Chris Lacey
21st July 2013, 04:12 PM
I only recently heard about this forum and after checking it out thought it would be a good thing to join up.
I recently officially became an "old fart" (65). Up until a few years ago my involvement with wood and woodwork was in renovating old homes and the like - all heavy work that did not require any real feel or finesse. Over the last years I slowly became less able to do any work that involved much effort; so no more framing and knocking out walls etc. I decided to take up intarsia using some of our beautiful Tassie timbers to create some nice pieces. By about two years ago I got to a point where I could only do about five minutes sitting at the scrolll saw before needing a long rest. Just over a year ago I found out that I had Parkinson's Disease and then understood why I was having so much trouble. I don't have a tremor and that is what made diagnosis extremely difficult. The medication that is prescribed for the disease now means that I can spend several hours a day on my woodwork. I am back enjoying the scroll saw work to make chess sets. By using a jig to hold the pieces of timber I am able to handle the chess set work wheras I can no longer deal with the small pieces of wood often needed in the intarsia work. I am losing fine motor skill especially in my fingers that makes the small things nearly impossible to handle.
By the way, don't feel sorry for me - I wouldn't be dead for quids, and probably would never have taken up this rewarding woodwork if it had not been for the disease.
Having access to the best of our rare Tassie timbers like Birdseye Huon Pine and Burl and Tiger Myrtle makes this work a real privilege especially while living with Parkinson's. Is there anyone else out there involved in compound cutting of chess pieces? If so I would love to hear from you.
I will put a few pics in the Woodwork Pics Forum.
Cheers
Chris
I recently officially became an "old fart" (65). Up until a few years ago my involvement with wood and woodwork was in renovating old homes and the like - all heavy work that did not require any real feel or finesse. Over the last years I slowly became less able to do any work that involved much effort; so no more framing and knocking out walls etc. I decided to take up intarsia using some of our beautiful Tassie timbers to create some nice pieces. By about two years ago I got to a point where I could only do about five minutes sitting at the scrolll saw before needing a long rest. Just over a year ago I found out that I had Parkinson's Disease and then understood why I was having so much trouble. I don't have a tremor and that is what made diagnosis extremely difficult. The medication that is prescribed for the disease now means that I can spend several hours a day on my woodwork. I am back enjoying the scroll saw work to make chess sets. By using a jig to hold the pieces of timber I am able to handle the chess set work wheras I can no longer deal with the small pieces of wood often needed in the intarsia work. I am losing fine motor skill especially in my fingers that makes the small things nearly impossible to handle.
By the way, don't feel sorry for me - I wouldn't be dead for quids, and probably would never have taken up this rewarding woodwork if it had not been for the disease.
Having access to the best of our rare Tassie timbers like Birdseye Huon Pine and Burl and Tiger Myrtle makes this work a real privilege especially while living with Parkinson's. Is there anyone else out there involved in compound cutting of chess pieces? If so I would love to hear from you.
I will put a few pics in the Woodwork Pics Forum.
Cheers
Chris