OT kinda - What was the most enjoyable thing you've ever made?

[JoeLee]

That's pretty good for three days of practice. You should be working at Corning glass.

JL................

[Dan Dubeau]

I don't know right off will have to think about it for awhile but that hat is the bomb --- I can't believe you picked things up that fast to make something so perfect looking good job...

Thanks. I've always been a quick visual learner, and we had a great teacher those days. It was just my better half, and another woman, plus the instructor for a f/s/s course. I made two2 much smaller ones before this that each had different failures. It was nearing the end of the class, and there was only about an hour left. The instructor asked me why I was just standing around and if there was anything more I wanted to make (it was a very free and open class). So I just went for it, and it all turned out great. There was a great deal of luck involved in that hat, I'm not going to lie. I figured it would end up like one of the other paperweight blobs of fancy glass that we made over the course of the weekend, but I was going to try it anyway.

Doing the brim was the last operation and was a one shot deal as there was no reheating after spinning that out because the big glory hole was shut down already and it wouldn't fit in the one I was using once I spun it out. That was a very nerve racking part. Every step was carefully planned out, and I didn't screw up once, that's what made it rewarding.

Jerry, the class was taught at the Harbourfront center in Toronto. We lived downtown for a few years before buying the farm in 2010. I think we did the course back in 2007? While we're out in the middle of nowhere now, we're still only about an hours drive from downtown TO. I know that, because my wife reminds of how far her drive to work is all the time.....

This was another creation from the class, I think from the Saturday? It's very difficult to get a good solid colour. Even now I'm always impressed when I see glass work that has nice even colour.

Relegated now to hold "stuff" on my desk at work. My wife made a couple mugs too, and a butter dish that we still use in circulation once in a while. There are also a few blobs around the house too lol. The hat resides with my Grandmother, and I took those pics this past Christmas when I went to visit. I will get it back someday, but hopefully not anytime soon. Back when I made it we didn't carry camera phones around in our pockets and think to take pictures of everything we did or touched lol. I wish I'd thought to take more pictures of things I've made over the years. I built a lot of wood furniture (coffee/end tables, book cases, potato boxes, desks, etc) back in highschool and college and don't have pictures of any of it. Just never occurred to me to take any. Woodworking was always my first love.

[metalmagpie]

For me it was building a geodesic "desert dome" for one of my kids to take to Burning Man. Nothing like putting huge smiles on about a dozen twenty-somethings. I am traveling and don't have access to a pic, sorry.

metalmagpie

[Dan Dubeau]

After that would be the fishing bucktails I designed, machined the mold, and cast. I build a lot of crazy crap for people, and have done a lot of fancy home reno stuff, but it's not pure enjoyment. I haven't made a pure 'objet d'art' like Dan in a long time if you don't count photography. I did metal sculptures before going to Industrial Design school.

Great job! Fishing lures are pretty rewarding too. This is a creation I came up with a couple years ago that I'd thought about for even longer after watching some lake trout behavior toward herring and wondering if I could make a bait that would mimic that. The rewarding part was when I hooked up on the very first drop (lost it at the hole, so no pic). It wasn't a big one anyway, but it still was pretty satisfying to know that it worked. I haven't done much lure making in the past little while (or fishing for that matter), but I'd like to get back to it eventually.

I think this pic was of #1, and I've made about 20 or so since to give away to friends and family. I started making a mold to inject the tubes instead of dipping/cutting, and some other changes to the internal weighting and hook style and placement (along with a lipped crank, and lipless that use the same tube skirt), but it's all been on the back burner for a while. We're heading up to one of our good lake trout spots in a couple weeks after 2 years of not going so I should get on it to finish them.

[Dan Dubeau]

I would have to say my kayak was the most enjoyable project I've done. One reason was I've wanted to make a kayak since I was a kid – just didn't have the money, time, or heated workspace come together until recently. The main reason, however, is that I made it at my dad's house, in his basement. I went from seeing dad maybe every week or two to seeing him three days a week. You can only do so much before you need to let the glue dry so after a few hours I'd take a break to go upstairs and visit with dad. Turned out it was the final year of his life and I'll forever be thankful for having that extra time together.

I enjoyed the construction process. Other than cutting the strips and the sanding, the work was done with hand tools, mainly a block plane, a pull saw, and a knife. Hoping to make a canoe next. My old Old Town is getting heavier as the years go by and a sub-50 pound canoe sounds like just what I need.

That's a beautiful Kayak George, and the story and memory of the build are even better. A nice reminder that life is all about the journey than the destination. Not sure if the bookmatched lighter strips were planned or accidental but they really stand out great.

I've always wanted to build a kayak as well, and one of the first things I'm going to mill when I finish my sawmill is the cedar for it (we have a lot on the property). My great uncle John built strip canoes in his basement and I used to love sitting down there and watching when we visited on our trips up north. I was pretty young during those trips, but I can still remember him taking wood out of the steam box and bending it like magic. It's funny the memories you retain and other important one you forget.

One of the big motivations behind my recent shop cleanup and setup is so I can build an engine with my Dad. He's always loved hit n miss engines, and I want to build a model with him, and maybe get to restoring the two he's had sitting in his shed since I was a kid. He'll be 73 in a few weeks, and time slows down for no one.

Love the photos guys, keep them coming as well as the stories that go with them.

[Dan Dubeau]

What was the most enjoyable thing you've ever made?

A Baby!

