| Blog series by romansfivefive | updated 198 days ago | 9 parts | 2637 reads | 51 comments total |
Part 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 ...
Part 2: tools, the crack cocaine of woodworkers
I recently added to my power tool collection. in december, i had a borrowed scroll saw, but thanks to Christmas presents and advances on birthday presents I also have a sander and drill press. I have just come to realize that i am very prone to wanting tools. i can’t see an end in sight for it, there is always something better, faster, more accurate. \Do you know how pot is supposed to be the entry drug to harder more addictive drugs? No one told me that scroll saws were an entry tool. ...
Part 3: old too soon, smart too late
The other day I spent hours doing 5 minutes of work. I had decided that the firetruck I am working on, should have telescopic outirggers to help it balance when the ladders are fully extended. Of course I am too cheap to buy a pattern so I found some blue prints online (www.seagrave.com) and I have been working from those to try to make this work. I spent hours measuring and drawing and cutting, then recutting, then realizing I cut it too short, then starting over again, then cutting, then cu...
Part 4: thats not scrap
Bieng friends with a cabinet maker is a toy maker’s scrap gold mine. I am able to scrounge enough pieces of wood from his scrap pile to keep me busy. My friend is always impressed with what I am able to fashion out of pieces that are unusable to him. What is interesting to me is that even though I need only small pieces of wood, I end up with a scrap pile too. At the end of every project there is always something that is too small to use. The other day my kids used my scrap to glue tog...
Part 5: measure twice, cut once... or twice... maybe more
I am quickly beginning to understand the difference between a craftsman and someone who dabbles with wood. I am quite sure that the main difference between a craftsman and the dabbler is the desire to do more than dabble. I recently helped my friend with an island that he had been building. during the construction he had mounted some hardware that was about 1/16th off what he had determined was acceptable. Without a second’s hesitation, he disassembled the whole thing so that he could c...
Part 6: life's little hazards
I cut myself in the shop for the fist time the other day. Since starting my work with wood, I have had nicks and scrapes before ( one time I nicked my thumb without realizing it and spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out how the red paint was getting on the truck I was making. The more I turned the truck over, the more paint seemed to be miraculously appear randomly on the wood felt really dumb when I realized it was my blood) but nothing needing a bandaid until the other day. I use h...
Part 7: out with the old mess in with the new mess
As many of you know, I am pretty new to wood working. I started last Christmas with a borrowed scroll saw and a corner of the basement. That has grown. My very generous friend is slowly upgrading his hand and stationary equipment and as he does, he allows me to “store” his old equipment at my house, just in case he ever needs it. This same very generous friend has friends who have been very generous to me, as well. This is all over whelming for me. I have an 8X8 space in my...
Part 8: Christmas giving
I have been uninspired lately and not really able to formulate any thing that I felt would be worth sharing. But last night, my kids taught me something I should share. In my extended family, my children and thier cousins have a tradition of exchanging names and purchasing a 10 dollar gift for one of thier cousins. I thought this was a great reason for me to hit the shop and build something that we could give. I started searching for ideas, looking for patterns imagining how I could use so...
Part 9: For what it is worth
I found some blue prints for a 1930ish ford model aa panel van online and when I paired them with the plans I had for the same year of flat bed truck, I figured I could make a wooden toy. At this point I made the crazy decision that I should make 3 at the same time to cut down on set up time with the idea in the back of my mind that if I could make these fast enough, I might be able to sell some. Right now, my skills are quite mediocre and there are so many things that I mis-measure and mess...
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