Reproductions I hate to make
I love making reproductions of classic items, and Ive enjoyed making several of a few favorite projects, but theres one thing I hate to make. Thats something Ive already made…
I love making reproductions of classic items, and Ive enjoyed making several of a few favorite projects, but theres one thing I hate to make. Thats something Ive already made but cant find.
I made some things a while back for my Civil War woodworking book. I documented the construction, took photos, and put the items away for safe keeping for future photo use. This weekend, Ill need them for a Civil War event the first time theyll be put to actual use and I just cant find the darned things.
I know I have them, I know theyre somewhere, but Ive turned both shop and house upside down for the last three days looking for them and theyre just nowhere to be found. With time running out, Ill need to go into the shop this afternoon and make them all over again.
The items in question lathe-turned oak tent stakes from a period-correct 19th-century pattern arent at all difficult to make, and I even have several blanks in the right size. I can probably turn out a set in an hour or so. But its maddening to have to do something all over again for something other than pleasure. If a friend asked for a set, Id start slinging shavings with glee to make as many as he needed. But when its to replace a set that Ive knuckleheadedly misplaced, it just makes me mad. At me.
So, sometime this afternoon Ill be taking time I dont really have to replace something I do have, somewhere. And, of course, that somewhere will be revealed the moment I finish the last replacement, and Ill probably stumble onto the originals.
Its like household repairs, or replacing things like tires or water heaters after much time, energy (and sometimes money) spent, you dont really have anything new to show for it; youre just right back where you were. The saving grace of this replacement task is that the time it takes wont be spent under a car or lugging out a dripping water heater, itll be spent in my shop slinging shavings.
That, at least, I can look forward to.
Till next time,
A.J.

A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.