Recent Events

Our days have been pretty quiet since our return from Scottsdale last month. Kathie and I have both been chipping away at yard work since the days have turned nicer–raking up sticks and leaves, improving flower beds, and mowing for the first time. There will be more of that, of course, as it is pleasant being outdoors.

Before we head north for the summer, we have also been trying to catch up with friends and relatives. For example, last Monday morning we invited Rex and Chris to join us for breakfast and to celebrate Rex's birthday. They have been retired for almost one year already, and so it was fun to hear about their activities, travels, projects, and plans.

We have also turned some attention to our hobbies. Kathie finished a crocheting project recently–a carseat blanket for a recently-born great nephew who we expect to meet in May. I finally finished making two nightstands to accompany a bed I made several years ago. This furniture is made of maple with padauk accents. Padauk comes from central and western Africa and is an orange/red wood that I first worked with back in my high school shop class. When finished, it turns an almost burgundy color and is quite beautiful I think. The bed and the nightstands both have padauk slats and inlay on the legs. I chose to make the tops of the nightstands from padauk and to turn the drawer pulls from that wood as well. Here is one of the nightstands.

And here is the bed with the two nightstands in place.

Wooden Steam Engine

Maybe five or even six years ago, I found a company that sells plans for very detailed model toys. I was especially captivated by the plans for an old steam engine and tender, and so I immediately bought the plans. However, as with many of the things that attract my attention and interest, I failed to actually get around to using the plans to build one of the models. This past January, though, after getting a number of other things out of the way, I finally got around to starting the project. I finished just yesterday, and here is the result.

The entire model is wood. Except for glue, there are absolutely no other kinds of materials involved. Most of the parts I made from walnut, but I also used hard maple for accent pieces, the wheels, and selected other components. I even made the track, using maple for the rails and walnut for the ties. The section of track is about 30" long, so the engine and tender together are nearly that long. Because of a number of fairly delicate assemblies, the model really won't hold up well as a toy.

The only problem now is to figure out where to display it. Maybe it will just end up in a box somewhere, or maybe I'll end up giving it to one of my grandkids someday. For me, the fun was in building it. I keep wondering if I should come up with a railroad name to stencil onto the sides of the tender and/or engine. I could maybe even use my wood burner to do that. Or maybe, given my wood burning skills, I'll leave well enough alone.