29 Ford AA Stake Bed

The Project:

Inspired by fellow LumberJock, Romansfivefive’s project “Delta Tool Truck” I thought I would try my hand at an early thirties era, AA Stake Truck. This one is built from the Toys and Joys” plan number 82 and is constructed of walnut, oak and cherry with a little bit of western red cedar.(seat and grill) The wheels and head lights (birch I think) were purchased locally and then altered to suit my needs. The door badges are water transfer decals produced on my inkjet printer. The cargo is doll house furniture cabinets I found at Michaels, and stained with some Min Wax that was hanging around the shop. The scale of this project is approximately 1/12 which makes it 18 inches long by 7 inches wide and 6 inches tall. Finished with a few coats of high gloss, rattle can lacquer. Estimated time to complete the project is probably in the 30- 40 hour range, over about the last 6 weeks.

The Story:

Over the past few months it has been a bit of a challenge for me to find some shop time. My 87 year old mother was taken ill this past winter. As a result of this illness, along with the fact that she has not been in the best of shape anyway, she has come to the realization that she is no longer going to be able to stay in her home of almost 60 years. For her this has been devastating.

To fully understand my intentions here, some history must be mentioned. My older brother passed away late in 2002 of heart disease, at the young age of 52. As you may well understand, this was a very dramatic time in the Graham family. For my Dad, who was starting to fail himself, it was just too much. By early 2005, Mom lost her husband of 58 years.

Now you must understand that my Dad was a woodworker. I would venture to say that almost every thing that both my brother and I know about wood work was learned from my Dad. Our home was almost entirely furnished from pieces he had constructed. In fact, the whole house was built by my Dad. After he returned from the war, he purchased a piece of property under the GI bill; got married and built the home my mother has been in ever since.

With this understanding, you can see why it is so devastating for my Mom to leave. However she is a real trooper. In fact I think she is getting very excited about the move. We have found her a nice little assisted living retirement apartment not to far from her home. Here she will get all her meals, care and the companionship she is missing and needs. The draw back is trying to fit 60 years of collecting into a 500 square foot residence. Giving up the house is hard enough, but giving up some of her possessions, especially the ones that Dad and my bother made is even tougher. Some hard decisions had to be made.

At this point in time, the house has been sold. New homes for most of her processions have been found and Mom will be moving into her new place on May 1st. That brings me to the reason for my project. First let me tell you that there never was a “Graham and Sons” woodwork shop. Not on the commercial side anyway. But I thought that was a nice touch for my project. This truck load of Graham built cabinets is being delivered in a Graham built truck: to my Mom just in time for Mother’s Day.

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