This project has been in the making for over two years. I was given two short oak logs from my Uncle Bob. He salvaged the logs from the farm that my grandfather grew up on and where my uncle now lives.
The logs were split in half and sliced up on the band saw. Here they are stickered, setting at the end of my workbench.
After two full years of air drying, I rough planed the boards to 7/8″ and ripped them to about 6″ wide. Here, I restacked and stickered them. It will be another 3 months before I build the flag box. 
Grandpa was a tall soft spoken man who wasn’t much for words. When he did speak, it was always to the point and around a cigar stuck in the corner of his mouth. Grandpa’s signature cigar was chewed never smoked. About fifty paces from the house was a small workshop where Grandpa could fix anything. His shop was barely 10′ by 10′ and inside it was stuffed to the rafters. In the center was a small cast iron wood burner. I liked to visit grandpa in his shop, sit next the warm stove and marvel at all the stuff. On the rare occasion, when his project was beyond repair, grandpa would salvage the nuts, bolts or springs and store them for future repairs. I would not call his shop organized but I am sure if something was needed, he knew right where to find it. His workbench mirrored the rest of the shop. On one end set an old motor converted into a grinder. It wouldn’t start on it’s own, you had to spin the grinding wheel and quickly plug it in. As a kid I thought that was the coolest machine.
Grandpa earned a living as a mason and among the many buildings he built was the Post Office in Otisville, Michigan. It’s no wonder that he thought my home, with it’s wood foundation, would as he put it “be falling down soon”. Each time I would go to visit, Grandpa would ask “how’s that wood holding up” followed by ” it’s not to late to put some block under that house”. I knew he was kidding by that little twitch in his cigar. Then the conversation would turn to how the garden was doing this year or what project he was working on.
It was in WW II that Grandpa served our county in the US Army. He never said much about the war. He had a wood framed box to display his medals and an old riffle that he brought back as a souvenir.
During his funeral Grandpa was honored for his service with the presentation of the United States flag by VFW post #822 .
On this Veterans Day I would like to take a moment and say ” Thank You” to all those that served to protect our freedom.
Thanks Grandpa
Keith
Keith