My Kids are the 2 greatest and rewarding things I've ever "made" without a doubt. Although the wife says I had a very small role in their creation , not sure what she means by that lol.

Both have the "creation bug" and love building stuff too. We are very much a "maker" family as the kids call it these days.

[Dan Dubeau]

Made two of these. One for a 15 year old boy and another for a 30 year old woman. One right, one left.
Kept them each from having a leg amputated below the hip.
For a hippy kid, whose guidance counselor said would never amount to anything, I felt pretty damn special.

Those are great Tim! One of the facets of this industry I'd love to work in would be prosthetics. I think it would be a very rewarding career. Much more rewarding than making automotive tooling better faster cheaper every design cycle in a no win race to the bottom....

I think we had the same guidance counselor...Unfortunately I wasn't a gifted academic, and put zero effort into grades and formal education (I just don't learn the way our system teaches, and rebelled against it) so that path is pretty closed to me at this point in my life even though I've figured out my deficiencies and reformed my ways as an adult. Easily one of my biggest regrets about my younger self.

[Tundra Twin Track]

TTT was that grain auger featured in Farm Show magazine? I remember seeing on like it in there.

Yes it was,I don’t recall what year.

[Dan Dubeau]

Yes it was,I don’t recall what year.

I'm always impressed at the things you come up with to make your job more efficient, and the tool modification projects. They always look so professional. I like building stuff from accumulated stuff laying around too, but when you do it, it looks very industrial and professional. When I do it, it looks exactly like cobbled together stuff lol.

[BWS]

Made so many neat things over the years including every last brick and stick of wood in the "repro" 1810 Federal period house I'm living in,35 years ago but;

Seeing your knee dragging avatar,figured you'd get a kick outta this...

20? years ago built a hydraulic,and pnuematic 3 axis wheel straightening machine for a bent BMW M/C wheel. I originally sent the wheel off to some duma$$ in Kentucky. After 6 months waiting(bought a replacement) the dipstick sends it back...

Uhhh,it wasn't straight,and worse was having to deal with this guy's BS!!

So I get pi$$ed and figured what the hay? Build a machine. The dang thing works perfectly. Have straightened a dz or so M/C wheels,and 3 Subaru WRX wheels.

[Doozer]

Cool ! ! !

--Doozer

[A.K. Boomer]

Made two of these. One for a 15 year old boy and another for a 30 year old woman. One right, one left.
Kept them each from having a leg amputated below the hip.
For a hippy kid, whose guidance counselor said would never amount to anything, I felt pretty damn special.

Absolutely incredible

[A.K. Boomer]

I would have to say my kayak was the most enjoyable project I've done. One reason was I've wanted to make a kayak since I was a kid – just didn't have the money, time, or heated workspace come together until recently. The main reason, however, is that I made it at my dad's house, in his basement. I went from seeing dad maybe every week or two to seeing him three days a week. You can only do so much before you need to let the glue dry so after a few hours I'd take a break to go upstairs and visit with dad. Turned out it was the final year of his life and I'll forever be thankful for having that extra time together.

I enjoyed the construction process. Other than cutting the strips and the sanding, the work was done with hand tools, mainly a block plane, a pull saw, and a knife. Hoping to make a canoe next. My old Old Town is getting heavier as the years go by and a sub-50 pound canoe sounds like just what I need.

What a great story and what a piece of work GB, iv seen thousands of kayaks where I live but never seen anything as beautifully done up as that one, you even matched up the symmetry of light and dark wood and Wow the details...

It's a piece of functional art...

[George Bulliss]

What a great story and what a piece of work GB, iv seen thousands of kayaks where I live but never seen anything as beautifully done up as that one, you even matched up the symmetry of light and dark wood and Wow the details...

It's a piece of functional art...

Thanks AK and Dan. The deck is from one board and I kept track of the strips as I cut them and bookmatched them when building. Did the same for the board that made up the bottom and the one used for the sides. Was sure I would mess up the order but I managed to get it right. That shot was not long after varnishing – things aren't so shiny now. I treat it like a boat and it has plenty of scratches and one dent from a hard impact on a submerged stump. Needs new varnish every few years so it will look good again, at least for a while. (The varnish is only there for UV protection for the epoxy.)

I'm thinking that for my canoe I may just paint the exterior. Not as pretty but a lot more functional and being able to use fillers will mean a lot less sanding required. Less sanding is a good thing with these boats.

[Tundra Twin Track]

I would have to say my kayak was the most enjoyable project I've done. One reason was I've wanted to make a kayak since I was a kid – just didn't have the money, time, or heated workspace come together until recently. The main reason, however, is that I made it at my dad's house, in his basement. I went from seeing dad maybe every week or two to seeing him three days a week. You can only do so much before you need to let the glue dry so after a few hours I'd take a break to go upstairs and visit with dad. Turned out it was the final year of his life and I'll forever be thankful for having that extra time together.

I enjoyed the construction process. Other than cutting the strips and the sanding, the work was done with hand tools, mainly a block plane, a pull saw, and a knife. Hoping to make a canoe next. My old Old Town is getting heavier as the years go by and a sub-50 pound canoe sounds like just what I need.

The kayak looks great,any idea how many hours you have into it,not that it matters when your enjoying the project takes the chore out of the picture.

That’s Great you could spend extra time with your Dad towards the end,it’s ironic sometimes how the timing works out.Had similar thing with a close friend.