well Harris what was your most recent woodworking project
my most recent woodworking project was i made an oak trash can
oh all right
all right
it's the new thing around here is people
want trash cans which match their kitchen cabinets
oh that's rather clever i hadn't thought of that
so
and i'm if the definition of a professional means you get paid for it then i am one
oh is that right
yeah i really am in the telecommunications business but you know
one has to do what you can do to make a buck
huh well maybe a small business of woodworking on the side then do you have a lot of woodworking tools
i got uh well your basic stuff your radial arm your table your drill press
yeah
what i don't do is i don't i don't turn
that that's almost a whole another world i think
well
you know it
you know i build boxes as people say
yeah yeah
well i subscribe to both Fine Home Building and Fine Woodworking
uh-huh
are you familiar with those
oh yeah i am i don't get either one i look through them at the uh at the newsstand and buy them on occasion
i get a
a newspaper called the Workshop News and i get a uh
um let's see i can't read the side of it
huh
uh Woodsmith i think it's called
huh
it's a you know a
monthly sort of brown paper type of type of thing
yeah
yeah well the the thing i like about the two magazines i mentioned is they're so inspirational
oh yeah oh i've looked through both of them you can just only afford to subscribe to so many
that's right that's right i
there's an
i think i like the Fine Home Building better
uh-huh
in terms uh one of my projects is adding molding to a rather plain house
uh yes
now there you can get upside down and backwards doing crown molding
that's right that's right
you know as soon as you get your head upside down and backwards you're fine
that describes it perfectly
i made an armoire
recently for my wife's store
um
and the top of it has curved crown molding
oh boy
that will
yeah uh-huh it sure did
even if you're an engineer by training that can be a little tricky can't it
well
what you had to it wasn't what i did was i made it up out of the crown molding around the top and the the tricky part was not making up the crown molding it was how did you cut it how did you miter the corners
uh-huh
i know
i know
i i've been through that uh do you do a lot of projects or is this is this just mostly a hobby
uh-huh
no i don't build it if somebody is not buying it
oh okay
i mean uh i build a uh i have a stock English garden bench which i make
uh-huh
which i instead of making out of redwood which is really dear on the east coast
uh-huh
is i make it up out of your regularly old forty CPI pressure treated lumber
uh-huh
and then paint it
oh
which saves on the cost
uh-huh we have a lot of those at the building where i work and i think they're made out of teak
yeah teak is awfully expensive but the the thing about teak is you can't set it on the ground
you have to set it like on flagstone or concrete or something
does it whit too badly or what
yeah it's just not made for direct ground contact it pulls the it pulls the oil right out of it
huh
it it's all right outside if you go out every year and you know oil it
but you know the the old green pressure treated you can ignore it if the paint falls off it's still not going to hurt the wood
sure
yeah
you know the paint's only just to cover up the fact it's green
it sounds like you're much more of a woodworker than i am i just kind of dabble in it i have done some refinishing
oh oh
uh-huh
of antiques and semi-antiques
uh-huh
and a little bit of repair work on that sort of thing
yeah i don't do a whole lot of that i've done some
i one nice thing about living in this area is the Smithsonian nearby Smithsonian is nearby
uh-huh
and they have you can call them the their restoration lab
and they're happy to talk to you
oh is that right
so you might file that if you don't mind paying the long distance charges
huh
their restoration labs will be very happy are very happy to talk to you and say you know and you say hey i've got on what do i do now
i had no idea
is the lab any place close to the mall or is it
yeah it's very close to the mall it's actually located in the
