Hand Tools

Power tools can make a job so much faster?  Well some times.  This particular post is in response to a question my dad asked>  “Why do you have to do it the hard way?”  Well my explanation is the wheel chair ramp I made for my wife.  to do it faster I would have needed three power saws, Well I can’t afford three power saws.  See I cut notches in to the 4 by 4s to fit everything together.  All the screws do is hold the wood together.  I could take out all the screws out and it would still stand, as long as no one pushed it sideways.  It took three different depth of cuts and two different angles.  In the amount of time it would take to set the saw up for each cut, I was able to make the cuts with my two hand saws.  If I hadn’t been using my hand saws on a fairly regular bases I wouldn’t have been able to cut the straight or have known how to sharpen the saw so that the cuts came very easy.  After cutting enough notches to put together a 34 foot ramp, my arm and shoulder hurt beyond belief.  but was able to build the ramp in two weekends.  The skills I developed, doing things the hard way.  With all of this said I would like to thank Roy Underhill and Christopher Schwarz, between ones show and the others books I not only had the tools I needed but also knew how to use them.

ps I also need to thank my dad.  He taught me the love of books and of knowledge.

Back with technology and a small project

I gave up technology for lent.  Didn’t do very well with it.  After my mother died I kind of laxed on my Lenten promise and watched way too much TV.  After that I did much better.  Lent is over with and I don’t watch nearly as much TV as I did before Ash Wednesday.

Sense all of this happened, I have accomplished a few things.   I built a 2 by 4 shave horse and built a ramp for my wife.  She had surgery on both of her feet and our porch is 38 inches off of the yard and a proper ramp has a slope of 1 in 12, plus 2 4 foot by 4 foot platforms.  that is a 46 foot run.  When I started I had no idea what I was doing but putting up a fence and building a few other projects I was able to design something quite nice and solid.  I didn’t have a power saw but my hand saws worked very well (my fathers and a friend did the treads with a power saw.  I did everything else with a hand saws.  every thing is half lapped and screwed together.  Needles to say my sawing capabilities have improved 10 fld.  It took us two week ends and a little time before work in between.  Some of my joints were a little sloppy but as the project progressed they tightened up.

I had a little more help from prayer.  It was suppose to rain on my seconded week end, well storm was the forecast.  I was near tears.  My wife was going to have surgery That Wednesday and I wasn’t even halfway done.  I begged God to help me and I expected to be doing everything in a down pore.  I woke up to a partly cloudy Saturday morning, and got to work.  If it was going to storm I was going to get as much done before it started.  The morning started off well.  I was able to finish off a lot of cuts and get pieces in place and by the time I had to go to the store to pick up more lumber I noticed the harder I worked the sunnier it became.  God met my half way.  I honestly believe that God will meet anyone half way, with prayer.  I thank him everyday for his help in this project knowing my wife is able to get in and out of our home with some hard work and a blessing from him above.

 

 

Well lets try this again

I posted a blog a couple of months ago, with a statement that I would read the Bible every day, practice my wood working every day, and post about it at least once a week.  I obviously failed.

With that said I will try again.  One day not to long ago I prayed to win the lottery.  I know some think that this is a sin. I don’t think so because I was answered.  No I didn’t win the lottery, but I received an answer.  As I prayed my mind began to wonder what I did that morning.  What did I do before work the morning before.  I sat and watched T.V.  Now what would I do if I didn’t need to work.  Would I sit around and play video games and watch T.V. all day?  Would I really enjoy this?  I might win the lottery some day.  Yea I don’t really believe this either, but if I learn to avoid the temptation of sloth I might not need to win the lottery.  I will try this again.  I probably will fail again but if I keep trying I might actually accomplish my goals with out winning the lotter.

All prayers are answered even if it’s an answer you don’t want to hear.

Why I’m doing this

The other day I almost started a fight with a friend I haven’t seen in over 20 years.  Why, well we’ve been discussing politics on face book and I didn’t present my idea very well.  Well language is what separates us from the animals so I thought I’d set up a blog to practice.  The blog is about my two favored subjects Catholicism and wood working.  Christ was a carpenters son and I hope to build beautiful furniture for my home.

A list of things I’d like to do along with this blog are.

Practice wood working at least once a day.

Dove tails

Mortises

etc,etc,etc

Read my bible for at least half an hour every day.

Write about one of these subjects or both twice a week.

One final note on this blog is.  I hope no one reads it but if you do I’m trying to learn.  Critiques or appreciated insults get you no were.