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2 x 4 Challenge #1: Throwing My Hat in the Ring

Blog entry by mot posted 655 days ago 1270 reads 0 times favorited 27 comments Add to Favorites Watch
no previous part Part 1 of 2 x 4 Challenge series Part 2: All Is Revealed! »

Well, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with this. I had to take a few days to ponder what Stewart did. It just made me want to come up with something entirely different that what we’ve seen. Stewart as well as quite a few other entries since, have really raised the bar, and in the words of a woodworker, whom I greatly admire, Neil Lamens , ”Challenge yourself!” Some coaching on this process has come from a grumpy old woodturner, too.

To go along with the intent of the challenge, I pulled this 2×4 out from behind my hockey sticks and and broken shovel handles in the corner of the garage. You know, the one that is where my door is blocked by the shop floor hoist to move steel around and take my hydraulic deck off my truck….sorry, I digress. Anyway, I found a 2×4. It’s straight, really dry, and sort of orange.

I started by cutting it in half as maneuvering anything that is 8 feet long, in my shop, can end up with broken light bulbs, smacked knuckles and a general poor attitude by the shop inhabitant.

After a few passes on the jointer, a run through the planer, and a taste of some carbide on the tablesaw, this seemingly forgotten hunk of spruce comes to life! To think, the lonely days and nights that led to months and years, that this piece of wood sat. Just waiting for the day where it could say, “Joint me, plane me, cut off my round overs. Let me show you what I have to give!”

I flipped it, and flopped it, then slathered it in Tite Bond II and glued it back together. Some of it’s long lost cousins, veterans of another time, another bench, another test of process, helped this fledgling piece of framing lumber. Helped it hold itself together on plane. Helped it on it’s journey to becoming more than just another 2×4!

Show me, Mr. 2×4! Show me what you have in store for me!

To be continued….

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)


27 comments so far

View GaryK's profile

GaryK

9496 posts in 866 days


posted 655 days ago

Hmmm!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

View David's profile

David

1982 posts in 1017 days


posted 655 days ago

Interesting teaser Tom . . .

What does that 2×4 have to offer?!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

View rikkor's profile

rikkor

11338 posts in 752 days


posted 654 days ago

Can’t wait to see progress…

View YorkshireStewart's profile

YorkshireStewart

779 posts in 779 days


posted 654 days ago

This is exactly what makes it all worth-while when we log in before breakfast – and after, and at lunchtime and…

LJ has got us hooked. Mrs YS says it’s eating into her knitting time!

So up to now we have a really neat piece of 8×2 lying up there in Alberta. Can’t wait for the next step.

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business. http://www.folksy.com/shops/TreeGems

View Russel's profile

Russel

2030 posts in 817 days


posted 654 days ago

A little bit of attention and a lowly 2×4 can become a rather attractive piece of wood. I must admit that the teasing nature of the entries is somewhat frustrating in an entertaining sort of way. While anticipation may be the most enjoyable part of any experience, I JUST WANT TO SEE IT DONE!! Oops, got carried away there for a minute. I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

View MsDebbieP's profile

MsDebbieP

14089 posts in 1038 days


posted 654 days ago

tease

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

View furnitologist's profile

furnitologist

189 posts in 891 days


posted 654 days ago

Was it William Wallace the great 2×4 emancipator who said…....“Joint me, plane me, cut off my round overs. Let me show you what I have to give!” or was that Mel Gibson.

Thanks for the challenge thought Tom…...........as I walk to school with my little toolbox!!:)

View toyguy's profile

toyguy

698 posts in 715 days


posted 654 days ago

What evil lurks with-in?

-- Brian's Table Top Toys http://home.mountaincable.net/~bgraham/

View Lee A. Jesberger's profile

Lee A. Jesberger

3709 posts in 857 days


posted 654 days ago

H Tom;

To me it looks like a bunch of smaller 2” x 4” ’s.

That’s it. isn’t it Tom (hope I didn’t blow your secret).

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

View Dick, & Barb Cain's profile

Dick, & Barb Cain

6989 posts in 1177 days


posted 654 days ago

WOW!

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

View Bob #2's profile

Bob #2

2987 posts in 899 days


posted 654 days ago

2×4 Challenge #1: Throwing My Hat in the Ring

Hat? Ring?

I know what it is!!

A cowboy hat – Right?

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

View TomFran's profile

TomFran

2501 posts in 872 days


posted 654 days ago

Go for it Tom!

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

View Mario's profile

Mario

880 posts in 929 days


posted 654 days ago

Hockey sticks…Did I read Hockey Sticks in your post. You have by vote. I look forward to seeing what you produce.

-- Hope Never fails

View Douglas Bordner's profile

Douglas Bordner

3415 posts in 942 days


posted 654 days ago

I like a man who address the soul of a tree even if it is a 2×4. Of course I talk to myself a lot (too long a bachelor out on some farm property – drives the wife mad). Go get ‘em, Tom.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

View CharlieM1958's profile

CharlieM1958

7459 posts in 1096 days


posted 654 days ago

I think Stewart found the true answer… you are making a 4 ft. 2×8. Brilliant, Tom! Thr greatest ideas are usually the simplest ones! <g>

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

View Grumpy's profile

Grumpy

14852 posts in 729 days


posted 654 days ago

Can’t wait till the end when it’s all “spruced” up.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

View mot's profile

mot

4901 posts in 914 days


posted 654 days ago

I do love my petty torments! I wonder what tonight will bring? (Maniacal laugh!)

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

View Zuki's profile

Zuki

1218 posts in 955 days


posted 654 days ago

Ahhhh . . . I see another mystery unfolding.

-- The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them

View Karson's profile

Karson

25271 posts in 1278 days


posted 654 days ago

Great teaser Tom. Your further along than me.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

View john's profile

john

1160 posts in 1259 days


posted 654 days ago

I am anxious to see what you come up with, I am sitting this one out. lol

-- John in Belgrave http://www.extremebirdhouse.com ....http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2

View SPalm's profile

SPalm

921 posts in 760 days


posted 654 days ago

Is it a clamp holder?
I am running out of time on mine.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

View Bob Babcock's profile

Bob Babcock

1808 posts in 964 days


posted 653 days ago

A 3 step clamp ladder! I never would have thought of that.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

View GaryK's profile

GaryK

9496 posts in 866 days


posted 653 days ago

So….. What’s new?

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

View mot's profile

mot

4901 posts in 914 days


posted 653 days ago

Work continues, blogging continues, publishing is at a halt because it’s become more obvious what I’m up to. All will be revealed soon!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

View GaryK's profile

GaryK

9496 posts in 866 days


posted 653 days ago

You’re evil!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

View DrSawdust's profile

DrSawdust

230 posts in 976 days


posted 653 days ago

This is pure genius . . . . Mot, it looks like you have one clamp still sitting on the bench. What is it like to have so many clamps you have some left over when the clamping is done? :-)

-- Making sawdust is what I do best

View mot's profile

mot

4901 posts in 914 days


posted 652 days ago

Yes, Dust, but I had to use it as a caul on the end, so I did run out of clamps that were on the bench. Work continues on this piece…one set back of note, but I push forward.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

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