Grandpa Mel with Freddy (2 years old) in front of the Craftsman Tool Truck that was in the neighborhood. Freddy wanted to have his picture taken in front of the Lie Nielsen truck or maybe the Marcou Truck, but neither was in the neighborhood that day.
The second image is Freddy and I with the carcass of a chair I was making for him. He seems to approave.
Grandkids are very important. My tools may do what I tell them to whereas Freddy doesn’t, but the tools don’t smile like Freddy does.
Replies
Congrats Mel,
On the chair, which looks good, and on the quality time with your grandson.
On first glance, I thought the chair was reversible, that is usable both rightside up and upside down. Hmmm. there's an idea for the grand daughters' chair...
Ray
Ray,
I thought about putting a removable seat on the chair and making it serve a few different purposes. However, the chair is a "glider", which is not the best design for potty training. Freddy would have to learn to constantly update the direction of the stream. Now Freddy is about to become an older brother, and he has one cousin and is about to have two more. The message from Mary Beth is loud and strong -- MORE OF THOSE CHAIRS! Do you have any plans for a child sized Chippendale rocking chair? I prefer Chinese Chippendale, with pierced skirts! :-)
Enjoy.
Mel
Hi Mel,
No Chippendale rockers, but if you want to build a high chair, or four...
http://www.davidraypine.com/portfolio.php?spgmGal=Chairs&spgmPic=7&spgmFilters=#pic
I can get you started.
Ray
Ray,
That high chair is beautiful. I am afraid that Freddy would use it as a ladder to get up on the kithen counter, and then to the cookies on top of the fridge. ((THOSE COOKIES ARE MINE.))
Mel
Mel,
I'm willing to bet that Fred already knows the shortest route to Grandpa's cookie jar. Pointing and saying, "Cookie, Grandma! Cookie!"
Ray
Tom,
Thanks for the reply. Freddy is a godsend. He comes down to the shop with me and always begins by saying "Dribers! Dribers!" My wife translated that for me. He is asking for my box of screwdrivers. The first time he came into the shop, I was assembling my Powermatic bandsaw. So now he makes a habit of taking a screwdriver to the bandsaw and saying "Fix. Fix." He has the right screwing motion with his hand, and a large degree of enthusiasm. His other favorite tool is my bench vice. He turns it shut and then open. We have a good time, and he was the first of his generation to give me more excuses to make things. Since Freddy, I have been blessed with his cousin, Lucy, who will be one year old soon. She lives in California which is a long way from Virginia, but we see her via camera on the computer once a week. In the next few months, we expect two more grandchildren.
Have fun.
Mel
My tools may do what I tell them to whereas Freddy doesn't, but the tools don't smile like Freddy does.
My tools do as I say if they feel like it at the time!
My two youngest grandbabies were here this morning while the Mom went for her yearly doctor chechup (he is a doctor on staff these days and only takes old patients on appointment.. I emphasize the OLD patients on appointment to her as my granddaughters started to jump all over my furniture.. Grandpa allow that as long as they do not to get so wild they bounce off the roof before the sofa!
Show Freddie...
A Snap-on tool truck INSIDE!
Not sure the following will work but.. Here goes...
Things you may not know about Snap-on
As part of the 1941 Lend-Lease programme, Snap-on products were sent from the US to the UK to support the war effort in World War Two. One of these tools was a tappet adjuster for use on the Supermarine Spitfire’s Merlin engine.
The longest tool Snap-on ever made was a square drive extension wrench, which was used in a nuclear reactor. The wrench was 25 feet long and always had to float upright in water.
Snap-on tools accompany most of the US voyages into space and were most conspicuously used as part of the Apollo space programme.
Snap-on is associated with motor sport, most notably Formula One, MotoGP, World and British Superbikes and the World Rally Championship. In 2008 Snap-on announced a three-year deal with Aston Martin Racing – the 2007 and 2008 title holders of the GT1 class Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race.
Source:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.motor.org.uk/imagelibrary/Misc/Truck-Van-Decal-web.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.motor.org.uk/scripts/bannerclick.aspx%3Fid%3D30%26url%3D%252Finformation%252Fsnap-on.html&usg=__5T5PEpHHYXCak6Fxuf1YeD3azaA=&h=239&w=400&sz=26&hl=en&start=10&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=9gGAKmsfiVOVZM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSnap%2BOn%2Btool%2Btruck%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26tbo%3D1%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26rlz%3D1I7ADRA_en%26tbs%3Disch:1
Mel..
