Father's day present

[cleanslate]

Here is what I consider to be my true fathers day present:

Getting to spend precious time with my nine year old son, Keith, teaching him the ropes of making pens. He made his first pen two weeks ago, and these pictures are of him making his second pen last night out in our shed. But more than the pens that we make out in the shed, I cherrish the precious memories and bonds that we make out in the shed.

 

[jimm1]

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

 

[Papa mark]

Good Times

You will never forget the times like this that you get to spend with your son. Good Job.....

 

[kenlicciardello]

I agree completely. My youngest son has been making pens and things for 3 years now and he is 12. Watch out, they learn crazy fast. My son won an art show in Reno with a pen and how to video. Now he says he makes better pens than me because I have not won an award.

Congratulations on a great Father's Day gift.

 

[cleanslate]

Watch out, they learn crazy fast.

Yeah, I know. He turned his third pen tonight and is really picking up on it. We have a system: I cut the blanks and chuck them in the four-jaw, he drills them out, I glue the tubes into them (I would hate to have to explain to his mom how he super glued his fingers to a piece of wood out in the shed), I true them up (because we don't have any pen mills, I just turn the ends true) and get mandrell set up and he does the rest. when he turned his first I was basically standing over his shoulder, teaching him what to do and what to absolutely not do ( don't really care about the wood, but trying to teach him what's safe and unsafe), and tonight I hardly had to give him any tips, he is picking up on turning way faster than I did.

 

[keithlong]

Well he has a great first name. Glad you got to spend time with him.

 

[cleanslate]

Yeah, now that he's out of school I've had him since saturday and my parents keep him during the day while I'm at work. I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time watching him work out in the shed.

 

[ToddMR]

That is so cool! I have my daughter age 13 sometimes out there. I show her stuff and explain it. She has made 1 pen and a cool looking key chain. Wish she was with me FT to show her all the time.

 

[cleanslate]

I feel your pain Todd, I only see my son every other weekend from Friday night untill Sunday evening, and with his football season coming up here shortly it will be even less than that since his games are on Saturday mornings and we live about two hrs away from each other.

 

[Haynie]

SOrry to get all mushy but my heart goes out to you two. I can't imagine not being with my boys everyday. 5 going on 6, and 9. Every day is an adventure.

 

[cleanslate]

Soak it up my friend. Enjoy every moment and make the most of every day. There are far too many of us who don't get to spend nearly enough time with our children.

 

[flyfishermanmike]

For a minute there I thought I was looking at pics of my setup. I have the same lathe, tools, drill chuck and micro mesh in the background. However I did just upgrade my face shield. Money well spent! I'd definitely stick some safety glasses on as well when using that shield. Looks like a blast. I hope to share similar moments with the kids I want to have someday.

^^ike

 

[clapiana]

Nice shot of those children turning I got my 13 year old son down in the shop this year. I have had a shop for years but turning pens is what got us working down there we both really enjoy it ... funny I never thought I would use all my tools for creating a little pen . We created a nice sled for the bandsaw so he could use it safely

To be honest Xbox competes with his time though ....he asks himself should I kill zombies or create a pen? My daughter enjoyed it for a day and Facebook grabs her time amazing all this stuff in this day and age grabbing their time not to mention travel soccer

My boy is now pushing pens at school bringing in a leather case to boot . He has sold more then me haha I sold gum to kids in school when I was his age and he is pushing iPad styluses and hand poured pens... Go figure!