Hooks

Its cooking hot outside and hotter still in my garage where I have my humble woodshop. Where I work o my wood is not really a woodshop like my neighbor Al’s is or Frank’s, the new guy at my office must be. But my space is mine and I have cobbled out a space where I can work on hooks this summer. You see I don’t need a lot of space to make my sticks all I have to have is enough clear room to get to my vices, a few tools like my drill, my Japanese hand saws and a file or two and I am off and working.

My work area has filled over the past couple of years with family overflow and general junk. I have my mirrors stacked in the front and I am afraid to move the mirror for fear of shattering them and inheriting bunches of bad luck I don’t need. There are also boxes of books and papers that I cannot move by myself. I need lifters and arrangers to get this stuff out of my way. embedded past the piles of stuff I have other tools sanders, rasps, sand paper, one table saw, a lathe, drill bits gloves, orbiter sanders and other items I could use but do not need right now. I actually got out in the garage today and made sawdust.

I think if I really had woodworking skills I would be much more upset that I could access my “shop”. I make hooks from the sticks—I have described in other blog entries my hook making process.

The hooks I make are simple. The hooks are low technology and the hooks are inexpensive. I feel just anyone can make them. The hook extends one’s reach, which if you are in a wheelchair, like me or many of my friends makes a big difference to enjoying life. My hooks are heavy duty. I use bicycle hooks, the kind used to twist into garage rafters and hold bike out of the way during the winter. The hooks are coated with plastic to make them fairly safe. I use my hooks every day to lift my leg up over the other leg to put my shoes and socks on(when I wear them). In the kitchen I use hooks to reach things way out of my reach like sandwich bags or bottles of wine (carefully), in the laundry I use hooks to load and pull wash out of the washer and dryer; and on and on and on. A couple of weeks ago I found a new source of wood right behind my house and these are very long pieces of wood- I had my neighbor rip the pieces in to one inch by one inch dimensions ( in his real shop) . As soon as I get my shop a little more straightened up and someone to hold the and film me in my shop I plan to make a video of me crafting one of my hooks from the sticks I have. Stay tuned it should be fun.