I think that you should build Freddy a 20-inch f/6.4 dobsonian telescope. I would think that some of your old friends at NASA could find you some unuse old mirror with adjustable mount and a eyepiece.. You could do the woodwork for the telescope and the observatory for it!!
God.. I sure wish I was good at math! Maybe even I could be good enough to be a star gazer!
EDIT: I could pass many, but not all Math tests.. But I KNEW I did not know what I was doing at the time! I just studied very hard the day before and never knew what I was doing!
My China babies are 8 and 6.. I think it was only yesterday that I was holding a (two) crying baby(s) of about one year of age at the back of the plane for 23 hours and she finally fell asleep as we got off of the plane in Chicago...
Will George,
Your mind is a wonderful place. Let's swap minds for a few days.
Mel
Your mind is a wonderful place. Let's swap minds for a few days.
DAH.... as in Homer (As in Simson,, As in,,, Not t the legendary ancient Greek epic poet.... I for one is very like the Homer you see on TV!
Mel.. My biggest telescope was a 16 inch Meade...1989.. I got a call that my wife died at the hospital.. Two days later I came back home and somebody had taken it away for their own!. DAMN! I left it and the trypod out in the driveway when I drove off in a hurry... I was only looking at stars to help me 'find some way to cope' with her death which was not far away.. I am not a violent man BUT that pissed me off! I wanted to kill someone for messin' up everything...
NO,,, I do not expect a reply on my words... I was very upset at the time and I still am.. And then again I would think they took my telescope had no idea of my trouble I was going through at the time...
Little men, Little shizzers
Will,
I can only assume that the guy who 'borrowed' your telescope was curious about the biggest star we see. He decided to set up the telescope to observe that star, and is now blind as a bat. He has not been able to find his way back to your house to return it. I can only hope that is the case.
Sorry on all accounts Will.
When my father passed away, my wife flew up to see me. When we were gone, my teenage son threw a big party at our house without telling us. Nothing like getting home, all depressed and having to use the can, then sit down on a piss covered toilet. I still have not forgiven him ....;<0
Morgan
When I die I have told my
When I pass on I have told my children to mix my ashes with the wood dust in my shop vacuum and throw it into the compost bin.. They think I'm nuts? I do not think that worms are a bad thing!
Wurms
Not a real issue to me Will. However, sometimes it is better to think of what would make the kids happier. Would the rather take a hike to the forest and scatter your ashes, to feed the worms and the oak trees there? A compost pile is a bit wierd for some, as your ashes would be part of the tomatoe they eat...
Grand Kids, aren't they just Grand
Mel, you have it right on. Now that I am a grandparent (11months of training) I now know that the grandparents are what keep it all together. My son has to work at odd times, and we seem to be the depositary for Miss Laya. Somehow I find myself inside the house knocking down block towers instead of the chores of hanging in the shop!
Great looking grand dad there and a fine chair indeed. So are you working on the Ferrari Bed? ;>)
Morgan
Morgan,
Glad that you too are enjoying a grandchild. I don't know what is so fascinating about building and knocking down towers of blocks, but probably more time is spend doing that than anything else in the world. I had made a set of blocks and a cart to hold them for my kids back around 1975. Our second kid, whose wife is now "heavy with child" came by on Easter weekend and took a bunch of his childhood stuff, including the blocks. Gratifying!
What am I working on now? I am trying to break out of my "through dovetail" stage and into dovetails with mitered corners, and then the dreaded houndstooth pattern. One small step for a woodworker. One giant leap for fine furniture making.
My mind returns to the Sears Craftsman tool truck that is pictured behind Freddy and I. I happened to go to a Sears last week to buy a set of metal shelves that were on sale in the newspaper. That Sears was a ghost town. The tool departmentt was stocked with tools but there wasn't an employee to be found. Very sad. All of my first tools, back in 1968 were Craftsman. I made some nice furniture and had a great time learning about woodwork using those tools, and I still have many of them. But I wouldn't buy stock in Sears. Sad. Wnen I need money, maybe I'll go up to Maine and see if Tom LN will teach me how to make nice planes. :-)
Have fun.
Mel
Boxes
Mel, have you checked out the box making videos going on. Interesting just doing the miters at the corners and through miters in the field. Very attractive look indeed.
Nice blog here on houndstooth. http://lumberjocks.com/Woodhacker/blog/6549
I personally like the look of dovetails and have not really seen the need for a miter dovetail in my work. If it is not seen why bother? Might as well use a bisquit for all the bang for the buck.
