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A Lifetime of Projects I thought it would be fun to re-visit old furniture and old building projects from my life. I hope that you'll find it a hoot! At least you'll get to see a a bit of my history and love of woodworking. It's been a lifetime of enjoyment as a hobby (and side income) that's been beneficial to me and my family. I really hope to encourage you to not be afraid to start building things from wood, no matter how small or few tools you own. Heck, I started with a hand held circular saw, a tape, a square, a jig saw, a router, and a couple of other cheap hand tools. You can too! Just start with something simple, and build your confidence as you go along. I still own and have used some of these projects built 40 years ago today, and they're just as sturdy. You can't beat a handmade product. Today's particle board pieces will fall apart after being moved around. Well built pieces will stand abuse and moving, and may only require an occasional touch-up. They can be made to look brand new all over again. Talk about make you feel good ... seeing that old piece brought back to life. I've done it many times. My First Display Cabinet  Ok ... So the picture above is, I believe, one of the first real furniture pieces I made. I think I may have ordered a full size plan from a magazine with instructions and templets on how to construct it step by step. It was rough, and I didn't know much at all about making furniture. It helped me get started though, and I learned A LOT from doing it. One of the first things I learned was the importance of sanding. I think I tried to fit the joists as well as I could, and didn't realize that sanding all the joinery and applying wood filler could help the look. That's a good example of the basics that you'll learn with time. I had no idea what I was doing, but caught on fairly quickly. This may have been around 1975 or so. You can start with anything. Below are a couple of small shelves built from ponderosa pine 1"x12"s. Just sketch a shelf configuration that you need to display various items, and make the individual areas a few inches larger than your item. Adjust the depth of the shelf also to fit.
The joints can be flush, and simply glued and nailed together with #6 finish nails. I probably didn't even pre-drill the holes before I nailed it together (another thing you'll learn in order not to split the wood grain). I probably used a router round over bit on the front face of the left piece which gave it a much cleaner look. This is nothing fancy folks, and a great way to tip your toe in the pool. And fellers, trust me, if you made her one, she'll love you for it! And you'll be proud of your accomplishment too.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: All photographs are property (c) of the author, and MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORMAT INTRODUCTION ONCE IN A LIFETIME, an opportunity presents itself through sheer coincidence, which from the outset can only be called amazing. One such occurrence happened to me around 1988 after I read a book on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I recalled, after studying many of the photographs in the book, that my Uncle Rusty (now deceased) had some assassination-related materials which he had held on to since his days with the Dallas Police Department (DPD). He had long since retired, and my interest in reviewing his old documents and photographs was gladly received by Rusty. This inspired me to write the book, JFK First Day Evidence, as a result of that chance encounter set off by that earlier chain of events. The original Crime Lab photographs had been stored away by Rusty in an old briefcase for nearly three decades, almost forgotten along with the recollections of the men who made them. I asked Rusty if we might interview the men who had worked with him in the Crime Lab back in 1963, and he agreed. Organizing the photographs and memories of those men who worked the evidence in the assassination of JFK was a tremendous undertaking requiring taking five years and countless hours of organization and research. Having no grand budget, Rusty and I took it upon ourselves to learn the many accusations made through the years of a possible conspiracy and tried to develop only the facts according to the men who were there first. What we found on a regular basis continually surprised us and, in most instances, belied the existence of a second gunman, although through no grand design or pre-drawn conclusions on our part. Rusty and I always maintained an open mind in regard to the true evidence in the case. This presentation provides a partial overview of some of the ORIGINAL evidence collected by the Dallas Police Crime Lab BEFORE the intrusion of the federal government, as well as reflections and background of some of the Dallas officers working the case. All evidence presented remains unfiltered, and preceded the federal investigations into the shooting. The 1964 Warren Commission (WC) and the 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) provided volumes of testimony and evidence collected about the shooting, and included only partial evidence collected by the local DPD Crime Lab. It was our desire from the outset to reveal ALL of the information possessed by Rusty in an easy to read, organized format, to aid in the public’s understanding of the true facts in the case. If conspiracy charges are to be leveled, let the accusers be aware of ALL the evidence uncovered by the first men who were there. R. L. (Rusty) Livingston in the DPD Crime lab  JFK First Day Evidence by Gary Savage  If you'd like to purchase a copy of my book containing all of the evidence photos collected by Rusty, simply go to the contact page, and I'll get a signed copy to you. Hello. My name is Gary, and I'm a recovering old hippie rock musician. (I think I just heard someone yell, "HI GARY!") But seriously folks, I originally thought I would call this post, "Old Hippie Rock Musician," but I didn't want my Mama to be unhappy with me. So I kept it sort of generic. What follows is basically a life history of my musical journey. Anyway, I've played the piano (keyboards) since I was around five years old. I remember my neighbor Diane Cash (and yes, related to Johnny Cash) lived next door to us, and had a piano. I'd go over and doodle around on it. She took the time to show me a few songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Yankee Doodle. My Mama noticed the interest, and bought a piano for me. They had it put it in the room I shared with one of my brothers. Around second or third grade, I began taking piano lessons for four years. I think I returned for a bit in high school to freshen up my musical notation skills. That benefited me tremendously throughout my life, since I could play by ear and pick out harmony parts for the other guys in the various groups I'd join. I'm forever grateful to Diane and her patience, along with my parents for buying the piano for me. Here's a picture of me playing that piano in the early 1970s: My First Piano  .
I could listen to a song on the radio and pick it out on my piano. I think the first rock song I picked out was Mr. Lonely by Bobby Vinton. I guess the catchy melody got my attention. One Christmas, my parents got me a Magnus Chord Organ. It was portable and one day a friend from up the street was playing a guitar. I took it with me to his house and we began to play the hit by Stephen Stills, For What It's Worth. This was FUN! I'd found a new thing that I loved doing, and it sounded like the radio with everybody playing. Actually, it was probably really bad. Anyway, we eventually formed a little 4-piece band with drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards. When that happened, my Daddy went with me to the local music store called C & O Electronics in Monroe and bought me a Vox Jaguar Organ. I was in heaven, and man, I was big-time now! Paul Revere and the Raiders used a Vox Super Continental organ, and mine looked like a mini version. For an 11 year old kid, this was cool! I promised to pay Daddy back, which I did by mowing yards and various other little jobs a boy could do. I remember we kept a list of them until the debt was paid. I felt great that day. Later on, we went back to the store and bought a Sunn Sonaro amp to use as a speaker for the organ. It had one 15" speaker which could fill up a large room. That thing was LOUD. I used it for about 5 years before trading it in on my next setup. |
AuthorGary Savage is the author of JFK First Day Evidence, published in 1993. It took five years to complete. ArchivesCategories |
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