I posted a picture of a fruit bowel the other day that showed how I carved through the wood to help the animal carvings stand out. I have done this on a few pieces I have done…and my most favorite “WAS” a chess table.

I am a avid chess player…and wanted something special for my office. I made a round table top out of a huge piece of slab mahogany cut out of a old tree I had been saving for years…hand carved around the edges several scenes of chess pieces doing battle…and carved through the wood to set off each scene. For a table, I got a log of mahogany and carved a tripod leg that folded…(Every seen a chain carved out of wood ? Same principle) It had three legs top and bottom with a “Knuckle” carved in the middle…..so when folded out….it had three arms holding the table and three legs holding the whole thing up.

I then hand carved all the chess pieces. This piece was by far my most favored piece I ever carved and spent literally countless hours of work on it. Working in my spare time a few hours here…a day there etc etc etc. I probably took over a year of just “Playing” with it before I was satisfied with it.

It has sat in the corner of my Den/office for a few years now….and me and my son have played countless games of chess on it, and had more “man to man” talks over it than I can remember.

Well today my daughter and a friend of hers were playing on my desk top..and the story I was told was this…her friend was sitting on the corner of my desk and when she hopped down she stumbled and fell onto it….luckily she was not hurt…but the chess board was shattered into dozens of pieces and the tripod folding legs all snapped off at the knuckle. Over a year of spare time went into this…and it was gone in a moment.

As mad as I was…it was just a accident…so I just bit my tongue and said “Don’t worry about it”.....Right now it is sitting in a pile on my work bench….”MAYBE” I will be able to glue it all back together….but it will never look right or be the same again and right now I don’t even want to look at it.

As I said…”A hair pulling NOOOOOOOOOO” moment

Here is the wreck

Mine is a man who is fast approaching 90…but still has the heart and spirit of a big kid…his name is “Spec” (His life long nick name). I met Spec at our local church many years ago…he was one of those men that EVERY church has…a tinkerer and fixer, always trying to save the church money by fixing things and making things.

When I first met Spec, he was around 80, and hanging off of a ladder fixing something at church. Of course I was shocked to see a 80yr old man 30ft in the air working on something and wanted to help. But we all know that men like these are proud…and if you even “Hinted” that they are to old to do something…they would probably snatch you by the ear and let you have it. So when he came down to get some tools…I “Lied” by convincing him I would like to learn what he was doing…and could he teach me from the ground while I was on the ladder….all it took was the word “Teach” and he was all for it.

Of course it did not take him long to find out that I remodeled homes and was a furniture builder…to say he was a little miffed would be putting it mildly…but at the same time he respected what I did and how I did it by not making him feel old…...We built a friendship from there and he invited me to his shop to help him do some things for the church. Basically, Spec took me under his wings to teach me what he knew…and teach me he did. Spec is a great woodworker…and even though I was no slouch…he taught me things I would have never even thought of. He has a good set of old power tools, (most older than me) table saw, RAS, routers etc etc etc. But his real gift was hand tools, planes, jigs and carving etc.

When ever I go to his shop…he would show me some long lost trick with a plane, or a “Secret” way to carve something…and while we worked…he would always share some story from the past…maybe something that happened during the great depression…or a war story from his time in Europe (He is a WWII vet). His wife (Who has also become my “Grandma”) pulled me off to the side once and gave me a big hug and said “Thank you” She told me that Spec had been feeling old and useless for along time now….but since he took me under his wing…he has become the “Old Spec” again…even the war stories he told me, he had never shared with anyone other than her.

She told me that while he has a large family…with several sons, daughters and grandkids….and he loves them all dearly and they him…none of them took a interest in woodworking…they all work in the business world, wearing suits and such..and just never cared for woodworking. She also said ” Spec was feeling useless because he felt he had a life time of experiences and skills…and no one wanted his old school skills in a high-tec world…now he has you to pass them on to…he feels needed again”

Needless to say, while I am a crusty old fart who does not like to show emotion…But when she told me this…it brought a tear to my eye…and made me grow even closer to Spec. Now it is ten years later, and he has truly became my Grandpa….I go by his house as often as I can…and even if I am busy…I at least go by once a week…way more if I can. I tinker on his house, mow his yard…and we ALWAYS find time to sit in his shop and tinker…we make Christmas gifts for his family, and toys for Grandkids. His hands shake way to much now to even hold a tool….but he looks over my shoulders and tells me every stroke to make.

He still tells me stories from his past…many, many I have still not heard and I enjoy hearing them…and as time goes on…and the memory fades….sometimes he will tell the same story he told me the week before, or even the day before…and I sit and listen to them…acting as if I have never heard them before…and enjoying them as much as if I had heard them for the very first time.