The dovetail variations, nice gentlemans thin ones, houndstooth, twisted and my favorite look. The carved curved dovetail. That is where each Pin is shaped into a curved form, almost like a claw or such. They are left as a through form and finished proud. Very sinister looking, and wizard like. Wish I could find you a picture, but can't get my hands on one.
Morgan
knocking blocks over just for the fun of it!
Morgan.. Thanks for the link.. I love that box....
Morgan,
Thanks for the houndstooth blog. Very nice pics. I do this stuff for the same reason that people have climbed Everest - just because it is there and is a challenge. Nice to add more capabilities to the bag of tricks. I was wondering what I could do to develop a NEW dovetail joint. I believe I have invented one - the "Not-so-secret" dovetail, which is actually a secret dovetail, but cut in acrylic, so you can actually see the joint that is "inside". I like circular logic and convoluted thinking. It comes from spending a career in Washington, DC. It warps the mind. By the way, I just finished reading the complete works of Sarah Palin. If you want, I can send the document to you. There are only four paragraphs. I have corrected most of the spelling errors.
Please let me know if you invent any new joints. I think that FWW should have a joint inventing contest.
I have been looking for ways to make BIG MONEY in woodworking. No luck so far, but I keep generating bad ideas. The latest stems from the fact that fine woodworkers must be old and rich, otherwise, how could they afford all the expensive tools. So shouldn't there be a lot of interest in a yearlong worldwide cruise to visit woodworkers in about 50 countries. We could have onboard training by some of the greats, woodworking movies, evening contests such as 'The Iron Woodworker" (from the Iron Chef. Each woodworker would be furnished with a trained assistant, a nice Swedish girl, to help out with woodworking chores. We could have debates, such as one between Norm and Derek, on the best approaches to woodworking. I believe this could really sell out fast. We could get Chris Schwartz to be the Cruise Director and entertainment chairman. Are you interested?
Mel
Hi Mel,Will,Azmo and all
You guys are all pikers, counting your grandkids in ones and twos. I've got seventeen! You want to see a busy workshop, you should have been at my place a few years ago. Every thing had to be done on an assembly line.
Don't have to worry so much about the cookie jar its trying to protect my single malt supply. "thems grandpas cookies" don't work anymore.
Glad to see and hear you are enjoying them, treasure the moments as they grow up so quick and grandpa slips down the list a bit.
wot
Wot and Wot again!
So 17 of em, sounds great to me. Nothing like having a quiver full of apprentices for those sanding chores! Though when I think about protectin the malt, I can see why you moved to the Falklands for peace and quiet!
Morgan
Mel
I have to make an admission here, one of the DILs has a perchance for doing two fer ones, couple of sets of twins there
wot
Hi Mel
Surprisingly two arn't much more trouble than one and it helps when you have a great extended family. We have a surprising number of great grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins etc and that makes a great deal of difference. We never have a Christmas of less than 30 or 40 people. I can't imagine life without family 'botherin' you at sometime. My only regret is not having a lap big enough to handle all the grandkids that want to climb there together.
wot
I began my full-time work career as a diesel mechanic in a Caterpillar dealership, I bought a tool box (red) and a basic set of tools (Blackhawk) but anything I added after that was Snap On or similar quality.
I still have an 18" Crescent wrench (makes a good hammer) and a 3/4" drive ratchet with a set of sockets up to 2". (The sockets make a good 'monkey's paw' when I have to heave a rope over a high branch.) Sears tools were valued, not for their quality, but rather for the fact that a failed tool was always replaced, at the store - without question.
I never had any Craftsman tools but I understand that a common practice when a socket wore out (not eligible for replacement), you could put it on an anvil or such, place a ball-peen hammer, round end in the socket, and hit the hammer with a sledge. The socket would split, no surprise, and thus was eligible for replacement.
Frosty
Frosty,
Every once in a while, I take back some screwdrivers to Sears when the tips are worn, and they replace them without question. I once bought a garden hose at Sears. It must have been about 1970. Every few years, the hose starts to leak at one of the ends. I take it back to Sears, and they give me a new one. No questions. It has been replaced many many times. I have returned Sears Craftsman grass rakes and other lawn tools. I love their guarantee.
I remember when Craftsman tools were TOP NOTCH (in my mind). What else counts? I did good furniture with them, and I still have a Craftsman jointer, drill press and other items, and they work fine. No sense replacing them.
Glad you wrote,
Mel
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