A Proud Dad Moment

[Dan Hahr]

Well, its kind of woodworking related. My 6 year old son calls me at work and says, "Dad, I need to use your metal cutting saw. Can I use it?"

Not exactly asking the correct question, I respond, "Okay, why?" I am given the answer, "Because I want to cut something metal, and I don't want to dull my other saws." (He has a small back saw and a coping saw that he is quite proficient with.)

After just a hint of panic thinking about all the metal things that might suffer in my shop, I follow up with a question or two to make sure he knows the metal cutting saw is also known as the hacksaw, and that it is the one with the plastic handle and blue blade, not the $50 dozuki in the blue plastic shroud next to it. He reminds me that he knows which one it is and I ask him what he wants to cut with it. He responds that he wants to cut a nail with it, so I tell him to have at it, but be careful and that it might be tougher than he thinks.

When I get home, he shows me a small cross made with two small oak branches that he nailed together perfectly with a 4d finishing nail. He didn't want to bend over the nail, so he cut it off on the back side. The cross was for the grave of his pet lizard that accidently got ran over by the neighbor yesterday (another story altogether.)

Anyway, very proud of my little man and thought I'd share the story.

Dan

Added photos, sorry for the poor quality. Rattle snake was the name of the lizard.

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[frank shic]

that's awesome! any chance we could see a pic of the cross?

[Carl Beckett]

A great story! ( I have little ones myself and these type of moments are to be enjoyed )

Was laughing at Frank but he is right. SMC rules explicitly state no pic = didn't happen. I guess this applies to grave markers as well as anything else.

In fact, there might be something artistic in the photo ( we all remember the loss of a close pet when young )

But a nice dad moment, thanks for sharing.

[Jim Andrew]

Cool story. Glad you are teaching your son to use tools and build things. He'll be way ahead of the kids who grow up watching TV. My 2 granddaughters like to come to my shop, the older one (7), like to build things, and the younger (5), grabs a broom and starts cleaning up.

[Bob Lloyd]

Great story, thanks for sharing. Touching.

[Bill White]

One of those priceless parent moments.
Bill

[George Gyulatyan]

That's awesome! The attention to detail of your son is wonderful.

[Don Morris]

Agree, those pics are priceless! Absolutely teach your kids to use tools the right way. As they grow up it's a great way to spend time with them. Several years before my son was 16 (driving age in our state), he knew top dead center on our cars timing system, and how to do all the routine maintenance on them. He helped renovate a 69' MGB before he was old enough to drive and took his drivers test in it. He's also a pretty good hobbiest woodworker.

[Russ Ambrose]

heartwarming story...thanks for sharing

R.I.P. Rattlesnake

[Bob Reda]

Great Story, not to hijack a thread, but here is what you can expect (and its a good thng). My son, who is now 40 Started very similiar to what your story says. But after he got married he asked me to help him make a wardrobe. He watched me and handed me tools. His next item was a dinning room table, I handed him tools with instructions, his third project was kitchen cabinets, I just handed him tools and answered questions. Now we both can't work in the shop at the same time !! My job with him is almost done. If I can just get him to run the shopbot,(which I gave him the ultimatium the other day) I make plaques for his swim team, I told him this was the last time I would be doing them. He then said "what you are saying is that I have a year to learn how to use the shopbot" I said "you are correct" With this I will be done teaching him.

Bob

[Michael Dromey]

Great story. My boys like to help me in my shop also. Teaching them a trade is something that can't be taken away from them.

[Dan Hahr]

I built hum a little bench a couple of years ago and have been refurbishing some planes and saws for him. He is pretty good at using planes and he can saw fairly straight. We are working on designing simple boxes, but he is still learning to read the grain and plan out his cuts.

It is nice to see all my offcuts getting used up. Its funny watching him tell his friends all the rules about tool usage and safety. Its also cool to see him happy as can be with a cut that he did himself, even though he knows I could do it for him easily.

I appreciate the kind words.
Dan