Dear Dad

Hi Dad,

This is what I believe I saw here the other day. It took a while to figure out what they were and my photos didn’t do them justice.

It’s nearly 10:00 a.m. and Jim’s still sound asleep with Zoe. So yesterday, Jim was raring to go at seven (unheard of on any day of the week), to Home Depot for different machine oils and grades of steel wool pads. Then he set a “dog towel” on the granite countertop (because he doesn’t have a workbench or place to set up) and got to work. The victim was one “new” old “eggbeater” drill, part of the antique and new set of tools he is amassing as a special gift. The more esoteric tools have taken longer because he’s had to bid on e-Bay to get low prices on the old tools like the eggbeater, bit brace and augur bits. I like the wooden box that the augur bits are in so may find a new one and display this one!

The eggbeater cost about $30 with shipping, and three hours of Jim’s time and effort disassembling and cleaning every piece. It works so much better than it did on Friday when it was received. He even put his current toothbrush to work on the task, requiring the immediate purchase of another for brushing his teeth.

I remember playing with your father’s tools in the basement on the Hill. It’s fun receiving these boxes with tools and watching Jim open them. He’s like a little kid. The recipient is very bright, mechanically inclined and wants to help his dad build a workbench from scratch.

Jim recalls his frustration as a boy with cheap, low-quality or plastic “kid” tools. Yep, while his younger brother John was off hunting or canoeing, Jim was holed up building himself a workshop off the milk barn and using every nickel he earned to buy quality tools. That’s his recollection. His father’s is slightly different, “I’d put down a tool and turn around and it was gone! Then I had to go looking for Jim.”

Hope you liked that story, Dad
Love, Dee

p.s. I’m going to ask for photos of the workbench your father built, so that John can see the beauty in it before he designs his bench. I remember the woodworking of my grandfather and appreciate that we got to see some of it at his old house.