As I said….Spec is almost 90 now…and his health is failing, and it’s as if he seems to know his time is growing short, he is at that stage in life where he could pass away tonight…or last for another year. It seems as time grows shorter and shorter…he feels the need to share as much as he can as fast as he can. And as corny as this sounds….the only gift I can give him, to make his last days as happy as possible for all he has done for me and shared with me… is to just be there and listen. To take the skills he passed me long ago and pass them on to my son…and one day my grandchildren. To remember the names of people long forgotten…buddies killed in battle, like Sargent McKinney, who climbed out of a fox hole to drag Spec in when he was wounded ….and died doing so. Who had no family to remember him and received no medal for his bravery…who is only remembered in Specs heart.

Spec has entrusted me with his skills that took a life time to develop and his most cherished memorys….In the hopes that they will not die with him…or me..but be passed on to the next generation. It is a trust I will not fail.

So why am I sharing this story with all of you ?? To remind you that “The Greatest Generation” is almost gone…gone and forgotten. They lived in a time before TV, video games, telephones etc. They went to war and died by the hundreds of thousands so we could have the freedoms we have today. To remind you that they have skills and stories they are dieing to pass on. Believe me…there is nothing like sitting and listening to a man tell of the first airplane he ever saw fly over head… the first time he ever saw a TV….the fear he felt sitting in a landing craft as it raced toward the beach…hearing the bullets hit all around him….Now imagine hearing all this while a old man teaches you how to hand cut dove tails..trying to see all of this through his eyes…I promise you…it is a amazing thing.

Every neighborhood or church or community has a “Grandpa” like Spec…who is about to go away forever and take a life time of experience’s and stories with them. All they want is for someone to share them with. Spec has passed on to me woodworking skills long forgotten by most…skills developed before power tools, and when money was so tight every scrap piece of wood counted. And even more important than his skills…he passed on his life to me….Can you imagine what a shame it would be if Sargent McKinney’s name was lost in the sands of time…or the names of all the other hero’s he lived and fought with that you will never find in a history book.

Take my advice…find “Your” Spec….”Your” neighborhood Grandpa…let them take you under their wing and share their skills with you…and more important than that…let them share their life with you….do it before it’s to late, because once they are gone…their kind will never walk among us again.

Now how many times over the years of watching Norm and other “TV” woodworkers have they had to rush through a project because of the 30 min time limit and you asked yourself “How the heck did he do that” ?

Well now’s your chance to watch a real pro at work in his shop and ask away when you have a question.

Woodcraft then sent me a e-mail offering me a choice of ether a refund OR a replacement with a “Delta” bench top mortiser….time was ticking and fathers day was aproaching…so I took the Delta. In a conversation with my father..he stated again how much he liked my steel city and would like to have one for a project he had coming up and wanted to know if he could borrow mine…..SOoooo I cleaned up mine and gave him mine, I explained what had happened and that I had bought him the same one and everything that had happened since. He of course said he would be happy with the Delta and for me to keep my Steel City…to which I insisted he keep it.

About a week later the new delta showed up…the box looked great, no dent’s,rips etc..and as normal…I was to busy to open it up and put it together at the moment, (This has become a VERY bad habit on my part lately that I tend to stop doing !!) Fast forward to this past week, I was working on a clients project…and needed to make some mortise and tenon joints…so I set the Delta on a work bench to assemble it…I open the box, take out the first accessorys…then take out the first large piece of Styrofoam and guess what ???

You guessed it..BROKEN…

So I went in the house…called Woodcraft..thinking to myself “There is no way they are going to believe this thing has been setting in my shop for three weeks and I just now found it broke” And that I was out $269.00.

I called them, told them what had happened…they paused for a minute and said…”You need to talk to Mrs.XXXX because she is the one who handled the mess up the first time” I told her the same story…”No problem” she said….”Let me call you back in a few Min’s. to see what we can do” Since they are no longer carrying the Steel City OR the Delta that they shipped me…She called back and offered me a three choices…1) a refund 2) wait three weeks for the new model delta they are going to start carrying or 3) My choice of a upgrade since I have been trying to get a mortiser from them since April and have had nothing but problems….So…monday they are shipping me a brand new Powermatic Benchtop Mortiser, Model PM701, AND I get to keep the bits they gave me with the Delta. As the title says…my day went from “Oh Crap” to “Oh Boy” in a matter of minutes !!!! It should be here next week and once it is up and running and I have given it a good work out…I will do a review over it.

