my intro to wood working #1: My daddy can fix that

I have always been the creative type, I love making things, but never took the time to develop anykind of tool skill. Most of my creations were out of necessity. Props for plays, pieces for games, help with homework. I did have a studio, (and by “studio” I mean a room in my basement that I house all the scraps of paper, paint and stuff that I have scrounged over the years) but it really didn’t get used. I didn’t have any tools, I didn’t really have any desire to have tools and I had no plans to own anything more expensive than a drill.

I have a friend who is a cabinet maker. I was helping him move some equipment one day, and he suggested I could borrow his scroll saw to cut out some shapes for a Christmas project that my kids wanted to create. I resisted at first, but my friend was insistant. He eventually brought it over to my place and I started using it. At first I discovered that I could use his scroll saw to cut out paper shapes we needed for sunday school. I would draw the pattern on a pad of multi-coloured paper and cut the whole block all out at once. In five minutes, I could save several hours of sissor cutting…It was beautiful.

My friend wasn’t content with that though, he eventually brought over some scrap wood, and I eventually started making little things for the kids. The kids would ask me “Daddy can you make….” and we would spend some time together and try to make what ever. It was all trial and error…emphasis on the error. It was amazing how much faith they had in my non-existant talent. They didn’t hesitat to ask and sincerely expected that we could make what ever it was they were desiring. They had more faith in me than I did. It was so reassuing that they could look at any mess-up and say “my daddy can fix that…” . I would be prepared to just toss it in the trash if it were just up to me, but they never wavered in the idea that something good was going to come out of that mistake. I wish I could look at some of the mess-ups in my life and have the same faith that my Daddy can fix that. I have to admitt that there are lots of things and (while I am ashamed to admitt) relationships that my tendency is to just trash because I don’t have the same kind of faith that even the biggest mess up can have something good come out of it. It is my daily struggle to look at suffering and believe that my Daddy can fix that.

So my generous friend loaned me a 500 dollar machine, my generous kids taught me that the mess ups are where we discover the real capacity of the creator and you were generous enough to share this time with me.

I hope to write more soon… but for now I am working on a 24×8x10 1930 model aa stake truck for the 2×4 competition.

-- www.robneves.com