Popular Woodworking 2000-12 № 119, страница 60

Out of the Woodwork

One man's quest for the fabled 'simple shelves' leads to a life obsessed with cast iron; carbide and steel.

It started as some wild craving a little over five years ago, just as we were moving out of the apartment we had been renting, and into a small house with a garage. We were proud. It was our first house and more importantly, our first garage.

Even before we finished moving in, I knew what it was about the garage that had caught my attention — it needed a woodshop. Why I felt this, I have no idea, as I had only taken woodworking for one year back in my 4-H days.

The space for the shop seemed right. The garage was a bit longer than our vehicles and nearly 25 feet wide, just the right size for a small table saw and workbench. After all, I assured myself in a naive voice back then, that's all I would need. Just enough to build a few simple shelves for around the house and maybe a small wedding present or two. Simple items, really. Maybe a bookcase if I got ambitious.

It didn' t take long before I had a contractor-style table saw and workbench in place and was turning out piles of sawdust faster than a colony of termites. I could turn a 1x4 into splinters and sawdust in mere minutes. Pretty soon, I was tracking sawdust through the house with the best of them. I followed the woodworking shows on television like they were a growing cult, envying every new little tool they pulled out of their workbenches.

Yet, the simple shelves I had envisioned had failed to materialize. A simple shelf just wasn't challenging enough. The shelves had to have curves in them or gallery rails across the top. Those meant getting a drill press, router, router bits and jig saws.

Pretty soon it became apparent that the little table saw wasn't going to cut it, so to

speak. Soon, a new saw was procured, one that took three of us to unload and required rewiring part of the garage. Projects began to grow in size and complexity. Still, no simple shelves.

Shortly after the new saw moved in, my truck moved out, as piles of wood and unfinished projects gradually spread. Soon, it was a struggle just to keep a space open for my wife's car. It wasn't long before that battle was lost, too.

A few years and a ton of sawdust later, we moved to a new house in town. My only requirement for a house as we looked was that it had to have a garage big enough for my shop. Once again, we began to move our belongings, with the shop taking a little longer than the rest of the house. An engine hoist was called in to move the saw. From the start, it was understood that my truck would likely never see the inside of the garage. My shop would take that half. Getting my wife's car in would be no problem, I assured everyone.

It's been in the garage, once. Last fall sometime as I recall.

I don't deny that my motto in life, and perhaps what will likely appear on my tombstone, is "every project should require at least one new tool." It's an adage that I adhere to stronger than carpenter's glue to wood.

But I began noticing something. Each new tool, large or small, would often incur the question from friends and neighbors, "So, what is that new toy for?" Or I'd be

asked, "Were you out playing in your shop with your toys?"

Toys? Woodworkers, professionals, amateurs or even those of us just doing simple shelves, do not work with "toys." Rather, we use tools. There is a marked difference that may not be noticeable to the untrained eye. My 5-year-old son, Peter, has toys: a little workbench with a plastic vise on the side, a plastic saw that makes little "sawing" sounds and even a little tool belt.

I, however, have a big workbench with a vise on the side, a bigger saw that makes really loud "sawing" sounds and a bigger tool belt.

See the difference?

These items are toys only if I fail to produce anything useful. Why, our new house is filled with spaces just waiting for these useful things to start coming out of the shop. There's a lovely space above the fireplace that's just begging for an elaborate upper mantle. There are spaces on walls for display cases. And, if I look around enough, I know I'll find a spot for that entertainment center I have plans for.

Then, there's the outdoor projects on my list: garden shed, gazebo, playhouse....

But it's late and I have to get out to my shop and play...work! I mean work in the shop for a little bit. You see, I've got this "simple" little shelf to make for some coffee mugs. PW

Guy Thompson, the former editor of the LaGrange Standard-News, works wood in LaGrange, Indiana.

60 Popular Woodworking December 1000