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I confess: this project is not a fine woodworking piece… not at all! However, it is one of the first projects I crafted as a young adult. That said, I have to mention that while in elementary school I built a few other projects in woodworking class. One of them is a cooking spoon my mother still keeps in her kitchen to this day. Perhaps in the future I will show some more of my early work on this blog.
I built this dispenser before entering architecture school, during a four-month period when I was employed as an apprentice-woodworker in the wood-shop of a family friend. I did not learn much woodworking there since I mostly sanded stuff, or carried tools, or mauled toolboxes for the more “professional” woodworkers. In retrospect, the greatest advantage of that job was having free access to the shop’s scrap-bin. In that bin I found short pieces of mahogany, ash and oak. It was while working there that I developed an interest in woodworking and bought my first set of tools: a corded drill, drill bits, one really cheap chisel and a small saw.
The Dispenser: As you can see in the pictures, I built the paper towel dispenser by connecting four small pieces of oak together. Two of them I connected lengthwise (If you look at the pictures you can see small pieces of veneer (and wood filler) I used to fill the gap in the sloppy joint). To this beam I connected two arms which carry the paper towel axle. The arms are connected to the long beam with dowels. A very simple design and a crude craftsmanship but this object serves me to this day.
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