Happy Father's Day!

This is my fifth Father's Day and every time that I look at my kids I feel extremely lucky to be a dad. I look forward to the days that my kids have questions about anything. I just hope that I do a good enough job raising them that they never stop coming to me for advice or answers to any question they have.

This year for Father's Day, I went out to my shop and found a piece of walnut and got to work on a gift for my dad. This will be the first gift that I have actually made with my hands for him since I was a kid. It's not as elaborate as the Mother's Day gift I made, but I know he'll appreciate it. If you would like to see the video for the mother's day gift click here.

So, what did I make? I made a spoon.

This is the first time that I have done carving and it was really enjoyable. I didn't buy the best carving set, or even a middle of the road set, but I'm just getting started into the carving thing and it will do for now.

The only power tool that I used was the sander for shaping the spoon.

I asked Christin to burn in the design once it was ready and I put a final touch for the design. There are 4 dots in the middle of the spoon to represent each grandchild. Three kids from Christin and myself, and my brother (celebrating his first Father's Day) and his wife's daughter.

Christin told me that it would be a good idea to put my initials on the work. I did, but I'm not a fan of it. What I really want is to come up with a design for an actual branding tool for ease. I finished it with Howard Cutting Board Oil. It's a food grade mineral oil so the spoon is functional instead of just a decoration. Anyway, here is the video of the making of the walnut spoon.

We also had the kids enjoy some painting time while in the shop. Since Father's Day happens at the beginning of the grilling season, Christin felt it appropriate for cooking aprons for both of our dads. The kids had a great time with putting their personal touch to the aprons. Quinn got a little carried away and painted her wrist as well as her entire hand.

It's always fun to have them in the shop and working on something I know that they enjoy. Here is the apron art work by the kids. And if you would like to see what the kids made for mother's day, click here.

Someday I'll have them work on an actual woodworking project, but I'll have to wait until they're much older. I look forward to that day, but for now, I'll enjoy them just the way they are. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, but especially to my dad, my brother, my uncle and my father-in-law. Go enjoy your kids, maybe after a round of golf. You've earned it.