What's old again is new again
I"M BACK! Sorry - I should not have shouted so loudly.
I've been lurking in the background for quite some time and have from time to time posted a stray comment or two. But I've not been very active in actual woodworking for quite some time. I have had some false restarts and stops and so now I'm starting again and hoping this will not be another false start.
Some of you "old timers" will know that I was at one time quite active on the site and posted quite a lot - then-I had a car accident on my way to Kelly Mehler's school in Kentucky (I highly recommend his school by the way). Somewhere on this site is the long sordid story - but I could not figure out how to cut and paste the link here-- it's a bit boring really. But for those who don't know, I had a car accident in 2008, ended up with a 3" plate in my neck, I got back into woodworking again in late 2009 but then started to have some more health problems. I have been diagnosed with trauma induced Generalized Dystonia - pretty weird sounding name. The doctors figure the Dystonia is directly related to my car accident. Regardless the long and short of it is is that the whole ordeal has really set my life into a tailspin - and that's because I let it. I've always have had to deal with depression but the Dystonia and all that came with it just really set me on my big old butt.
Well after lots of thought I've decided the only real way to keep me going was to put myself "out there" to my friends on the site who will at least read my little blog and say a word or two of encouragement (yep - I'm looking for some help).
So I've started a new blog for myself - "Woodworking as Therapy". I'm going to try my best to keep it up and hopefully this will help push me over the top and get me back, not just into woodworking, but life in general.
I'm also going to try to start posting more comments on others work on this site. I've really missed the back and forth of the forums and blogs.
Sooo without further explanation here is what I've been working on the last week or so.
A hospital that a friend works at does a children's safety program and they had this old beat up foam fire engine that look like it might have been with Moses at the parting of the Red Sea that they used for demonstrations and story time. They decided they wanted the same thing only in plywood. I'm going to show the pictures - but it really won't look like much - because it's not painted. And thank goodness they didn't ask me to paint it because it would never look like a fire engine. They actually have a professional artist who is going to paint it.
The engine is just short of 8' long and is made with 1/4" plywood. The joining pieces are just some old 2×4 pieces I had lying around that came in handy for this project.
You may not be able to see but the seams are actually where the door will be so that it will blend naturally with the rest of the engine.
Here is how I've put the back together.
Since I made it in three parts they will be able to take it apart and store it in a small space. Also, since most of the folks have smaller cars it had to be made into several parts to be able to be transported. The rope you see in the picture is what they will use to carry the engine from one place to another on the stage.
Admittedly this was not a piece of master craftsmanship but hopefully, once painted, it will look pretty good.
My next project is to finish this load of cutting boards that have been waiting for attention for close to two years now
I'll be working on the cutting boards a little at a time, but while I work on those I also have this project that I would love to accomplish before Christmas. The project is a serving tray that you've probably seen in Woodsmith Magazine (Volume 33 - No. 196). This would make the perfect gift for my boss. She's really into having some dinner gatherings and wine tastings so this would be a nice thing to give her.
Here is the curly maple I've found for the project.
I've not found the perfect wood for my handles yet - that's probably going to take me a little while. The project calls for Cocobolo - but that stuff really makes me break out in hives - so that's not going to happen. I'm thinking black walnut or maybe even Mahogany.
I know that there are others on this site that deal with major health issues that impact their woodworking and I've taken inspiration from them and now I hope to give a little back.
OK - so I'm out here again now. I hope that you will enjoy my little blog (if you don't - please don't tell me!).
Until next time.
I"M BACK! Sorry - I should not have shouted so loudly.
I've been lurking in the background for quite some time and have from time to time posted a stray comment or two. But I've not been very active in actual woodworking for quite some time. I have had some false restarts and stops and so now I'm starting again and hoping this will not be another false start.
Some of you "old timers" will know that I was at one time quite active on the site and posted quite a lot - then-I had a car accident on my way to Kelly Mehler's school in Kentucky (I highly recommend his school by the way). Somewhere on this site is the long sordid story - but I could not figure out how to cut and paste the link here-- it's a bit boring really. But for those who don't know, I had a car accident in 2008, ended up with a 3" plate in my neck, I got back into woodworking again in late 2009 but then started to have some more health problems. I have been diagnosed with trauma induced Generalized Dystonia - pretty weird sounding name. The doctors figure the Dystonia is directly related to my car accident. Regardless the long and short of it is is that the whole ordeal has really set my life into a tailspin - and that's because I let it. I've always have had to deal with depression but the Dystonia and all that came with it just really set me on my big old butt.
Well after lots of thought I've decided the only real way to keep me going was to put myself "out there" to my friends on the site who will at least read my little blog and say a word or two of encouragement (yep - I'm looking for some help).
So I've started a new blog for myself - "Woodworking as Therapy". I'm going to try my best to keep it up and hopefully this will help push me over the top and get me back, not just into woodworking, but life in general.
I'm also going to try to start posting more comments on others work on this site. I've really missed the back and forth of the forums and blogs.
Sooo without further explanation here is what I've been working on the last week or so.
A hospital that a friend works at does a children's safety program and they had this old beat up foam fire engine that look like it might have been with Moses at the parting of the Red Sea that they used for demonstrations and story time. They decided they wanted the same thing only in plywood. I'm going to show the pictures - but it really won't look like much - because it's not painted. And thank goodness they didn't ask me to paint it because it would never look like a fire engine. They actually have a professional artist who is going to paint it.
The engine is just short of 8' long and is made with 1/4" plywood. The joining pieces are just some old 2×4 pieces I had lying around that came in handy for this project.
You may not be able to see but the seams are actually where the door will be so that it will blend naturally with the rest of the engine.
Here is how I've put the back together.
Since I made it in three parts they will be able to take it apart and store it in a small space. Also, since most of the folks have smaller cars it had to be made into several parts to be able to be transported. The rope you see in the picture is what they will use to carry the engine from one place to another on the stage.
Admittedly this was not a piece of master craftsmanship but hopefully, once painted, it will look pretty good.
My next project is to finish this load of cutting boards that have been waiting for attention for close to two years now
I'll be working on the cutting boards a little at a time, but while I work on those I also have this project that I would love to accomplish before Christmas. The project is a serving tray that you've probably seen in Woodsmith Magazine (Volume 33 - No. 196). This would make the perfect gift for my boss. She's really into having some dinner gatherings and wine tastings so this would be a nice thing to give her.
Here is the curly maple I've found for the project.
I've not found the perfect wood for my handles yet - that's probably going to take me a little while. The project calls for Cocobolo - but that stuff really makes me break out in hives - so that's not going to happen. I'm thinking black walnut or maybe even Mahogany.
I know that there are others on this site that deal with major health issues that impact their woodworking and I've taken inspiration from them and now I hope to give a little back.
OK - so I'm out here again now. I hope that you will enjoy my little blog (if you don't - please don't tell me!).
Until next time.