When I was about 10 years old, my father and I built log furniture together. We'd been studying the pioneers in school, you see, and my father loved to participate in my education. Many parents help their kids with homework, but my dad went one step further. He designed supplementary, fun activities that had to do with whatever subject matter we were studying in school. Not only was it a great way for him to get involved in my education, but it actually got me more excited about what I was studying. This meant that I got better grades, made a better impression on my teachers, and was altogether a happier and more productive person.
Building log furniture, however, was one of my favorite projects we ever did together. My dad was a pretty unique character. He was not exactly what you would call a handyman around the house. He knew nothing about most home improvement projects. He couldn't fix the plumbing, install new cabinets, or any of that other typical dad stuff. What he could do, however, was learn new skills with remarkable quickness. His first attempts would be – as expected – a little but amateur. The few times he stuck with it, his skills improved quickly. He almost never stuck with it, however. He got joy out of figuring out how to do something and then moving on to something else. The log furniture project was typical of this.
My mom was a much more practical person than my dad. When she found out that we wanted to make rustic, pioneer style furniture, she suggested a log stool. My dad, however, was never interested in beginners projects. He knew that he wouldn't spend enough time on something to get good, so he liked to jump right into it. He decided to build a log furniture table with me.
Now most dads would have bought some lumber at a lumber yard, bought some plans in a hardware store, and followed the directions. Not my pop. He wanted everything about our log furniture adventure to be genuine. Rather than selecting lumber for the job, he took me to a nearby forest. We looked at all of the different trees and found some recently fallen logs that looked like they might fit the bill. We took what we could, brought it home, and made the best log table we could out of it. It felt just like being a pioneer! We couldn't buy wood – we had to make do with what we could find. The table was what you might call rustic, but it was strong enough for me to do my homework at for the next five years.
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