orepass

Over years I have gained skills, knowledge and a lot of fun from many of the blogs that I follow. Many of them are woodworking, but I also follow gardening, running, and kayaking blogs. I hope that in writing, I can pass on that little tidbit of information or put a smile on someone’s face.

A couple of people have asked what is meant by the title of my blog “Orepass”; It is an underground mining term that refers to the movement of ore (rock) to the lowest level of the mine. Grabbing the encyclopedia britannica definition….

Ore that is mined on the different levels is dumped into vertical or near-vertical openings called ore passes, through which it falls by gravity to the lowest level in the mine. There it is crushed, stored in an ore bin, and charged into skips at a skip-filling station. In the head frame on the surface, the skips dump their loads and then return to repeat the cycle.

So you can see that my background is mining and the use of the title for a woodworking blog is out of the deepest respect for the timbermen of old that kept the ore flowing, partners safe, and did some of the best woodworking in the roughest conditions that I have ever seen.