Here’s the Scoop – Start Carving a Future
Carve by hand those things you care the most about
It’s not rocket science starting to carve, a little imagination, a few hand tools, but it can change the course of someone’s life when you spend a few afternoon hours a day with your children in the workshop when normal school was done. Our sons are all grown now but all of them learned to become woodworkers and made all kinds of things before they were 18. As a furniture maker I would have been remiss had they not had the same skills as me as they all came into the workshop from anywhere between 3-5 years old and did that until they were young men. While they were fashioning anything from a coracle to wooden spoons and spatulas, mallets and workbenches they sold to people who came by our workshop, I was fashioning their character and developing that bond that lasts a lifetime. Most of this started quite young and I was about my own work but kept a watchful eye on them as they worked.
Here is another video for all of you who asked us how to make a scoop. You will see how little effort it takes to do it and how little time. Hone your skills on this and you will be using the same skills it takes to fashion a guitar neck or the neck of a cello or violin. Hope you enjoy it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9ezgAzdIZ0&list=UUc3EpWncNq5QL0QhwUNQb7w
Thanks a lot, Paul.
It is not only the vids that are great and I am eager to watch and learn from but also the posts you make. I have two boys (6 and 12 years old) and I would very much like them (and me too) to love woodworking as you do. I do hope to get some skills and pass them to them.
Misha
And you are where my hope for future woodworking lies. You don’t have to be a brilliant and perfect dad, just go out and make with them. Get the right tools, make sure they’re sharp and that you teach them the principles of safe use. Where are you in the world, Misha?
I am from Russia. Your wife might have told you about me. I am signed up twice now. I had some problems signing up as a payed member and decided to phone you to ask for directions. As you were not in at the moment she took the responsibility and helped me gladly.
Thank you both very much.
Misha
Hi Paul
The link does not open the video
Look forward to watching it
You can get to the video from the Videos tab at the top of the page. Enjoying your teachings in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hi Paul, I’m having a glorious time with all your YouTube vids! I know this doesn’t belong on this topic but… Do you have a video, or anticipate one on the proper control of coping saws. There seems to be a lot of rankling on various sites about poor saws and poorer blades. No one seems to understand about backing off and letting the saw make the curve or turn the corner.My guess is most wouldn’t want to make a little bow saw. I have a little English one, 200 yrs. young. I fight the So. California desert to keep it from drying out! Guess I need to make a new on from Mesquite! Hah! Anyway just a thought. I think your credibility would carry much weight on this. Cheers!
We are filming making the bowsaw I use for a new video soon. Perhaps that will help. Yes, we plan a series of videos on how to use all woodworking tools that follows my how-to-buy-good-tools-cheap series from my blog and that will include the coping saw too.
Great video Paul! I was impressed to see over 2500 hits when I viewed it this afternoon. Kudos to you and your team for doing such a great job of getting the word out! Be well and as always thanks for everything. – cynthia
I made one in a hour from a scrap 2×4. Thanks for the simple instructions / guidelines. The scoop was easier to make than a spoon. I already gave it away to a friend.
This is a bit too confessional, I know, but I wish I’d had that kind of father, and I admire the relationship you must have with your children. My father lamented that there was no one to teach all he knew–such things were inappropriate for girls (I wasn’t even allowed in the garage), one of my brothers is disabled, and the other my dad deemed too much of a faggot for men’s work. I was always drawing and designing things I would make if I were allowed.
Thanks for teaching me the things my dad wouldn’t, Paul. Like you, in my own way, I ache for things that have been lost, but in the process of Making, we shape the world we want to live in. For that, and for these lessons, I am grateful.
I come from an age when fathers were too detached from their familial ties and the responsibilities besides just earning the money and paying the bills; who hid behind work and buried themselves in a private world called work. We can’t always reach back and change the past but we can perhaps make decisions that will change our future course and even change the course of others as we work toward a new and changed future. Woodworking may be a small part of that when we can help fathers see that they can be dads. Anyone can father a child, but not everyone can be a dad.
I really like these sorts of posts, and anything taking about some advice for teaching young ones would be great. I’ve got 3 little ones, and a 4th on the way.
On the oldests recent birthday (6 yo) he begged to use a saw, so we took my old 60 year old disston back saw and cut some small stock down together. It was great and I can only hope they cherish these moments as well.
Maybe the spokeshave is a good place to start?
I gave each of my boys a spokeshave (number 151) newly sharpened and some pieces of wood when they were about that age or younger, stood them on a box and anchored the wood in the vise. We never looked back.
Hi Paul,
Once again, a big thank you for a great post! I loved the video! I love these projects and we all appreciate the time you take to make these videos and post them for free on this site. Such simple, clear teaching is always a joy to watch!
My favourite bit? The ‘poor man’s rasp’! What a genuis idea! These alternative suggestions show your experience and your consideration for a diverse audience!
For those interested, I’m personally a paying subscriber to the Woodworking Masterclasses series (Paul’s other website) and can highly recommend it. It’s modest money very well spent.
P.S. As someone else mentioned, though, the link in the blog post goes to the JPEG image, not to the video – maybe this could be fixed so that all can enjoy it?
Thanks for encouraging us. I will look at the problem to see what’s wrong too.
Dear Paul,
I recently bought a 6 inch dovetail saw for R6 (South African Rand – about 30 British cents) in a pawn shop. It was rusted with a tarnished brass back and a handle covered in sharpie markings from the pricing.
It took two weeks to sand and polish with my four year old daughter helping by choosing the relevant sandpaper (according to colour rather than grit size) and adding to the “crossgrain sanding” (as this leaves beautiful patterns) in the sawplate.
I sharpened it to very passive rake angle for ease of sawing and over the weekend she cut her first 1 x 1 pine blocks with it. Priceless! Someday I will reclaim it and restore it to my liking.
Your recent post on a small Sorby brace and the miniature tool set is what got the wheels turning in my head. You already – although indirectly – taught a four year old to restore, care and create something useful.
And I now have the confidence to tackle a Disston D4!
Thank you for that.
Regards.
Glad to see these things happening on so many fronts, so many continents and in so many lives I never thought possible to reach just a decade or less ago.