While “My” part will be later in the year, I do have a small crew doing other jobs there now. I went by today to just check up on things and solve a few problems, when I saw a pile of junk sitting in a hall way. Wait wait… I am getting ahead of myself…

One of the things I love to do is draw…. I doodle furniture plans all the time and store them away for later. I either draw on my work bench or at my desk in my office. So one of the “Tools” I have been wanting to build for my shop for along time is a lighted drafting table with a tilting top. A place where I can draw out plans and do all the figuring to make a piece of furniture. Now back to the church.

I left my crew and was walking down a different hall way when I saw a big pile of just “Junk” being thrown out. I wouldn’t have even noticed it enough to look at it except I had to walk around it to get by, as I walked around it, I noticed a small metal desk with a white glass top. So it grabbed my attention and I looked it over and guess what.. it was a small drafting table. Not a big professional one but one you would see in a class room (the perfect size for my shop).

It is only 3ft by 4ft on top, tall enough to slide a bar stool under,plenty of storage and drawers, has a tilting top, has a light bar over head, AND the top itself is lighted from below. This thing is OLD…but is solid as a rock and everything works.

I asked the janitor who was cleaning out the storage room what they were doing with it…”going to the dumpster” he said, and said I could have it if I wanted it. I went down stairs to the office to make sure, and they said that it had been in that room for years and had no idea where it even came from. If I wanted it, I could have it.

SO it is now in my shop, ready to be cleaned up and put to work…Good day…LOVE free stuff I can make use of !!!

Many of you know That I have been in the remodeling business since I was old enough to swing a hammer. I started by helping my Dad, worked through high school, and put myself through collage with it. I am not a larger contractor, but this business has been very good for me and my family, and has grown to the point where I now have a couple of crews that do most of the work. Leaving me to spend more time with my family and in my ever growing work shop, actually, other than bidding jobs, and doing the paper work, pay roll, final inspection and billing, about the only time I get hands on any more with the remodeling is when something fun comes up such as Kitchen cabinets, built-ins or a piece of custom woodwork. (And for those who are considering doing remodeling, this is a GREAT time to get into it imo. Many people who would buy a new house are now, because of the economy, remodeling what they have.)

I have always enjoyed making a piece of one of a kind furniture…just the pure joy of having nothing more than a pile of rough lumber sitting in my shop floor and a idea rolling around in the empty cavern on my shoulders, going through the process of planning, designing, figuring out impossible angles and even the mistakes…yes, I said I even enjoyed “Some” of the mistakes. We all learn through mistakes…and I have learned from some whoppers !!! But in the end, standing and looking at a piece of furniture that days/weeks or even months before, started out as nothing more than a pile of lumber and a idea is now a piece of pride that someone “May” pass on from mother to daughter or Father to son for generations to come (or may be sold in the next garage sale, lol) but to me, each and every piece that I have worked on..is a work of love…and like a child you have raised and sent out into the world, knowing you have done your best in every way to prepare them for the future…. When I send a piece of, in my opinion, heirloom quality furniture out of my shop, as silly as this may sound, I almost have the same feelings. I have put in my time, sweat, work, love…maybe even a small piece of my soul into that piece, and like a child, I have a hard time letting it go.

Well enough mushy stuff and back to the new business. As I said I have always been a remodeler, and when I was lucky, I would be asked by a customer to build a custom piece. A entertainment center, built in book shelves, maybe a hand carved bedroom set etc. I have also built almost all of our homes furniture, and many pieces for my family and friends. But it has always been more of a hobby and a work of love than a job. But through word of mouth, and friends seeing pieces I have done, more and more people over time have asked me to build more and more.

So it has now gotten to the point that it is no longer a hobby, but fast becoming a full time job. I have played with the idea for years of doing this full time, but was always afraid to “Pull the trigger”. While I have always been able to “Get by” with the tools I have (contractors tools for remodeling), to do the quality work I want, and do it on a consistent basis and to make my time in the shop more profitable, I need to do some serious upgrades on many of my tools. So I am just going to “Pull the trigger” and do it all at one time. I just bought a new 8 inch Grizzly jointer about two weeks ago (which I love by the way). But instead of ordering one tool at a time, I am ordering a new Grizzly table saw, 20 inch spiral planer, and 17 inch band saw next week. (Waiting for a clients check to come in next week and stay out of the savings).

I don’t know if anyone will even be interested in reading this in the future. But if this is received well, I will update you as the tools come in, redoing my shop to be more productive, and walk through with you as I try and make a go of it.

My next entry will be when the new tools arrive and setting them up, and after that, I have four large commissioned piece’s of work to start with. So I invite you to read along and offer advice when you see me about to fall flat on my butt.

I would also like to thank Todd A. Clippinger, A1Jim, tool dad and a few others for their advice and help.