The saga of the drill bits

[courdorygirl]

Hey everyone.  Sorry I don't have any pictures today, they are still in my phone and it's dead at the moment, plugged in in an effort to revive it.

 

The past couple of weeks I've mentioned a few times that I've been using my dad's hand-held drill to make my pilot holes, but the drill bit wasn't long enough.  (it wasn't, I was using a tiny little bit and an adaptor.) 

 

Let me set up my little "shop" for you.  my parents live in a roughly 1200 sq foot house, with a porch build on the back that is easily 600 sq feet itself.  They bought a porch with a house attached.  It's nice.  When I got my saw last Christmas, I didn't (and still don't) have anywhere to put or use it at home, as I live in a neighborhood full of duplexes with a communal back yard, and things sometimes tend to sprout legs and walk off.  We've been lucky so far, mostly because my neighbor works for ADT and has security cameras everywhere. I'm rambling, on with it.

 

Against the house, I have a 8 foot plastic cafeteria table with my saw, the drill, it's case and respective bit set, my mouse sander, and all of my wood stacked up on the end.  This is my shop.  I do sometimes venture out onto the patio table, and of course everything (and I do mean everything) is currently coated in a fine layer of sawdust, with an even finer layer of pollen on top.  I vacuumed up what I could today.

 

Usually, I'm gone by the time my dad gets home from work, so I hadn't had a chance to ask him about drill bits.  On the other end of the porch is a big plastic tub with all of the other tools (or so I thought) in it, and I never found any more bits.  I thought this a bit odd, and I'll explain why in a minute, but shook it off and decided to ask later.  Which I did today.

 

The reason I thought this odd is because every year, for every birthday and every Christmas, since I've been old enough to want to give gifts (let's say third grade when my elementary school let us go to the little Santa shop to pick out gifts with our pin money,) my dad and I have had an understanding.  He gets tools, and I get art supplies.  Sometimes, this has created some funny moments, like the year he gave me what he thought was an art kit, and it turned out to be a makeup kit (I don't wear makeup.  at all.) and I turned around and donated it to the school's drama club.  Inevitably, he ends up getting more drill bits if we just can't think of anything else.  So, the missing bits were a bit of an anomaly.

 

Well, I stayed late today, because I started late after having to finish my payday errands, so I got to ask my dad about the missing bits.  Boy did I feel dumb.  The actual toolboxes (he has three, imagine that.) are not on the porch, but out in the shed in the back yard.  We did find the bit I wanted, and it worked great, along with a blower and a shop vac! 

 

However, he had to teach me how to put the bit in the drill.  You learn something new every day.

 

I think my dad is tickled that I've started asking for tools instead of art supplies (I have the same amount of art supplies that he has tools, a whole room full.  Thankfully the art supplies can be used up.) when I informed him that I would like a dremel for my birthday.

 

Tomorrow I will post the progress pictures of my newest puzzle, a firetruck.  Made in honor of the amount of times I say FiretrUCK a day.  (I really try not to, as the little girls next door are always outside playing the same time I'm scrolling, and stop to watch fascinatedly every time I turn the saw on.  They are still too young to come over by themselves without mom, but they can see pretty well from the top of their slide ladder.  It's cute.)  That really tickled  my dad when I showed him the puzzle and told him that.  He says FiretrUCK while working a lot too.

[amazingkevin]

Your really green around wood working,lol Your coming along just fine. Wanting to work in wood is half the battle.Keep it up !

[courdorygirl]

Yep, totally green. Didn't even take shop in school. All of my electives were Art or French. I'll give you three guesses what my majors are. (minor is business)

Edited April 11, 2015 by courdorygirl

[OCtoolguy]

I just hope you majored in something that will make you some money. So many of the kids nowadays are majoring in stupid stuff. Like dance and philosophy and Russian history. It just blows me away why would anybody who wants to earn a decent living take any of those.

 

 

Ray

[wombatie]

I loved your story Angela.  My husband and I have a very large bandsaw and I only use it about 3 times a year and everytime I have to ring him for him, for him to tell me how to start it.  He loves buying me tools for Christmas.  What he likes even more is to go into a hardware shop with me and for an assistant to come over and ask him if he needs some help, he just points at me and says " Your asking the wrong person, speak to my wife, she knows what she wants." 

 

Marg

[Scrolling Steve]

Angela my wife took woodworking courses at the local community college long before i was interested....and now i am using some of her early tools!.....Nice to be able to share those common interest like you now do with your Dad.

