Crafting & Artwork - Old World

DIY With Dad and Tour of His Workshop

DIY with My Dad and a Tour of His Workshop

DIY With My Dad and a Tour of His Workshop

My Dad enjoys using the workshop he built. He likes using hand tools and taking his time to create his own ax handles, wooden mallets, splitting wedges, hearth brooms, and other handy objects. His workshop sees a lot of action when my Dad isn’t in the garden!

My Dad with an ax ...he made the handle
He likes to buy ax heads at flea markets and then makes new handles.

Last week I visited with my Dad and got a tour of his workshop and some first-hand demonstrations of how he makes canes and walking sticks. You can read the instructions for how he makes them from saplings he harvests from his woodlot in my article DIY Cane or Walking Stick on my new website The New Homesteader’s Almanac.

Dad with a piece of wood he'll make into an ax handle.
This piece of wood will most likely be made into an ax handle.

He has all kinds of raw materials on hand, along with ready to use ax handles, finished products, and the tools he uses for creating them!

ax handles stored for later use

Tour of My Dad’s Workshop and Some of His Tools

My Dad likes collecting tools, salvaging materials, and repurposing things to fit his projects. Oh sure, he likes new tools too! But he has a much deeper appreciation for hand tools that have a story behind them. There’s a lot of history in his workshop and a lot of raw materials in case he starts a new project.

The barn and workshop were built from salvaged materials and my brother helped him with that project. That barn has lumber from other old barns that my Dad tore down. Some of the wood came from an old horse barn. I remember being a kid when he tore that barn down, salvaged the lumber, and hauled it home. He’s gotten a lot of use out of that horse barn that was falling into disrepair.

Here Are Some of His Hand Tools

He showed me his very first jackknife

Dad's first jackknife
Dad’s first jackknife.

and the first wood plane he ever bought…

his first wood plane
The first plane my Dad ever bought. You can see a bit more about it in the video below.

I have some videos on my YouTube channel from my Dad’s workshop too!

In this video he shows us the first wood plane he ever bought, his drawknives, and sharpening stones that he uses for different purposes.

drawknives in my
His collection of drawknives.

He has a pretty impressive collection of drawknives for different purposes such as removing bark and shaping wood. There’s a whole drawer full of sharpening stones in his workshop, ready for any dull blade he picks up.

drawknife in my Dad's workshop
A drawknife purchased at a flea market.

The workshop is stocked with a lot of files, rasps, and carving tools that he puts to good use on his homemade projects. Many of them have handles he created, like the one below.

file with homemade handle in my Dad's workshop
File with homemade handle.

He’s been picking up carving tools whenever he sees them for a decent price. These ones are used for shaping wooden spoons and other handmade objects.

carving tools in my Dad's workshop

Here is the meat saw my Great Grandpa used for butchering pigs on the farm!

Meat saw that my great grandfather used for butchering pigs, hanging in his workshop.
Meat saw that my great grandfather used for butchering pigs.

Creations from Dad’s Workshop

Quite a few people have benefitted from my Dad’s creativity. He gives canes and walking sticks to his family, friends, and he also donates them to fundraisers. The American Legion chapter he belongs to has raised money from his walking sticks.

a cane he is working on
This is a cane he is working on.

He has quite a stash of canes on hand for donations or anyone who needs them!

Canes my Dad made in his workshop
These are canes my Dad has made for giving away.

There are some canes in his workshop, along with all kinds of salvaged and raw materials.

My Dad in his workshop with one of his handmade canes.

He makes his own wood mallets…

Handmade wood mallet from the workshop
Handmade wood mallet…he’s good at this stuff!

and simple wood wedges for splitting logs…

simple wooden wedges made in his workshop
Simple wedges he uses for splitting wood.

and I have some of his walking sticks and a cane…

walking sticks and a cane from my Dad's workshop
Walking sticks and a cane Dad made. I used the cane before and after my hip replacement surgery!

Somewhere I have a hearth broom like the ones below…

hearth brooms
Hearth brooms Dad made.

I’m glad to have handmade things that my Dad has given me!

You can also read about the canning cupboard he made for me.

My Dad's signature on a homemade hatchet handle.
My Dad’s signature.

I had a nice visit with my parents and my inlaws! I hope you enjoyed this tour of my Dad’s workshop and some of his many creations.

You may also see photos of the area where I grew up in my post, Visiting Family in New York.

DIY With My Dad and a Tour of His Workshop

8 Comments on “DIY With Dad and Tour of His Workshop

    1. Thank you, Tamara! I hope you get your workshop. 🙂 It’s so nice to have a space for making things!

    1. Hi Maria! That’s great! I always enjoy seeing the things that people make by hand. 🙂 My Dad is pretty talented and he loves to talk about his hand tools!

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