Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Oops, I think I screwed up and did a good thing.

So back in February I got an email from a h.s. senior looking for help, a mentor actually, for his senior project.

For those of you, like me, who predate this academic rite of passage, many schools now require their seniors to pick a project in virtually any subject to complete during their, hopefully, last semester in high school.

My first thought was what the heck makes me a suitable mentor? Of course the answer was, not a darn thing. I pondered it for a couple of days and, somewhat sadly, decided that between being a husband, dad, business owner and tech school blacksmith instructor it would be near impossible to find the time to help this kid. I responded as such.

Here's where I messed up.

Then I told my wife about it.

She changed my mind for me.

So I emailed J.D. again and told him if he still needs help to give a call and we'd see if we could work it out.

Why I post this here, and why I was compelled to help is, largely, due to the nature of his chosen project.

A gun safe.

I mean a h.s. kid who's interested in shooting sports and welding. About the only way we could make it better is if it was built in the shape of a 1966 Shelby GT350.

Full of scantily clad girls.

And beer.

So he got the materials and dug in. I kept my input, mostly, to instruction on equipment use, shop safety, and how to organize the tasks in some sort of logical progression, design input on the "no machining involved" lock set up and quality control.

Oh, and I gave him all sorts of he** just like if he was the FNG. He took it with style and grace and even gave it back in spades.

J.D. did the rest. All told he spent at least 70 hours busting his butt on this thing.

At one point his English teacher called me to verify that J.D. had spent the minimum amount of hours on the project. When he mentioned 10 hours I just laughed. We did that, more than once, in one day.

He finished just 2 days before his deadline when he would have to put together an 8 to 10 minute presentation on his project.

To say he was nervous, on our last build day, about his deadline would be an understatement.

He presented it yesterday and just a while ago called me and told me this, his English teacher said that he has seen every senior project since he has been teaching at this school and that J.D.'s gun safe is, and I quote, "by far the best project of all of them."

On top of that one of the panel volunteers for his presentation tried to buy it from him.

Damn allergies, pollen must be heavy today, my eyes are getting all watery.

So, without further ado, I present to you J.D. and his gun safe.

Buy yerself a good seegar and a slug of first class whiskey!!!

That will probably be one of the best investments of time you could make for that High School kid. It will be something the student looks back on for the rest of his life and it will make a difference in the way he sees life. It is a good looking safe too!

I had a similar experience with my own son and his senior project. He decided to make a combat knife for a soldier going to Iraq. My brother and I are custom knife makers and were enlisted to guide him. It was really hard to hold back and let him learn while making his own mistakes and struggling with something that, to me, was second nature. I let my brother do most of the instructing and critique. It is the only time I can remember that one of my sons actually acted like he was listening to every word an adult said. He spent a ton of time on researching the design, learning shop safety, learning how to correctly use equipment, to grind, heat treat steel, and working with plastics and adhesives. I was blown away by his focus. He also documented each step in the process and wrote a paper on it.

My son said the hardest part was picking the soldier that would receive the knife and then actually giving it away. When he had finished the project and had presented the knife, marked with his name as the maker, I told my son that the quality of the knife was high enough that my brother had said that he would have gladly marked the knife with our shop logo of Twin Blades.

I can't say enough about the time spent with a high school student and the impact it can make on their life. I will never pass up a chance to do the same thing again if there is anyway possible that I can help. We have helped several now that have wanted to learn to make knives and it has always been time well spent.

Impressive project - and impressive safe as the result!

Good on ya!

I will second that motion!

The pride in J.D.'s smile says it all. Way to go Brian!

Great job all around!

Great job! Ya dun good! Congrats to BOTH of you!


maddog

Good on you......job well done!

Outstanding, Brian! Congratulations to J.D. and to you. You two have created not only a hell-for-stout gun safe, but memories that will last your lifetimes.

Oh, and a hearty "well done" to your wife for her input.

Ed

There is no way you will even know how your investment in this young man may change the world for the better. My hats off to you and a toast with this morning first cup of coffee.

Nice story. Thanks for stepping up.
Humanity still has a chance.....

cool...good job

don't look like 'screwed up' to me. Good on ya, for helping the lad like that.

blynyrd,

If you will PM me your name and address, a pretty good bottle of bourbon will be headed your way for you and your wife.

What you did and how you did it was masterful and very generous.

Steve

Really impressive!

So the [not so]little fella just stopped by with a thank you card and an Applebee's gift certificate, and some flowers for my wife.

Dang kids.

Fantastic job on both your parts.

I've always maintained that when you make a living selling an intangible you learn to "read" people pretty well or you find another line of work. I'd stake my reputation as a "people reader" that you'll never see J.D. in a police line up or on a wanted poster. He has character written all over him.

Congratulations to two jobs well done!

I'll let you know when the bourbon is on the way. My plan is to get it towards you tomorrow.

What you did for the young man was remarkable and pure genius.

The bourbon is a tribute to you, and not at all equal to what you did.

Steve