Handmade Father’s Day

I have always loved that quote, and even as a grown thirty-year old woman, I still call my dad by “daddy”….and I always will.

My dad is such an amazing man.  I have learned so much from him over the course of my lifetime about unconditional love, forgiveness, honor, and just being a down right great person.  I cherish the passion my dad has for life, the motivational talks he has with me when I am discouraged, and the love he has for his family and his church.  Am I a daddy’s girl??  You could say so :0).  I will never forget some of the special times we had when I was growing up with car racing, “what kind of car is that?” quizzes, and a shared love of learning and teaching.

If there is anything I would take away as a lesson from my daddy it would be this one:

“Imagine you are a race car driver.  You are always wanting to go around the track as fast as you can and you push it a little harder each time.  Finally, one time you pushed too hard and wiped out in turn one.  Now that you know what it feels like to wipe out, you will know just how far you can push it next time before wiping out.  Just like your track of life.  Yes, you may have wiped out this time, but next time you will know when to stop pushing it so hard.”

I don’t know if my daddy even remembers this analogy or this conversation, but he probably never knew how amazingly important this talk was to me at that particular point in my life.  When I was ready to give up on my career and passion, this pep talked turned my entire course of life around.  My daddy has taught me so much about honesty, respect, and always giving your best. These are life lessons that I will be sure to pass on to my children and grand-children. 

I love you daddy! 

And I must say that Joe has found a kindred spirit in his father-in-law.  He loves spending time on projects (usually something car related :0) with my daddy.  I see so many similarities in the two of them and I know Joe has mentioned so many times how blessed he is to have such a great father-in-law.

With that being said, I had the perfect idea of what I wanted to get for daddy for Father’s day, but I wasn’t so sure about the price tag.  When I showed it to Joe he said, “I can make that, and make it even better and more personalized for your daddy.”  So here is what we (well, honestly Joe did all the work – he is so talented!) came up with for daddy…

 

 

And in case you are interested in having one of these beauties in your home, I will let Joe tell you how he created it.

Step 1:  Cut strips of wood for mounting each panel (qty. 8)

Step 2:  Using 1X6 boards pre-cut to 72 in.  Cut them into four equal sections (roughly 18 in.)  Be sure to keep each stack separate to line up the wood grain later!!

 

Step 3:  Arrange the boards into four panels with matching wood grain.

Step 4:  Use wood glue and clamps to assemble each panel.

Step 5:  Attach the mounting strips from step 1 to the back of each panel, this will help to hold them together and give a way to hang each one.

Step 6:  Sand each panel using a belt sander to even out the thickness of the boards (if you have a planer, it would be better)

Step 7:  Set up each panel and align wood grain.

Step 8:  Using a projector, project the image you want to trace…This is a B17 bomber.  However, the wings did not extend all the way to the edge…I will have to free-hand those:D

Step 9:  Once the outline is complete, shade all areas black using a permanent marker.  Get ready to go through a few markers during this process.

Step 10:  Using a light golden oak stain and a felt brush, stain the wood around the airplane.  Notice the finished wing.

Step 11:  Hang it and you are done.