I have mentioned before that I belong to a local wood-working club called the "Chips off the old Block". I do enjoy this small group as it gives us all a chance to share ideas. A chance to share some woodworking projects with the community and of course the opportunity to see how someone else does things. There are many talents in the group. There are many stages of woodworking shops that each of the members have. Some woodworking shops are pretty basic and others are very elaborate. I would have to describe our members' talents that way also. Some members have the gift - they are unknown artists at work. Others like myself are wannabes. But the one common thing is that all members enjoy working with wood.
Now the reason why I am bringing this up is that at our upcoming March meeting, I am responsible for the program. In years past I have taken my turn and talked about a little something, but this year I struggled as to what exciting topic could one do or show. That meeting is four days away and I'm feeling a little uncomfortable with the program topic I picked this year.
(Oh well, so long as I pay my annual dues I think they will still accept me.)
In December I made some of these little trucks that I passed out as presents and I was thinking that maybe this is sometime that could possibly be a group project, so I wanted to show the group what one can do with a bunch of scrap wood that may be laying around in one's wood pile.
(All woodworkers have wood scraps piled somewhere - I am not the only one.) I dug out various pieces that come from different types of wood. There is a piece of soft maple, hard maple, walnut, cherry, red cedar, and a piece of fur wood that came from a destroyed barn.
It is my goal that from those six pieces of scrap wood I will make 12 little toy trucks. I am not sure what to do with these trucks once I am done. Most likely they will be given away over time. But anyway you probably get the idea. No two boards are quite the same in texture or in thickness so each truck will be somewhat the same yet somewhat a little different.
(I know... it sounds simple, but it is not. It is very very difficult. Very. Believe me...)
Earlier I mentioned that some members have very elaborate shops. Large shop rooms with dust controlled equipment and a well lit environment. I have one room in the basement that I use during the winter months and then in the Spring I move back into the garage area which gives me a little more fudge space.
(Do you sense there is a feeling of jealousy here?) I am fortunate that I have a very understanding spouse that allows me to generate a small amount of wood dust inside the house and let's me do what I do.
(Of course the trade off for this dust situation is that in this busy area of my man cave I have to maintain and allow the cat's litter box.- sad face -sad face.) Needless to say that when I have 12 trucks going at the same time the area gets a little congested. Once in awhile I just have to stop and put all the tools back where they belong - get the broom out and reorganize.
One by one each of the trucks are starting to come together.
(They have to because I only have four more days to go.)
Of course I am sticking to my usual trend of "no nails - no screws". Everything is held by Titebond glue.
This blog will be a two-part blog meaning
(you guessed it - next week will be more truck stuff) that next week I will give you some finished pictures of the project and maybe a little review of just how my "Chips" program went.
In the meantime I read this little clip the other day and realized that it may apply to me and how I feel about my woodworking skills and the wood shop that I have more than I care to admit. So I want to share this with you:
Envy is looking more at someone else's blessing that at our own. Pride is looking more at ourselves than at our blessings. And covetousness is looking more at what we wish we had than at what we actually have.
Okay. I'm happy.
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