The Tinker Thinker: tools

Tools, like music, are just a part of life.

The problem is where to put them. In the States, my tools typically rode around in the back of my vehicle because I was using them for work. At one point, we thought we were moving to Mexico and bought an enclosed trailer that spent most of its life as tool storage. Then we had a dilapidated garage for the last 9 months. Now my US tools are living in a storage shed with the rest of our household goods, waiting for us to come back on furlough.

I did not bring many tools to Bolivia because of what is available here. Over the past year and a half, I have slowly been growing my stock, mostly of woodworking tools. Again, however, the problem is where to put them.

I acquired a cabinet (and quite a few tools!) from a friend and planned to make an outdoor storage area. There is a nice little nook outside the kitchen of our guesthouse:

Theft is a major issue here, even with walled property, so I was going to fix it up to be lockable and generally more secure. Then my brother offered to lend me a steel gate (at right, above) that he had made for a similar purpose in their first house here, and I decided to make a cage.

I picked up some fiberglass roofing and some VERY green, uneven lumber, generally used for ceilings here.

Of course, the girls were eager to help!

I wanted to drill as few holes as possible into the walls of the house, so it is mostly based off of the cabinet itself. I only made three holes, all in easy-to-fix locations. First up, I set the gate:

Then added posts and a ledger and set 3 rafters:

Then cross-members to hold the fiberglass:

Finally, at the end of the day, I got the fiberglass on, and it's finished!

Not bad for $100 and about 1.5 days' worth of work. It has enough space for all of my current tools as well as space for soldering and electrical projects. There's plenty of patio space just outside for larger woodworking projects.

Our girls have recently started the formal process of homeschooling with Kaylee.   You can read much more about that on her blog, A Day in the Life: Missionary Wife. As a father, I have an important role to play in that process, and I, too, want to teach my children.
   -Because I am a Christian, I teach them about God, through the Bible
   -Because I am a musician, I teach them songs and music
   -Because I am a tinker, I plan to slowly teach various other skills as well

Oftentimes, these skills will be passed along informally, but some formal "classtime" can be very helpful as well. On Saturday, I found a little metal-frame airplane kit in the market (for $3), and thought it would be a good project for Anne to learn something about basic tools, nuts and bolts, and following a schematic. While her sisters were napping this afternoon, we pulled it out and got to work!