Most Fun Project

Re: A fish trap

Moses Yoder in White Pigeon, MI

>When I was about 12 or 13, I snuck into my dad's tool box and got the hand saw. I used some scraps and cut everything by hand and made a fish trap. It was designed to float in the neighbors pond and had weight set to a trigger such that when a fish bit a small shelf would drop and the weight would fall down and wind up the fish into the trap. I think back on some of the mischief we got into with fond memories now, and that was one of the most ingenious ideas I came up with; it worked to, and was built entirely with hand tools.

My workbench

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>Tho not built entirely with handtools, it is to date my most ambitious project. I built the frame in '92 and used two sheets of 3/4" plwood as a top for almost 6 years. The bottom was all open when I first built it, than I added a bunch of drawers, which some day I plan completely re-doing as I think that with a redesign I can maximize the storage capabilities of them. In '98 I built a top for it out of 2x4's on edge which included a tail vise and a shoulder vise. No "vise hardware" was used in their construction. It's all 3/4" threaded rod, nuts, washers, nails as cotter pins. Towards the end of '98 in went into storage for three years while I was doing a tour of duty in Japan. Got it Sept '01 when I got stationed in Maryland but couldn't do anything with it as the shed that I was assigned was too small to work in.

Finally bought a house in April of '03 and have been in work on it ever since. I finished the tail-vise than redid it with 2x10's, then replace the front edge of the top with a 2x10 as the 2x4's where much to short to be of any use when clamping something in the shoulder vise.

Building the top was the first time I ever used a Scrub plane and it was Love at first shaving. The top is 3'x6' and it only took me 20 minutes to level it enough to be able to flatten with my #8, which was the first time I ever used one of those beast as well.

This bench was to be a "prototype", but there isn't any way I'd ever tear it apart now. I've got way to much Blood Sweat and Tears into now.

All the wood except for the recently added 2x10's is Found Wood which pleases me to no end.

Well Davy, probably not what you was looking for in a reply, but that's it for me.

Good Question tho. Think I'll ask Moses for a plan to his fish trap. Might be the closest I can get to Ice-Fishing here in Florida. :~(

Todd O.

The First

Jim Crammond in Monroe, Mi.

>Davy,

I think my favorite was my first, not done with hand tools because of some altruistic motive, but because I just had to build something and the only thing available was hand tools because all my power tools were in storage at the time.

I had visited Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Ky. and was really inspired by the furniture and architecture I had seen there. When I got home, I had an overwhelming urge to make something. I had a little experience in woodworking with machines but almost no experience with handtools but the desire to make something was so great that I went ahead anyway. I decided to make a Shaker style coffee table and I used an inherited backsaw to cut the tapered legs and tenons on the apron, a brace and some bits that I had acquired somewhere to remove the waste from the mortises and a chisel to clean them up, and a old wooden Sandusky jointer that I had bought on a whim a few months earlier to joint the boards for the top and to smooth it up. None of the tools where anything close to sharp and it took much longer than it should have but it turned out all right. The thing I remember having the most problem with was holding the boards to plane or cut them.

This project made me realize that you didn't need a shop like Norm's to complete a successful project and it was quieter and more enjoyable to boot. That was at the top of the slippery slope and 6 or 7 years later I'm still sliding down.

Jim Crammond

Re: Most Fun Project

Steve Kubien in Ajax

>Hi Davy,

I'll put two of them up for grabs.....

My workbench was pretty satisfying. Thou not without electron sacrifice, it is by far the largest and most complex project I taken on (and completed). Besides, it is what I will use to make better use of my hand-tools so I can complete more projects (SWMBO'd seems to believe this).

The other one is a simple half-lap box I made for a Secret Santa at work last year. See FW #139, page 60 I think. I made it out of cedar and complete with handtools. I used a Japanese smoother for the rounding, including the end grain, because I didn't own a LA block yet. I was really pleased. So was the recipient.

Good topic!

Steve Kubien

Ajax, Ontario

Re: Most Fun Projects

Bob Hackett

>I think my favorite projects are the tools I`ve restored and made using my other hand tools.The only thing that beats working neander style is working that way with tools you`ve made yourself.

I did have alot of fun this past summer working with SWMBO on some recycled furniture for the kitchen.We used all recycled wood from the dump and made modified some second hand things to her specs.Sure was nice being able to relax and talk during the process.

She painted the pieces with milk paint in primary colors and I`ve got to admit it looks good.She was amazed at how the hand tools moved things along and produced a higher quality finished product at a far lower stress level.

I think I`ve got her hooked up on this old tools/old wood type of thought process.She`s got where she can even tell hardwood from soft at the dump and will clue me in to promising looking tools at garage sales+flea markets while I`m wheelin+dealin` on other stuff.Took almost 27 years but she`s finally come around.Come to think of it she may be my entry for both the longest running and most fun projects!:^)

Mainely,Bob

Re: The First

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>How did you cut the tapered legs with a back saw?

Fun = New Skill Acquired / Shared

David Linnabary

>Seems like the more challenging the project and weather I was successful in teaching myself something is what makes a project fun for me.

Also I enjoy mentoring newbies in my shop, often for a repair or restoration of an antique.

And like others, I consider my bench to be the project that continues to be the biggest effect on my current work and an expample of a challenging early project. Flipping a Frid style tail vise left-hand was a scarry one! :)

Slowly

Jim Crammond in Monroe, Mi.

>Don,

I cut as far as the back would allow me with the leg vertical, then I lowered the angle until the saw was almost parallel with the face of the leg.

Jim

A Boat!

Jorge Casta�eda ~ East Penobscot Bay

>davy,

To me the thing that has been the must fun all through the dreaming stages, the actually doing it and using it is a row boat that sails as well.

Give it a try,

Jorge

Re: Most Fun Project

Ernie Miller Topeka

>The "Dancer" it is an end table with ladies feet and hands with a twisted pedistal holding a octagon top. Pictures were posted on the pond.

Re: A Boat!

mike ducayen, Bowen Island, B.C

>I started collecting hand tools with the intention of building a kayak and canoe. Built a bench, some simple furniture pieces, and a few of my own tools. Then I finally got around to building a skin-on-frame Greenland style sea kayak and a few paddles. Our living room floor served as bench while working the longer pieces.

If only it was as fun to paddle as it was to dream up and build. The beam is a bit narrow for my experience, and learning to roll is a bit scary. Maybe a rowboat next.