I'll Never See This For The First Time Again.

You only get a handful of firsts in your lifetime. First car, first kiss, first time on an airplane, first time in a fist fight. Some are bittersweet, all are learning experiences. Today the mailman brought another first into my life. A large white envelope containing two author copies of Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Today was the first time I got to see my name in print, legitimately published.

This one article may have been one of the hardest things I've ever had to write. Not because of the demands of the PopWood team, Megan Fitzpatrick and Glen Huey were both great to work with. It has more to do with the demands I put on myself. I worked and worried the thing to near death.

The one thing that I really wasn't expecting was the amount of time from the start to today. The concept of building my own copy of Roubo's Press Vise occurred to me in early October of last year. I built a prototype in a long Saturday in the shop. No thoughts or worries about perfection, or what someone would think about seeing it beyond the normal noodling here on my blog space.

Then the ideas began to grow, and I received support for those ideas from great people. I have to offer a big Thank You to Don Williams. A man I've gotten to know a bit over the last few years and I hope to get to know better as time rolls on. The first thing I did was send him an email asking for his blessing at taking a small bite of something he's very invested in. He was kind enough to say yes.

The project itself, delightful simplicity, to such a level that it made me slap my forehead that I didn't think about it on my own. I challenge you to give the project a try for yourself, the possibilities inside this devise are nearly endless. And if you decide to pick up your own copy of the magazine and see my "first" for yourself, then all the better.

Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf