Howard Rosenberg
09-03-2004, 12:30 AM
I'm SOOOO proud!
My younger son, Tony (some of you may know of him as Attila, my other son, Genghis's accomplice) was in the garage with me the other day, looking at some of my gear and remarked how he thought woodworking was cool.
I've been waiting seven years to hear those words!
I snapped into action!
Showed him how to use a handsaw.
Then I got a little nervous.
His jiggly left-to-right arm movements using my Japanese saws seemed a bit aggressive for my tastes.
Inspired, I put a blade into my fret saw.
Showed him all the minutae:
Why the teeth go in facing backward.
How to tighten the first wingnut.
How to compress the frame and tighten the second wingnut to get the right "ping."
How to grip the handle and align his arm with the cut.
Where to position his other hand while holding his work.
And how to walk the blade back out of a cut.
With a flourish, I drew some straight and squiggly lines for him to follow on some pine offcuts, and....
A natural!
The kid's a genius!
<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Tony-At-Work/This_Is_Tony.thumb.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Tony-At-Work/Hard_At_Work.thumb.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Tony-At-Work/Careful_Careful.thumb.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Tony-At-Work/Aha_Got_It.thumb.jpg">
This past weekend I took him to buy his own fret saw for him. Then off to Lee Valley for blades.
We've been hanging out in the garage every night this week to do some woodworking together and all I can say is, I'm delirious!
We have all kinds of detailed conversations that we'd never have elsewhere.
Like.... how Grant punches his little brother Alan.... why he doesn't like Maple Walnut ice cream.... how he's going to take his latest creation into the house so he can paint it and give it to Mummy.
Never let it be said that I'm biased or anything.... but he's really good company.
Thanks for looking.
Howard
My younger son, Tony (some of you may know of him as Attila, my other son, Genghis's accomplice) was in the garage with me the other day, looking at some of my gear and remarked how he thought woodworking was cool.
I've been waiting seven years to hear those words!
I snapped into action!
Showed him how to use a handsaw.
Then I got a little nervous.
His jiggly left-to-right arm movements using my Japanese saws seemed a bit aggressive for my tastes.
Inspired, I put a blade into my fret saw.
Showed him all the minutae:
Why the teeth go in facing backward.
How to tighten the first wingnut.
How to compress the frame and tighten the second wingnut to get the right "ping."
How to grip the handle and align his arm with the cut.
Where to position his other hand while holding his work.
And how to walk the blade back out of a cut.
With a flourish, I drew some straight and squiggly lines for him to follow on some pine offcuts, and....
A natural!
The kid's a genius!
<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Tony-At-Work/This_Is_Tony.thumb.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Tony-At-Work/Hard_At_Work.thumb.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Tony-At-Work/Careful_Careful.thumb.jpg">
<img src="http://www.woodshopphotos.com/albums/Tony-At-Work/Aha_Got_It.thumb.jpg">
This past weekend I took him to buy his own fret saw for him. Then off to Lee Valley for blades.
We've been hanging out in the garage every night this week to do some woodworking together and all I can say is, I'm delirious!
We have all kinds of detailed conversations that we'd never have elsewhere.
Like.... how Grant punches his little brother Alan.... why he doesn't like Maple Walnut ice cream.... how he's going to take his latest creation into the house so he can paint it and give it to Mummy.
Never let it be said that I'm biased or anything.... but he's really good company.
Thanks for looking.
Howard