Daughter's new desk project start.

[Aleks Hunter]

Daughter Kuniko came home from school this week for a few days and was lamenting the desk that her new house (she had to live in the dorm the first two years) came with. Since she's studying Design, Innovation and Society I said let's build one. We took a trip up to our friendly neighborhood wood mine and did some prospecting in the leftovers from projects back in the late 90s and early 2000s and struck a cherry vein with some 12 and 14 inch 8/4 and 8 inch 12/4 and set about making her a desk that will withstand college life for a few generations.
We'll post more as it progresses.

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[Gordon Eyre]

Good luck on your project. Looking forward to updates.

[Kamil Czuba]

Awesome. Can't wait til my monkeys are old enough so we can do a project together.

[Aleks Hunter]

She's been at it since she was nine. The trick is to get tools in their hands as soon as you can trust them with a sharp knife to cut their own meat. She's 20 now and building things is second nature to her.

[Jim Matthews]

You're onto something, there.

Kids value the things requiring effort, on their part.
Things given to my boys are demolished.

Stuff they "make" gets displayed on a shelf.

PS - Where did you find that mothballed aircraft carrier of a jointer?
It's further across than my dining table. Yikes.

[Aleks Hunter]

THe best way to raise kids is to do constructive things with them. make sure they understand the safety rules and stand back and let them amaze you! She's in a very good engineering school, and her biggest complaint is "Dad these kids don't know how to build anything!" Thats the best music you 'l ever hear :)
I do like that jointer. It almost could double as a dining table, as long as you really beef up the floor's dead load capacity! Its an S.A. Woods American 24".The cutterhead and pulley alone weigh 175 lbs. I used to have a 12" jet, and the Woods jinter, one hundred years older is heads and shoulders above the Jet functionality wise.
Part of the fun of building the shop with her was going out and scavenging and hunting for tools, always looking out for deals and not being afraid to haggle and to put a little elbow grease into them or having to get creative getting them home. She and I moved it together, including down a half a dozen stairs. That was a fun weekend, we got it over in New Hampshire, a guy was liquidating his shop. sadly I showed up a half hour too late to get the 36" yates bandsaw he had. If you're looking for a big jointer, I have a friend who has an 18 or 20" one. Its a big monster I think its 5 hp He can put it on a trailer or truck for you easily.

[Jim Becker]

It's really wonderful to see your daughter working in the shop to create something she needs. Bravo!

[Gus Dundon]

It's good to see and hear this kind of story. She'll surely do great. Keep us updated.