Murphy’s Law

[MrWoody]

I worked with my 13 year old daughter last night helping her make her first pen. Took a slimline kit and worked with her for about 1 ½ hours. She turned, sanded, finished and assembled it (with some off hands advice from dad). As we go to insert the Ink into the transmission and it wouldn’t go, I tried myself and I couldn’t get it to go. I tried the ink in another transmission and sure enough it goes in. It goes without saying she was disappointed with the snafu.

The long and the short, check prior to assembly of your pen. I promise that after the look on her face I will never make the same mistake again.

BTW â€" I finally got it out and all is well. She took it to school and had a whole slew of stories to tell on how all of her friends LOVED it.

 

[les-smith]

That's pretty neat. I bet she had fun at school with it. Sounds like you and me have the same kind of luck.

 

[loglugger]

The one that did that to me didn't have any threads in it. allways check now.
Bob

 

[opfoto]

So sorry to hear of your daughters disppointment, but I had that happen as well. And it was before I had a punch to take it apart so it sat for awhile. Now I check them beforehand.

 

[Ligget]

Glad it all worked out in the end, quality time with your daughter is priceless![^]

 

[jwoodwright]

I believe we have our own Mr. Murphy as he always seems to be lurking, just waiting for your attention to slip...

 

[ed4copies]

Originally posted by MrWoody

I worked with my 13 year old daughter last night helping her make her first pen. Took a slimline kit and worked with her for about 1 ½ hours. She turned, sanded, finished and assembled it (with some off hands advice from dad). As we go to insert the Ink into the transmission and it wouldn’t go, I tried myself and I couldn’t get it to go. I tried the ink in another transmission and sure enough it goes in. It goes without saying she was disappointed with the snafu.

The long and the short, check prior to assembly of your pen. I promise that after the look on her face I will never make the same mistake again.

BTW â€" I finally got it out and all is well. She took it to school and had a whole slew of stories to tell on how all of her friends LOVED it.

And now, when she is at school, the story SHOULD go: "Man, I made this pen ALL BY MYSELF, with my dad watching. But when we tried to put it together, the pen didn't work. But MY DAD KNEW how to FIX it and the masterpiece you are NOW VIEWING is the result."

You BOTH come out looking like the genii you are!!!!

Oh, and congratulations for being a good dad. 20 minutes to make the pen and an hour to make a better "father-daughter" relationship. When she decides she likes boys, "daddy's words" will be more acceptable - after all, HE can FIX things!!!

(The guy she brings home just knows how to make computers break into the Pentagon - what fun is HE???)

 

[Woodlvr]

Ed,
I am hoping that this is not from personal experience.

Rob,
Great job. I wish that I could get my sons to come over spend some time with me in my shop. As per Eds good advice you are building a great relationship that will be relished in the future.

Mike

 

[arjudy]

I'll be glad when my kids are old enough to teach them how to make a pen. (7,5,3,1) It will be a little while yet.

 

[arioux]

Great story, and at least she leanrn that you should never let your arms down. There is always a way to fix things (or a DAD!)

Alfred