{"id":6129,"date":"2016-11-02T23:38:28","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T03:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aboutrc.com\/?p=6129"},"modified":"2018-03-09T08:24:30","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T13:24:30","slug":"building-a-kung-fu-wooden-dummy-with-a-master","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/?p=6129","title":{"rendered":"Building a Kung Fu Wooden Dummy With a Master"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Meeting the Master<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-5792\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-570x321.jpg\" alt=\"woodworker-4\" width=\"570\" height=\"321\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-570x321.jpg 570w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-250x141.jpg 250w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-96x54.jpg 96w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/woodworker-4.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back in January, I got together with my friend Kim Patti to talk over some photography stuff. \u00a0As we chatted, I learned that Kim was a retired Army\/Navy guy that has spent al of this life\u00a0doing woodworking &#8211; from a kid, to teaching it in school and to adults. Here I was, Face to face with a true master!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hLpX1EFCoOE?rel=0&amp;showinfo=0\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I relayed to Kim that I had been practicing Wing Chung Kung Fu for a while, and one of the things that I was dreaming about doing was building a Kung Fu wooden dummy (Mook Yan Jong) and that I had found a couple of videos on YouTube that showed how to make one cheaply using MDF. \u00a0He listened attentively and didn&#8217;t say anything about it and we parted ways.<\/p>\n<h3>Challenge Accepted!<\/h3>\n<p>A couple of days later, Kim came back to me and said &#8220;Do you know that in China, people would build the wooden dummy from an actual tree?&#8221; I did know that, but I never thought myself skilled to even build the simplest of dummies from plans on YouTube. \u00a0Truthfully, I am considerably inept at anything that has to do with doing stuff with my hands. \u00a0If I were to try to hang a picture on a wall &#8211; my neighbors house would be on fire.<\/p>\n<p>Kim explained that there really is no reason I couldnt learn any of this stuff &#8211; and that there is no better feeling than sitting around and making something with your bare hands. \u00a0To finish a project on your own would give me an appreciation of the craft behind it.<\/p>\n<p>He looked at me and said &#8220;Challenge accepted! \u00a0I am going to help you build one from scratch with your hands. &#8221; The catch? It would be done step by step &#8211; with me coming to learn from him on both antique tools and modern tools.<\/p>\n<h3>Building the Dummy<\/h3>\n<div class=\"lr_embed\" style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 50%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"iframe\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/lightroom.adobe.com\/embed\/shares\/dc287136d83a40f58e3ed1a7a1eb3928\/slideshow\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>The<\/div>\n<p><em>(click on the images above for a slideshow of the process)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The next couple of months, I would drive an hour up to meet with him and spend time learning some of the components that were involved in the building of the wooden dummy. \u00a0I can&#8217;t really explain how gratifying the process of working with my hands was. I felt like this new hobby was stimulating other parts of the brain, and getting me excited about something new!<\/p>\n<p>A few months later, I had finished the wooden dummy. With it parked in my room, I found something that I can get excited about! \u00a0I&#8217;ve spent time playing on youtube, learning about tools, trying some things in Sketchup and dreaming about the things that I could do next.<\/p>\n<p>I have not been excited about something like this since I started photography- and it feels great. \u00a0Now, I incessantly bother Kim and my friend Al with tool recommendations \u00a0&#8211; a fie inside to try something new.<\/p>\n<p>And I have Kim Patti to thank for all of it. \u00a0Let&#8217;s see what else I can make with my own two hands! Maybe this will give me ideas for new photography work!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meeting the Master Back in January, I got together with my friend Kim Patti to talk over some&hellip;","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,57],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog","8":"category-stories","9":"cs-entry"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6129"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6138,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6129\/revisions\/6138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}