After I purchased a router (see previous post), my first project? A simple marble run.

I had built a little marble run for my kids many years ago, but this is the first one I made after starting to focus seriously on woodworking in early 2017. A prototype at best, it was a fun project that required the use of my table saw, router and drill press.

It wasn’t very durable, but it was a blast to demonstrate this to my family.  Stay tuned, there will be more to come!

If you were to google the term “router,” the first several links presented to you will refer to WiFi routers that are vital to Internet connections in our homes and businesses.  However, to the woodworking aficionado, the first thing that comes to mind is a “hand tool or power tool that routs (hollows out) an area in hard material, such as wood or plastic.” (Wikipedia)

So it was for me in the fall of 2016, when I received an email from my employer, Oracle Corporation, congratulating me on my 15 years of longevity with the company.  I was presented with a list of gifts I could choose for the occasion, including things like golf clubs, clocks or watches. Things like that didn’t appeal much to me, but fortunately, a Visa gift card was also an option.

So, using my 15 year employment anniversary gift card, I purchased a router (the wood kind). This proved to be a catalyst for my growing passion for woodworking.  As I took the time to use that router, I became starkly aware that time using my woodworking tools was a lot more fun and satisfying than doing my professional day job, which I found increasingly dreary, frustrating and unfulfilling.

Now, almost four years later, with Oracle in the rear-view mirror, I still love that router.  I broke it out today to do some finish work on a shop stool I am building.  An ironic unintended consequence of the employment anniversary gift?  A hastening of retirement for me.

In 1967, when I was 14 years old, I built my first radio – a Heathkit four band short wave radio with 4 tubes (yes, it was that long ago!).  I learned to solder components on a printed circuit board and tune the radio so it really worked!  What a thrill it was to finally turn it on and experience something I had made come to life!

On a clear Idaho night, with a long wire antenna, I could sometimes pick up an English language broadcast from Johannesburg, South Africa! That budding youthful passion for electronics provided a strong foundation for my technology career. This old radio now occupies a prominent spot in the world’s smallest museum in the corner of my office.

Now later in life, a new passion is growing.  I find great satisfaction in creating things out of wood and experiencing the thrill of  completing a difficult project that really “works.”

When I was a young boy, I loved marbles.  I really didn’t play the traditional marble games, but was fascinated by the various colors and styles of different types of marbles.  By the time I was 12 years old, I had a large Crisco can filled with my collection of marbles. Then they were gone.  Our house burned completely to the ground, leaving our family with only the clothes we were wearing.

Sifting through the ashes and rubble, I found only these five melted marbles from my collection, which I have saved in an old film canister for the last 55 years.

Now in my woodworking, I think I love making marble runs and toys as much as anything.  The recent marble trees are just one example.  More to come! 

I recently made several of these fun marble trees. Originally, I made a batch of four and published a video on Instagram and Facebook. Almost immediately, they were purchased and several more people expressed interest. I recently made a larger batch to cover those who first expressed interest and potentially more. It has been a fun project. 

When our oldest daughter was three and a half years old, I got the brainy idea to make a little cupboard for her, modeled somewhat after a cupboard Claudia had when she was a little girl. By this time, I think I owned a circular saw and jigsaw. I must have bought my first router to finish the curved edges. The important thing is that Heidi loved it. After 35+ years, the little cupboard, with most of the parts still intact, is still going strong. The grandkids love to play with toy dishes and other treasures that live in (at on top of) the cupboard .