Last project (possibly)

[gwaithcoed]

This unfortunately could be my last project. I’m 82 have arthritis in my knees and ankles which after a short time in the workshop turns pleasure into pain. Lately I have also developed severe stabbing pain in both of my thumbs which makes me very wary when using power tools.

Everything was then given a coat of mahogany stain and two coats fo satin varnish

Alan

 

[MikeG.]

That's lovely Alan. I hope you can find a way to keep on pottering in your workshop.

 

[gwaithcoed]

Sorry this should have gone in Projects

But here are some more that I did to use up my timber

I can normally give these as they are made to ladies that run the village coffee mornings. I also take some to our local Tenovus charity shop as a small thankyou for my prostate treatment. Others are donated to people running charity auctions and the like.
Now with the lockdown they will have to wait untill we get the all clear.

 

[beech1948]

gwaithcoed,
I recall an article in FWW about a man of your age who had developed a few ways to assist his work. I was interested because I have a lot of pain in my left hand due to bone degeneration.

I will search back in my copies of FWW to see if I can find the article and send you a copy.

It included things such as rubber around clamps to reduce grip needed, a stool which was half sitting and half standing to reduce weight on hips and feet and quite a few more.

Take care and I like the boxes.

 

[Doug B]

They look very nice Alan & I applaud your generosity, I hope you will find a way to carry on in the workshop.

 

[AES]

VERY nice work (but from someone who never made such a nice box in his life!) =D> =D>

Very sorry to hear that health is catching up with you. I'm not so badly off as you but my back gives me "problems" and I found a very good and not too expensive stand/sit "stool" which MAYBE could help you as much as it helps me.

As soon as I've posted this I'll nip back into my own posts and then put a link as a P.S. in case it's of any interest to you. All the best and for your own sake I hope you can find a way to carry on at least a bit now and then. Apart from whatever good it may do for you, how can you "starve" all the lovely local ladies of such work?

All the best

Edit: Here's that link:

back-problems-stand-sit-workshop-stool-t121216.html

Hope that, or something like it can help. Cheers

 

[gwaithcoed]

Hello AES Thank you for the link. Having looked at it i am going to send the drawing to my Daughters partner who is in engineering and see if he could make me something similar.
Thank you Alan

 

[AES]

OK gwaithcoed. Hope it works for you (or something like it), but can I suggest that if possible you find an open shop somewhere to try it 1st (because I had to try several similar ones before I settled on that particular design).

I don't know if it helps you of course, but here in Switzerland, despite having a lock down similar to UK (basically only food shops and chemists open) there is a "shop" local to me which specialises in all sorts of stuff to help disabled, etc, people. It remains open I saw the other day. the chair there was VERY expensive, but having found that design there, and having tried sitting on it in their showroom, it was then fairly easy to find an on line equivalent on line which was much cheaper.

Perhaps you can find a similar still open shop "local" to you before you go ahead with making/buying? Dunno, just an idea, but good luck anyway.

 

[boschboy]

can i just say really nice work good luck to you and i hope you may continue in this work well done fella

 

[John15]

Congratulations Alan. Very attractive work. I hope you can find a way of continuing in your workshop.

John

 

[gregmcateer]

Beautifully made. Without a shadow of doubt nicer than anything I've ever made or will ever make.
I hope you are able to continue to craft as much as possible.
Cheers
Greg

 

[gwaithcoed]

Thank you all for your kind replies, I won't give up just yet I promise

Alan

 

[joel4mo]

With the world in its current state and my father staying with me he has spent nearly every day in my workshop with me. Seeing that time and health have caught up with him and seeing him struggle with that is heart breaking.

Hugely skilled across many disciplines yet his hands won't follow his head for most of the day. I have made adjustments to builds to include him as much as possible, it'd be a shame for his talents to go to waste when a bit of thought and foresight is all that is called for. Make the necessary adjustments and keep going, it'll keep you sane!

Only gutting thought is that I have spent 15 years buried in work and "learning" from those around me instead of tapping into his knowledge.

Boxes are the nuts by the way, wish I had half the patience for the small projects.

 

[gwaithcoed]

Having another go in the workshop today. I am going to make a side table. I've made these before and find them easy to make.

 

[MikeG.]

With....... my father staying with me he has spent nearly every day in my workshop with me........

I only ever did one project with my father. A set of bookshelves, many years after he left us. He came to visit my wife and I in England from his home in Australia, and we tackled a bookshelf project together. It took us probably twice as long doing it together as we each could have have managed if we'd been working alone, and he buggered off again when it came to finishing ("can't bloody stand finishing...."). I reckon the only thing I ever learnt from him was that you could make stuff out of wood, but I didn't get any help at all as to how to do it.

 

[gwaithcoed]

That's it for today. Need to make the sides.

 

[gwaithcoed]

Now need to complete gluing the legs after which it will be given two coats of clear gloss varnish and the tile fixed in with tile adhesive.

Alan

 

[AES]

Lovely work mate, and VERY glad to see that you're continuing to find shop work possible. Well done on both counts =D> =D>

 

[gwaithcoed]

I now need to fix the tile with tile adhesive but do not have enough to do the job and will have to wait until the lockdown ends. Still with lockdown in place if finished I wouldn't have anyone to give it to as the Tenovus charity shop is also closed.

Alan.

 

[D_W]

With....... my father staying with me he has spent nearly every day in my workshop with me........

I only ever did one project with my father. A set of bookshelves, many years after he left us. He came to visit my wife and I in England from his home in Australia, and we tackled a bookshelf project together. It took us probably twice as long doing it together as we each could have have managed if we'd been working alone, and he buggered off again when it came to finishing ("can't bloody stand finishing...."). I reckon the only thing I ever learnt from him was that you could make stuff out of wood, but I didn't get any help at all as to how to do it.

Ditto - my father made stuff. Lots of things. Nothing that anyone would call nice, but lots of nailed together functional pine cabinets stained, etc.

I had hoped to get in on it and from time to time, I'd be allowed to sand, but it was often done when I wasn't looking. Farm parents here in the states generally either ordered kids to assist or kept them out of the way. Teaching was a matter of essential business, not passing on .

Two years ago, when I put my kitchen in, I needed extra hands. My father is only four hours away, and I managed to get him to come here to help. He was never picky and so he assisted without interfering and it was grand. I thought we'd turned a corner of sorts, and he often says he should've visited more often but hasn't been back in the last two years despite having nothing really crowding his schedule. My mother has started to lose her memory and she won't travel well, so I guess that's the end of that.

I've got a thought for the OP, but it'll be lost at the end of this text, so I will post it separately.