables-blonde-finish-mid-century-danish-sku94089704

[Maynard Friedman]

I had an Ercol dining table and chairs given to me by an aunt, I’m assuming they were from the 1970s. They were in a house I bought with an ex-girIfriend and when I left her, I left them (out of guilt) and pretty much everything else except my clothes, Hi-Fi, CD collection and a portable Sony Trinitron TV - the ‘essentials’! I did go back for my books a few years later though…

[FurnitureMaker]

2 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

I passed up on this set which was just down the road from me for that very reason

 

Good call. Elm is so lovely and the tones  on your set really shine. I can see why you went to such lengths to acquire them. 
I’ve made a couple of tabletops from elm. It’s not often commercially available in the States, but I would love to have a flitch or two. 
 

[Double 0 Soul]

Same here! The only readily available hardwoods from the timber merchants are American white oak and poplar which I use as a poorman’s mahogany. Everything else has to come from the timber specialists, I bought a piece of waney edge spalted beech 2m x 80cm a while ago for a bar top of a tiki bar a customer was building in his garden, it cost £1200... the fuck.. it’s almost a months salary for some folks. 

I used to buy old English furniture, tables and chairs, desks  ect, from an auction house around the corner, £20 for a table and 4x chairs, house clearance kinda stuff, never considered quality although the seats are solid elm it’s just gone out of fashion, this kind of thing.

I would knock them to bits and use the seats/table tops for other projects, in effect getting my materials for next to nowt.