[courdorygirl]

I loved your story Angela.  My husband and I have a very large bandsaw and I only use it about 3 times a year and everytime I have to ring him for him, for him to tell me how to start it.  He loves buying me tools for Christmas.  What he likes even more is to go into a hardware shop with me and for an assistant to come over and ask him if he needs some help, he just points at me and says " Your asking the wrong person, speak to my wife, she knows what she wants." 

 

Marg

 

My husband and I are the same way in auto parts shop.  He'll point at me and say ask the family mechanic.  (My last job before starting my bus was in an auto shop.)

 

 

Angela my wife took woodworking courses at the local community college long before i was interested....and now i am using some of her early tools!.....Nice to be able to share those common interest like you now do with your Dad.

 

My husband too some woodworking in high school and has helped me a lot with the different types of woods and what will work best. 

 

 

I just hope you majored in something that will make you some money. So many of the kids nowadays are majoring in stupid stuff. Like dance and philosophy and Russian history. It just blows me away why would anybody who wants to earn a decent living take any of those.

 

 

Ray

 

 

Well, it's French and Art education, so I don't know if I'll ever be rich (I doubt it), but we are comfortable with me and school and hubs working full time.  (he's a manager for a large box-retailer)  I always encourage high school seniors to do what they love, but be realistic about it.  Most liberal arts majors have to start out working in retail or fast food.  Just a fact of life.  I tell them that In my case, the business minor is for my own benefit.  I'd love to own my own little shop one day, and guess what?  retail.  The Education majors are for a fairly regular paycheck between now and then (I also substitute teach while I finish  my Bachelor's degree.)  The best advice I ever got is that no matter what you want to do, you're going to have to work at it, so do something you like.

[jamminjack]

Really enjoyed the story.  I am glad that you are interested in this venue..  We all had a similar start one way or another.

Keep at it and enjoy the journey. There are a lot of great adventures ahead of you, enjoy everyone of them.

 

Thanks for sharing.

[DWSUDEKUM]

Once in a while you find something that you would do for a living even if you did not get paid for it because that is what you were destined to do.  Scrolling is addictive and rewarding.  As you get better and better and make things like bows, intarsia, fretwork people will start to think that you have things like a lathe, a laser cutter, etc and are really amazed when you tell them nope all of these things were made using a scrollsaw. Keep up the great work.

 

DW

[bobscroll]

Thank you very much Angela for the interesting story you had to tell,

Bob   

Edited April 14, 2015 by bobscroll

[OCtoolguy]

Courdorygirl, you are right in what you say but let me warn you about a couple of things. I have been in retail for most all of my working years. I am now retired. In retail, it's a daily grind to keep your cool because there are so many jerks who will spoil your day. You must concentrate on the good customers in order to keep your sanity. Another thing that some wise person once said, is "don't try to turn your hobby into a business as it will ruin both".  My wife and I had a Hallmark Card Shop for about 6 years. We had wonderful customers on a daily basis but when I think back to those years what I remember is the few folks who chose to make our lives miserable by stealing from us and robbing us. Those experiences stick in my mind more than anything. Also, never, ever extend credit to anybody. At some point, a good customer who has been given credit will "crap" on you and you will end up hating them. Just my sage words of advice. Now, back to scroll sawing, This is such a great hobby and the folks here in the Scrollsaw Village are the BEST!!!

Edited April 11, 2015 by octoolguy

[Phantom Scroller]

All I can say Angela is scrollsawing is an ART! which is what your good at, so hang in there you on the right track and the tools will come as you expand.   Roly

[LarryEA]

I like these little stories and advice. I would tell mine but I drag it on much too long.

Tell more and put them in a BLOG.

[courdorygirl]

I like these little stories and advice. I would tell mine but I drag it on much too long.

Tell more and put them in a BLOG.

 I have a blog, but I haven't updated it in a very long time.

[LarryEA]

 I have a blog, but I haven't updated it in a very long time.

 

Angela, I'm talking about SSV's BLOG.

Look at the scroll bar at the top...  HOME    FORUM   ...   ...   ...   BLOGS  ...

BLOGS right here at the Village...

[LarryEA]

Also, Go to the HOME section of SSV and half way down the page is: Recent Blog Entries.

New blogs or new posts to blogs are posted here.

[wombatie]

 

Also, Go to the HOME section of SSV and half way down the page is: Recent Blog Entries.

New blogs or new posts to blogs are posted here.

 

Thanks Larry, I didn't know about the Blogs above either.  You learn something new everyday.

 

Marg

[Multifasited]

Short lifes lesson ( Anything free only has the value the receiver is willing to put on it ) TODAY ,it seems AIN'T MUCH !EVEN CREDIT is easily FORGOTTEN ! OR AS JOHN WAYNE SAID :( YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID )

Edited April 12, 2015 by Multifasited