Well, this weekend begins the annual woodworking project of major importance to me. My boys and I begin working on their pinewood derby cars for Cub Scouts.
Last year was the first year for both boys, even though my youngest wasn't "officially" a scout yet. We allowed him to make one and race it as the boys were allowed to bring guests.
Anyway, if you haven't seen or done one of these, you basically get a block of wood with the axle slots already cut into it. You can cut the block of wood however you want, so long as it meets the criteria on race day set up by the pack. We had a blast last year. There are a few of us with bandsaws and other tools that offered to cut out any boys car for them, so long as they drew out what they wanted and did all the sanding, painting, etc. They boys loved it.
Most important, however, was that my sons became interested in woodworking. My oldest is really interested. So, we begin this project this weekend.
If you have a Cub Scout pack near you, you may want to volunteer to cut out the cars for the kids who don't have dads like some of us. Of course, they still have to do most of the work, but it is a great way to introduce them to the joys of woodworking.
Oh yeah, we also solved a problem of having the dads go overboard with "helping" the kids. We are letting the adults buy kits and build their own cars. I will put up some pictures of our cars once we are done.
Last year was the first year for both boys, even though my youngest wasn't "officially" a scout yet. We allowed him to make one and race it as the boys were allowed to bring guests.
Anyway, if you haven't seen or done one of these, you basically get a block of wood with the axle slots already cut into it. You can cut the block of wood however you want, so long as it meets the criteria on race day set up by the pack. We had a blast last year. There are a few of us with bandsaws and other tools that offered to cut out any boys car for them, so long as they drew out what they wanted and did all the sanding, painting, etc. They boys loved it.
Most important, however, was that my sons became interested in woodworking. My oldest is really interested. So, we begin this project this weekend.
If you have a Cub Scout pack near you, you may want to volunteer to cut out the cars for the kids who don't have dads like some of us. Of course, they still have to do most of the work, but it is a great way to introduce them to the joys of woodworking.
Oh yeah, we also solved a problem of having the dads go overboard with "helping" the kids. We are letting the adults buy kits and build their own cars. I will put up some pictures of our cars once we are done.
