Enjoying Life

Enjoying life. Not taking things too seriously. “Hard work never killed anyone, why take the risk and be the first one”. All statements that Huw has always felt. He is however a worker and even when he’s not in his workshop (he is a precision engineer) he likes keeping busy. And what better a way to spend a Saturday than making a coffee table.

So, enlisting the help of his friend Merfyn, who is retired and originally trained in woodwork before the dust forced him into painting and decorating, they set to work. Huw is very fond of the wood he rescues from old pallets. Much of his work is repairing parts for agricultural machines and he does a lot of work for a large agricultural contractor who also sells tractors and machines. These come on very large pallets which for safety reasons are one use only. As mentioned in the anniversary bowls blog these pallets have been put to numerous uses. But Huw has always wanted to make a table from them. As he says, after 45 years working with metal he rather likes a change now and again.

They are well dressed for a cold workshop. Huw has worn padded boiler suits in the winter for decades. Working with metal is cold anyway and on the lathe he often has to have coolant running over the work he is turning. Cold liquid, cold metal, cold workshop – a padded boiler suit and a body warmer makes a lot of difference. He introduced them to me a long time ago. But for Merfyn today was his first in his new padded boiler suit and he thought it was great!

My large woodworking workshop is underused most of the time and with their combined skills and experience I was happy to trust them with the machines. I went off to my lathe shed and left them to it, just occasionally sticking my head round the door to see the progress. All that is left is some sanding and deciding on the finish. Enjoying life? He’s talking about making a dining table next…