After years of higher priority projects (i.e., procrastination), I finally built a workbench for the garage. Linda got me going with an offer to buy me the lumber as a Christmas present. I decided on the plank-top workbench featured in ShopNotes magazine, Issue 75, May/June 2004. This turned out to be an exceptionally sturdy workbench for only about $100 in materials.
Workbench
My late father, Jack Voisin, made a neat block and tackle pulley assembly. It is completely homemade of wood and it actually works. He used a scroll saw, router and sander to construct all pieces. He crafted the pulleys, nuts, and even the threads on the bolts, all in wood.
The links of chain all appear to be hand-carved out of one piece of wood stock. However each link was individually cut on the scroll saw and rounded over, probably with a router. The secret he said, was to break each link in half, join them together and then glue each link back together again. The hair-line fracture from breaking the link all but disappears after gluing, sanding and staining.
His attention to detail is amazing and it shows his planning and craftsmanship.
My late father, Jack Voisin, designed and constructed a Stirling engine, which is an external combustion engine named after the Scottish engineer, Robert Stirling. What’s fascinating is my father’s attention to detail. Virtually every component is handmade. He did most of the work with a scroll saw and even fabricated the metal parts himself out of aluminum stock, nuts, bolts and washers. The large flywheels appear to be gears salvaged from another device.
I designed and constructed a shadow box to display my late father’s medals and wings from his service in the Army Air Forces during World War II.
Actual medals were generally not issued during the war, and I doubt my father ever received them after the war. I applied for replacement medals from the National Archives and Records Administration through their eVetRecs program. Since a majority of veteran records from that time were lost in a fire, I had to provide his discharge papers and wait about six months.