Firearms Friday: Returning To The Work Bench

Try as I might, it has been extremely difficult to find the time to spend at my workbench. Whenever I thought that there would be a little bit of time to spend in the basement there would be something that would come up requiring my time and attention leaving the dust to collect for another week or two below the kitchen floor. That is just how things go sometimes when trying to juggle a variety of commitments at the same time while also dedicating time to family. However, every once in a while I am able to create the time to wipe away the dust and resume putting the pieces together.

Over the past couple of weekends, while the air conditioning was being overhauled by my brother-in-law in the basement, I was able to carve out some of that time. As the pieces were being put together and secured to the studs, I was busy at my work bench trying to find some semblance of organization and attempting to get a few of the smaller planned projects completed. While I was little help with the air conditioning and duct work, I am in my element when I have my bench, my tools, and the parts and pieces with which I am familiar.

There were many moments when we were both intensely occupied by our own tasks pulling tools, hammering pieces together, and watching each of our respective projects come together. Piece by piece, minute by minute, we each took a simple collection of parts and pieces and created something functional. It has been rather relaxing to just focus on the process and each step necessary to complete a fully functional firearm. It is somethings that I can do rather quickly but I am intentionally slowing things down and focusing on each screw, pin, and detail.  

Eventually I will resume the more involved projects but, for now, I was just enjoying the few days of working with my hands on some of the most basic tasks that I have been putting off. But, the important thing now is that I have been able to take the organization to the next level and I am now fairly comfortable with how everything is set up, what has been checked off the list, and what I have yet to start but that is stored away in boxes like adult Lego sets. I don’t know when I will be back down there, there are a lot of other things that need to be accomplished, but I can now, more than ever before, get to work right away should I find that little bit of time.