Woodworking

So it has been a while since I decided I would take up Woodworking as a hobby. I have acquired some tools (secondhand (thanks scott) and new) and have started to make some interesting projects.

My first dilemma was where to go to actually learn 'da skiwllz'. After some research, I learned that the only place where adults can learn woodworking in our area is a night class offered by a local high school.

So I signed up to a course that turned out to be 'open tool night for senior citizens'. The teacher made us make a cutting board to learn basic tool skills, and then ceased anything but passive supervision.

So I stopped going to class - what point right?

The nearest actual program with facilities and an actual degree in woodworking is located about 50 miles away - straight through Los Angeles and south of the city center. (yeah, try getting there in time for the 6 pm class!) The place is called Cerritos College - they have a huge facility, and so I tried them out.

We started out simple, making a sanding block and a 'push stick' - both made to exacting specifications and sanded and polished to a gleam - I'm not kidding on the perfection of the finish either, here is the 'push stick'. It helps the table saw blade avoid fingerfood :) as you push wood over it.

So we moved on to the next project, which was a deadblow hammer. They had a plan and schematics, but as those of you that know me will understand, I don't do well sticking to the somewhat boring plans dreamed up by other people. I had to go and make it about 100x more difficult, adding more than just a change of shape or including a different wood... By the time I was done there was a distinct difference between the 2. In the end the class spent so much time on the hammer, that there wasn't enough time to complete the scheduled toolbox - so the rough cut / jointed pieces are sitting in my garage, dry assembled and waiting for attention that will never arrive.

So I kept my woodworking ambitions alive and well and signed up for the next class.

The next class is the night stand class - where the students make 1 night stand (ok, someone tell me if there is sense in making just 1?!? My wife would KILL me).


So I decided to make 2. The teacher just shook his head, and made it clear that I would have a REALLY hard time keeping up in class if I tried to make 2 at once. What he didn't know is that I am superman in the wood shop, so I have been doing just fine. I also happened to modify the design (again) increasing not only its appeal, but its difficulty (exponentially).

The last 2 projects were made with Walnut and Maple. The nightstands I decided to make out of African Mahogany. They are wider and taller than the design states, the 'sled' legs are also a modification... and when we get to the doors and the drawer I will be making even more changes. I thought I would show you guys where we are at, and then I will post again when they are closer to being finished.

Here are the basic pieces I have been working my butt off trying to get finished, and painstakingly fitted together (tight, but not TOO tight). You start off with a rough board (pic 1) and work your way to planks, then panels, then grooving and fitting... well, you will see the pics. My nightstand has a small shelf in the bottom cabinet, Nat's doesn't. There is a blown up view, and a couple after assembly.

I am working on the stretchers now (bottom cross pieces) and will move to the cabinet back next. So far so good!

Ben

Fire

If you have been watching the news, you may have seen updates on 2 fires in Southern California. So far the Marek and Sesnon fires have burned more than 18,000 acres, killed 2 people, destroyed 49 structures, and cost the taxpayers more than $2.5 million.

Both fires are within a dozen miles of our home as a bird flies - but not close enough for any panic :)

Here is a pic taken about 3 blocks from our home of the current fires - we are only separated from them by a line of mountains.

You may think that we are being a little too calm for having a wildfire within view from our home, but as they say, familiarity breeds... contempt? Whatever the saying, our last bout with fires at the same time last year was closer, worse, and definitely more scary. The smoke from the fires filled our sky, leaked through the microscopic vents in the windows that nobody knows exist, and covered our world! Not withstanding, it was the red flames in view from our home that caused most of the fun. Here are a couple pics from last year...



































As for this round, we are safe, it looks like they will get these fires under control soon, and they are headed further away from us in any case. Hopefully this is the last of the fires this season - with our "Santa Ana Wind" weather patterns, (warm, dry winds that blow hard, gusting up to 90 mph) all it takes is an errant power line, or someone with a black heart, and we could see many more this year.

A day or 2 in the Life

The time has come for the update I have been taking my sweet time getting to... Every time I thought there was a free moment, either something would come up, or I would realize that I had left the camera at home again.
Our family is doing wonderfully, there is always something going on that keeps us on our toes, but we are so blessed. As you will see in our pictures, there is a lot of happiness in our family, (in between the time-outs and the discipline lol) and it seems that things are just getting better as we go along.
The first pic is Natalie and Greyson having a great time at our family reunion - camping just south of the Strawberry reservoir in Utah. Natalie is an amazing mom to our kids, they are incredibly low key - secure that they are loved and taken care of by their mommy!
They get along famously, Lincoln loves his big brother, and constantly focuses on him - every time Greyson even looks his direction he giggles and smiles at his big brother.

Greyson is a great big brother as well, he likes to entertain Lincoln by showing him toys, playing peek-a-boo and sharing his old entertainment table with him.

Lincoln turns over enough to make his way to anything he thinks is interesting, but though he wiggles pretty convincingly, crawling is still a little ways off. For those of you that have been close to our family, you probably remember Gypsy :). She is 4 and a half now, and still is a great dog! She has been relatively trouble free for us, with 1 or 2 little hiccups along the way. Well, recently we hit one of those little rough patches... she has decided that if we are out of the house, she will just help herself to our garbage. We arrive at the house, and trash is all over the place... and Gypsy is nowhere to be found! Both times she has been crouched at the top of the stairs watching, and when we step onto the stairs she whirls away and hides lol! This dog is WAY TOO SMART. She is awesome with our kids though, she puts up with a lot of abuse from Greyson and loves him anyway.


Funny story - We were given a museum piano, the family wanted it to go to a good home. Well, it's a player piano, and we heard of a good restorer that lives nearby. He came by one night at 8 pm to check out our piano... It is a quite rare model made by The Cable Co. Chicago cerca 1914! We decided to do what we could to get it in working condition without spending the thousands it would take to restore it. Well, wasting no time, Larry Broadmore dove in and removed all of the player parts from our piano. He was at our home till about 2am the following morning rofl. They will shore up the vacuum system and we plan to have it up and running by Christmas 2009.

Well, thats enough updating I suppose! I guess I should be... *looks around furtively* working right now... So here is one more pic of Lincoln and I catching a late night show, or at least, I caught it - Lincoln wasn't in the right frame of mind to catch more than a few Zs.

OK OK, 1 update before I go...

So I put in some info under "about me" and I thought, well, might as well throw a couple pictures up before I go.

So here you are, and I will try to finish the major update when I get back!

This is my hotty wife Natalie...




And the latest pic I have of our two boys.... I think it is a few months old, but more to come!










I'm out of here!

Under Construction

This Blog is Under Construction.


Time Permitting I will post by the end of July!

-Ben