Friends son has expressed a interest in woodworking.  As Ralph cannot nail two boards together he asked could I give his son some shop time and see where this leads.  I suspect this was to keep him from investing a lot of money on something that was nothing more than a passing interest.  Brent, his son, came over for a few nights and I mapped out what I needed for a storage bin.  Sat him down and asked him to draw out details.  He got the basics and then set about finding scraps I had of plywood and set to the task of making this storage bin.  Learned all about each machine before I let him touch it.  

 

I won't cover in a short description near what he and I went over but he learned about a few types of joints, how to attached edge banding to boards both with pin nails and just glue.  Lots of mistakes we had to fix or just cover up.  Finishing was frustrating for him, but hey we got to start somewhere and this is a shop fixture not a frame for a painting at a museum.  More than once he gave me this look of why not fix this.  Had to point out to him that along the way I referenced several shop fixtures that had mistakes.  Yeah, I use them for reference as well. 

 

Normally I am not much for company in the shop so this was a bit out of my comfort zone.  But with today's educational system in the state that it is where else can he explore this skillset.  He installed this evening while I worked on a fixing a drawer for the neighbor.  Not bad, not Tal Mahal either but hey it works, is well built, as in plenty of glue and screws, and has plenty of coats of poly.  Bit shiny but I let him have at it explaining as we went how to improve.  Still have to do some touch up work on the insert for the brushes but I have time.

 

Oddly his favorite part was removing a section of the pegboard wall and installing a stud and bracing where one was not.  Only had one available stud to attach to because some moron built this garage with 24 inch centers.....   So now he wants to build a back shed for his Dad's lawn equipment this summer.   

 

Good on you WBBN for taking the challenge and giving your time, your tools, your space and your patience. Kudos to his dad also for recognizing to trust you to mentor in this endeavor.

Sounds & looks like you got him off to a good start and may have instilled a desire to pursue further. A shed project could be aggressive but a great learning opportunity. Just the fact the kid expressed an interest is a rare treasure today.

23 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Just the fact the kid expressed an interest is a rare treasure today.

Sad but very true.  

25 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Good on you WBBN for taking the challenge and giving your time, your tools, your space and your patience. Kudos to his dad also for recognizing to trust you to mentor in this endeavor.

Sounds & looks like you got him off to a good start and may have instilled a desire to pursue further. A shed project could be aggressive but a great learning opportunity. Just the fact the kid expressed an interest is a rare treasure today.

I second this...

29 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

A shed project could be aggressive but a great learning opportunity.

Well he is busy planning it.  He borrowed my long measuring tape, some stakes, twine and a mallet before he left tonight.  Ralph texted me that he had laid out the stakes and showed his Mother his grand plan.  Bet that was interesting!!!

You made my day, that is the best story of the day. I hope you have lit a fire in that kid that just keeps getting bigger. That is how I learned many things when I was a kid, working with my dad. He taught me all his mistakes and It took me years to sort them out from the good things, but that is how you learn. Good for you.

HErb

Good on you Woodbutcher.  Keep the spark alive.

btw, how old is the boy?

I second all the kudos above. You're a good man WBBN. 

‘Tis a good thing you are doing. As an electrician we get apprentices, and part of that arrangement is teaching them. There is a huge warm and fuzzy feeling when they get competent, and you see how much of a part of that, you were. They will see you in a teacher/mentor position, in their minds. I got invited to two of my former apprentices weddings. You could call him grasshopper, but I doubt he’d get the reference LOL. 

I have been in the same boat, Artie, and would do it again if I had the chance. It IS a good feeling.

Herb

Great start on the new apprentice. Now you will have a helper when needed . To Artie and Herb as a Pharmacist I have trained many techs and the good one always come back and express appreciation.

I agree Gerald, My experience as a welding instructor has been most satisfying when my apprentices and journeymen returned to say thank you. I'm sure your efforts will be greatly appreciated when he realizes what you've done for him.

It truly is rewarding when you see them have that "aha" moment. As @Gerald said, the good ones always come back and express appreciation. That's the validation and reward you were successful.

14 hours ago, Cal said:

btw, how old is the boy?

17 going on 21.  

 

 

Thanks to all who commented, was an inspiration for me.  This started out as a conversation with his Dad then a visit one night to "help in the shop".  Didn't get much done that evening as I had to answer many questions.  

6 hours ago, Gerald said:

Now you will have a helper when needed

Very true.  Bit at odds with my normal routine.  Shop time is quiet time, I generally don't have visitors.  

11 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

17 going on 21.  

 

 

Outstanding, it really shows his interest in doing these things. If you had told me it was a younger teen I would not have given it a second thought. However, at 17 it tells a totally different story. A good story.

 

If my father had dragged me to you at 17, I might have just said, "FU" and gone fishing. The fact that he stuck with you and planned his own project speaks volumes.

 

Great job.

On 2/25/2019 at 7:18 PM, Woodbutcherbynight said:

 

Normally I am not much for company in the shop so this was a bit out of my comfort zone. 

Now that's impressive, well done Gunny. You opened your door for the kid.

Agree that when you share your knowledge with others and they get it, maybe not as well as you they will develop and interest and grow.  Kudos on you.  I hope to see more of this from you.  

On 2/27/2019 at 3:38 PM, John Morris said:

You opened your door for the kid.

This evening I started to think I opened a can of worms.  Having spent some time on woodworking sites and youtube he has come to the conclusion that my DC system is highly inefficient and in need of serious overhaul.  This was not a halfway effort, he put time into it.  Brought me diagrams and pictures of optimal set-up and a couple of recommendations for a new bigger better, suck a basketball through 100 ft of 8 inch hose DC's.  I believe I heard the phrase Pimp my DC no less than 5 times.  Another comment that tickled me was the DC needs to be turbo charged, almost choked when he asked if twin turbos was possible.  Yeah if we wanted to say suck the foundation out of the ground.

 

Not much work done, but was very entertaining.  Now if he can win the lottery for me I might have the cash needed for these improvements....

21 minutes ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

This evening I started to think I opened a can of worms.  Having spent some time on woodworking sites and youtube

An (A) for his effort and zeal...maybe a low C for practicality but he's learning about the craft...on his own no less. Got  any major sanding for him to do? That will throttle him back a little.