Continuing the Traditions

Almost every day that I am out in the workshop, I have two regular visitors. The most frequent visitor is my German Shepherd, who loves to come check on what I’m doing. The second is my 7 year old daughter, who shows up with her pink work apron on and all the creativity I remember myself having as a child. Her very first day in the workshop, when asked what she wanted to build, she chose a workbench. Forget about the two built-in benches, or the mobile 4’x5’ work cart that I had made, or even the plastic folding table that was being used as temporary storage; she HAD to have one of her own.

After starting to guide her through some measuring and cutting, I came to realize that her workbench design was going to stand about 10 inches off the ground. We had a discussion about what she actually needed, and ultimately decided that we should turn her workbench into a stool. This would let her work at all of my benches, and it was stable enough, at about 2’x2, to allow her to move around on it if needed.

During the build process, we talked about how to measure, how to cut, and how to make things stable. There was nothing inherently complicated about this build, but it was her first project. The most technical thing we talked about, which likely went WAAAAAYYY over her head, was when it might be better to use nails or screws depending on the direction of force being applied to the fastener in question. Something tells me that her focus was on hitting the nails with the hammer.

Once the stool was finished, she used it to help me turn a Zebrawood pen, and picked out some Rosegold hardware for it. I mounted the pen blank and roughed it out, then I let her have a turn with the gouge. I watched her like a hawk to avoid any catches and helped guide the depth of the cut, but she largely did the shaping by herself. The end result was a pen that has become one of my favorites to-date.

Now it seems that each time I’m working on a project, she not only wants to help, but wants to use the lathe again. In time, she’ll get more practice and require less supervision. Maybe by the time she’s 30 I’ll be able to let her work alone without fear of injury. Until then, I’m going to continue to pause my projects to help her cut a random piece of wood, show her how to do it herself with the hand saw, get a little irritated when she over-sprays hot pink paint all over the garage floor when I’m not looking, then smirk when she later tells the story about how she made a hot pink ‘katana’.

For now, she’s still my warrior princess.

PJ’s, Check

Pink Apron, Check

Thumb tucked and fingers curled to avoid injury

Also Check.

Just as I’m finishing up my latest project, she’s focusing hard on her own.