Story sticks
Whenever I build a project for someone else, I try to include something that gives the completed piece a story; some interesting tidbit the recipient can share with those who might ask about it. For example, when building a new conference table for my church, I went searching for some solid-wood banding to hide the plywood edges. My hardwood dealer had a whole rack of old-growth oak harvested from sunken ships at the bottom of Lake Michigan. Bingo! A merely functional table now had a story. Last Christmas, I made “pegs and jokers” games for both kids from a Philippine mahogany shelf I’d salvaged while remodeling our first house. So, when my son, Colby, married his fiancée, Jenny, last November, I wanted to build them a gift that would have a special…