I came to wear overalls for woodworking as a result of a gift. My cousin, Beverly, is an inveterate bargain hunter. Yes, it runs in the family.
I was visiting my Uncle Sam and Aunt Polly one weekend when I realized I hadn’t brought any work pants with me. “I have some cargo pants I bought at the second-hand store. You can wear them this weekend,” Beverly offered.
I fell in love with those pants!
The famous Beverly cargo pants. I’d never seen so many pockets before! I never took advantage of the zip-off legs. I’m just not a “shorts kind of guy,” I suppose.
Before the weekend was over I was begging Beverly to let me keep them. To be honest, it didn’t take much begging. Beverly is incredibly generous. And, she had only a couple of bucks invested in them.
I wore those cargo pants every time I had any kind of work to do around the house or outside at work. I loved the pockets and had certain items allocated to each pocket. A hammer permanently hung from the hammer loop, whether the job required a hammer or not.
The legs were much, much too long, even for six-foot-tall me. I didn’t care. Sometimes I rolled them up, sometimes I just walked on them. I felt a little closer to home, a little closer to Uncle Sam and all of my family when I wore them.
One day, it hit me that the “cargo” characteristic found its fullest expression in overalls. Even more pockets! Now I had a place for four pencils. One pencil slot even has space for a ball-point pen. I could clip the dust collector remote control to them. The remote control for the Hang-Up Shop Vac could clip in another place. Click here to read that post. There’s a pocket for the stereo remote control and one for the retractable knife. There’s a loop for a hammer, too, but it’s so big the hammer always falls through. I tried sewing through the loop with an awl needle and heavy waxed thread, but I didn’t make my knots secure and it came apart. Good thing that doesn’t happen with my surgery patients!
My one and only pair of overalls. Well-worn and a little bit smelly…just the way I like them!
You can never have too many clamps, you can never have too many pencils.
It was natural that I would turn to overalls. Uncle Sam wore them exclusively as work clothes.
You’ve heard of “The hardest-working man in show biz?” Uncle Sam was the hardest-working man in dairy farming, and his overalls showed it.
The only time he wore anything else was church and horse shows. He loved to get fixed up in a good-looking cowboy hat, a Western shirt with snaps, jeans and boots with spurs.
Sam Burrell looked sharp in his best cowboy clothes, and he knew it. He had a certain confidence and swagger when he wore them.
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Jim Randolph is a veterinarian in Long Beach, Mississippi. His earlier careers as lawn mower, dairy farmer, automobile mechanic, microwave communications electronics instructor and journeyman carpenter all influence his approach to woodworking. His favorite projects are furniture built for his wife, Brenda, and for their children and grandchildren. His and Brenda’s home, nicknamed Sticks-In-The-Mud, is built on pilings (sticks) near the wetlands (mud) on a bayou off Jourdan River. His shop is in the lower level of their home. Questions and comments on woodworking may be written below in the comments section. Questions about pet care should be directed to his blog on pet care, www.MyPetsDoctor.com. We regret that, because of high volume, not all inquiries can be answered personally.
I started power tool woodworking 73 years ago using a bench top vibrator scroll saw. My mother worried about my health and bought me a respirator. When I heard her coming to the basement I’d put it on. Since I shared the basement with my mother’s clothes washing equipment I had to keep the area neat and clean. That habit stayed with me to this day. When my wife and I moved south we bought a house in an area that has no basements. For the two months it took to build my 25′ X 30′ shop the tools were housed in the garage (the cars slept outside). Having a separate well insulated building beats being in the basement. Acquiring heavy machinery and lumber for the shop and taking finished projects into the house are not a dangerous ventures. Fresh air is easy to get used to. Friends can visit and only need to be suitably dressed for the workshop. I could go on and on about a free standing hobby shop my two fingers need a rest.
Interesting story, Howard, and I’m sure a lot of people can relate. My shop is sort of a blended affair, I guess you’d say. Under the house, integral, the first floor. I have two rollup doors and two walk-in doors, so I don’t have to drag anything into the house except the occasional time I need something to be warm, like certain finishing steps in the winter, and contact cement in cold weather. Of course, there’s the usual, “Baby, what do you think about this?” Thanks for reading, Howard, and for sharing your story, Jim.
I started power tool woodworking 73 years ago using a bench top vibrator scroll saw. My mother worried about my health and bought me a respirator. When I heard her coming to the basement I’d put it on. Since I shared the basement with my mother’s clothes washing equipment I had to keep the area neat and clean. That habit stayed with me to this day. When my wife and I moved south we bought a house in an area that has no basements. For the two months it took to build my 25′ X 30′ shop the tools were housed in the garage (the cars slept outside). Having a separate well insulated building beats being in the basement. Acquiring heavy machinery and lumber for the shop and taking finished projects into the house are not a dangerous ventures. Fresh air is easy to get used to. Friends can visit and only need to be suitably dressed for the workshop. I could go on and on about a free standing hobby shop my two fingers need a rest.
Interesting story, Howard, and I’m sure a lot of people can relate. My shop is sort of a blended affair, I guess you’d say. Under the house, integral, the first floor. I have two rollup doors and two walk-in doors, so I don’t have to drag anything into the house except the occasional time I need something to be warm, like certain finishing steps in the winter, and contact cement in cold weather. Of course, there’s the usual, “Baby, what do you think about this?” Thanks for reading, Howard, and for sharing your story, Jim.