Heath's Woodworking Projects

[fredsheldon]

That would make a cool gear shift knob for my Isuzu.

[heathicus]

My middle child's birthday was July 12. I had stopped at a high-end toy store in town the day before hoping to find one of those pillows with the lights in it she has been begging for since seeing them on TV. No luck there, but I found this:



Normally, I would have snubbed my nose at such a thing, but I needed another present, it was marked down from $36 to $10, and I thought we could work on it together as a father-daughter project. I figured it would be simple enough that she could do most of the work (guided) and pre-prepared enough that we could get it done before she lost interest.

The wood is very soft. The instructions just say it's a "composite" wood. Looks like pine to me, but might be something else. The kit does require some very moderate woodworking, not just assembly. Several pieces are over-sized and have to be cut down. They've already cut a kerf for the cut line and the instructions say to use a handsaw to finish the cut, and then use a file to put a chamfer along the edges. Like that's going to happen when I have a table saw! So I cut those pieces on the table saw and we had time to attach the back to the bottom before we had to set it aside until today. After trips to visit the grandparents and a week of Vacation Bible School, we finally got to work on it today.

My biggest challenge was letting her do most of the work. I had to stop myself from taking over a lot and remind myself that she was not supposed to be a spectator but an active participant. So I applied glue and let her spread it with a brush. I let her start the screws and I finished them when they got to tight for her to turn. I started the nails and let her drive them home. It was only a couple hours work, but we did have a lot of fun together and she's very proud of her accomplishment!









We're discussing finishing options. She wants to paint it and put stickers all over it. She did convince me to let her paint the drawer pulls (pink heart, yellow start). As for the rest of it, that's still a little tough for me to handle right now, but I think I'm starting to give in!

[joshh]

Good for you sir!

My father bought the shopsmith when I was 5. He did woodworking often but never once so much as invited me to even watch, let alone help. He never intended to make me feel snubbed or shut-out, but I always felt that way. Your daughter won't feel that way and I think that's wonderful!

[saminmn]

I like it!! If she wants it painted....let her have at it:D

I made a toy airplane for grandson, 6, with leftover wood. When we talked over finishes he wanted it painted and I did it for him. It fell short of the rest of the project. If I had let him paint it, he would have liked it fine.

We have since done a couple of WW kits from Lows together. I got him a 5oz. hammer for the race car assembly. When we were putting stuff away, I was looking for a place for his hammer and he wanted it beside mine, even though he cannot reach it. I loved it

I am hesitant to have him with me in the shop and we have not used power tools at all. We will see as he gets older

[joedw00]

I finally made this flip-top tool stand that I've had in the back of my mind for a while.

Nice job, how hard is the planer to put up on top? nice job on the knobs.

[heathicus]

Nice job, how hard is the planer to put up on top? nice job on the knobs.

It's not a problem at all to rotate it. There is plenty of leverage for easy control.

[mountainbreeze]

My middle child's birthday was July 12. I had stopped at a high-end toy store in town the day before hoping to find one of those pillows with the lights in it she has been begging for since seeing them on TV. No luck there, but I found this:



Normally, I would have snubbed my nose at such a thing, but I needed another present, it was marked down from $36 to $10, and I thought we could work on it together as a father-daughter project. I figured it would be simple enough that she could do most of the work (guided) and pre-prepared enough that we could get it done before she lost interest.

The wood is very soft. The instructions just say it's a "composite" wood. Looks like pine to me, but might be something else. The kit does require some very moderate woodworking, not just assembly. Several pieces are over-sized and have to be cut down. They've already cut a kerf for the cut line and the instructions say to use a handsaw to finish the cut, and then use a file to put a chamfer along the edges. Like that's going to happen when I have a table saw! So I cut those pieces on the table saw and we had time to attach the back to the bottom before we had to set it aside until today. After trips to visit the grandparents and a week of Vacation Bible School, we finally got to work on it today.

My biggest challenge was letting her do most of the work. I had to stop myself from taking over a lot and remind myself that she was not supposed to be a spectator but an active participant. So I applied glue and let her spread it with a brush. I let her start the screws and I finished them when they got to tight for her to turn. I started the nails and let her drive them home. It was only a couple hours work, but we did have a lot of fun together and she's very proud of her accomplishment!









We're discussing finishing options. She wants to paint it and put stickers all over it. She did convince me to let her paint the drawer pulls (pink heart, yellow start). As for the rest of it, that's still a little tough for me to handle right now, but I think I'm starting to give in!

That's a really cute daughter you have there! Nice project too. It's fun when they show an interest. She'll have a ball painting it. Fourty years from now she'll pull it out of a storage box she/you have been keeping it in and have fond memories of the day she built it.

[terrydowning]

Nicely done. Can't wait to see the finished project.

[heathicus]

I had a week off from work and the only woodworking project I worked on was re-repairing my wife's knife handle that I had repaired previously. The previous repair failed at the top center of the handle. My supposition is the single screw created a pivot point and the thin layer of wood above the blade finally gave way.

I used the same pattern as before, but made a couple changes. This time I used a chunk of purple heart I got from a friend's dad (he makes recurve bows). Instead of a screw, I used epoxy to adhere the entire captive portion of the blade to the wood. I also epoxied the two halves of the handle together instead of using wood glue. And for the finish, I put on a couple coats of spar urethane to completely seal it from water. I worried about it being too slippery, and I'm prepared to sand it down and refinish if necessary, but so far, so good.

Other than that, most of my shop time has been spent restoring my grandmother's 1950s era Sunbeam Mixmaster mixer. Grandma gave it to me about 15 years ago to fix a frayed power cord. I couldn't figure out at the time how to get it apart to do the repair and she passed away shortly after. It has been in storage since. So I'm now restoring it and I'm going to give it to my mom for Christmas.

[heathicus]

My wife showed me a picture of a cupcake stand she found on Pinterest and she wants me to build one just like it out of pallet wood.



That's the only picture I have to go by. Thing is, I can't quite figure out how it's assembled.

Is it shelves around a 4x4 center post? If so, how do the shelves attach to the post and remain stable?

Is each shelf solid with individual 4x4 spacers between each shelf? Again, how are they attached and stabilized?

Can anybody help me with some suggestions on how to put this thing together?