You Know You’re Getting Better at Woodwork When…

your friends bring you small projects and you say, “Sure, I can do that.”

It happened to me last weekend.  A friend brought me two wooden objects and asked if I could make something similar.

 

The first was a shuttle for a lap loom.  She had a long shuttle and wanted a shorter one, so I made her one out of a bit of beech I had lying around.  The second one was a little more challenging.  It was one of a pair of wooden mallets for a hammer dulcimer.  She had lost one and wanted to know if I could make a replacement.  I decided to make a new pair instead out of some pecan.

Both projects required a little three-dimensional shaping with a spokeshave and rasp, but they were both quick.  The mallets had to taper down to a specific width in order to strike the strings properly, but the handles needed to be wider for comfort.  The most challenging part, however, was getting each mallet to weigh and balance the same.  According to my little kitchen scale, I got it right down to the quarter-ounce.

It’s gratifying to be able to finally approach little challenges like this with confidence.