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Category Archives: Kids
For Narnia! A Stone Table Made from Wood
Whenever my kids start a new activity, I inevitably get sucked into it myself. This time it was a play at my local community theater. My youngest daughter landed the role of Lucy in a stage version of The Lion, … Continue reading
Names on Tools: Past and Future Owners
Awhile back, I published a post about vintage tools with previous owners’ names on them. While it’s fun to imagine (and sometimes deduce) the character of the men who owned and used these tools before they came into my hands, … Continue reading
Posted in History, Kids
Tagged Disston, grandpa, hand saw, handsaw, kids, paring chisel, pecan wood, saw handle, spalted pecan
3 Comments
From Toy Box to Tool Chest
When my kids were very young, I built a few things for them–a cradle, a toddler bed, and a toy box. But kids grow up, and if you build these things right, you eventually look around at all the kid-sized … Continue reading
Posted in Boxes, Kids, Wood and Woodwork
Tagged anarchist's tool chest, repurpose, repurposed, sliding trays, tool chest, tool tray, tool trays, toy box, toybox
1 Comment
The Gift of Time: 8 Ways to Use Extra Time in the Shop
Time is the greatest of gifts. None of us knows how much of it we will have over our lifetime, and once it’s gone we can never get it back. That’s why I’m not much bothered by the prospect of … Continue reading
Posted in Kids, Musings, Sharpening, Storage, Teaching
Tagged cleaning, coronavirus, covid-19, deferred maintenance, maintenance, pandemic, quarantine, teach, Teaching, teaching woodworking, time
6 Comments
One Last Bedstead
When my youngest child–my only son, R.–finally outgrew our old toddler bed (which I had originally built for his older sister, and which had then been passed down through the siblings to him, and which I eventually gave away to … Continue reading
Posted in Build-Alongs, Kids, Wood and Woodwork
Tagged bed frame, bedstead, handtools, headboard, lapped dovetail, mortise and tenon, shiplap, wooden bed frame
1 Comment
Building A Frame-and-Panel Interior Door
If I had a backup career in woodworking, it would be making doors and windows for historic homes. It’s not that I especially enjoy making such objects more than others. (I’ve never even made a window sash.) It’s that it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Build-Alongs, Home Improvement, Kids, Wood and Woodwork
Tagged brace and bit, cat, dog, door, drawbore, frame and panel, frame and panel door, handplane, handtools, hang a door, hang interior door, interior door, mortise, mortise and tenon, plow plane, tenon, veritas small plow plane
8 Comments
Crafting (in) the Home: Passing on Your Skills to your Children
I just returned from a conference on community building called The Urban Village: From Cloud-Castles to Blueprints, sponsored by The Servi Institute in Oklahoma City, OK, where I gave a presentation on passing on manual skills to children by letting … Continue reading
Fairy Furniture You Can Make on Your Front Steps
After a big tropical storm made a mess of my daughter K’s fairy garden, she decided to do some remodeling. First on her list was new fairy furniture, so we thought up some simple designs for a table and chairs. … Continue reading
Posted in Build-Alongs, Kids, Wood and Woodwork
Tagged fairy, fairy furniture, fairy garden, fairy house, garden, tree branch
2 Comments
Working Wood with My Children (Mostly Pictures)
Ever since my children were old enough to hold tools, I have included them in my woodworking. My workbench is right in our main living space–on one end of the dining room–so the kids can all see me every time … Continue reading
The Best Tire Swing Ever
We have a large oak tree in our front yard, and while we have attempted to put up several different kinds of tree swings for the children over the years, this tire swing has been by far the best. The … Continue reading
Posted in Build-Alongs, Home Improvement, Kids, Wood and Woodwork
Tagged hardware, rope, swing, tire, tire swing, tireswing, tree swing
2 Comments
The Literary Workshop Blog 