Coming back from Hudson with a ute full Radiata Pine, I unloaded the timber in the middle of the garage and demoted the wife's car out of the garage and onto the driveway. This was the last time the wife's car ever went back into the garage.
I then came to the sudden realisation that I didn't own any power tools, all I had was hand tools (screw drivers and spanners), no plane or chisels, no saws, nothing closely related to woodworking. I knew my brother had a old Ryobi drop saw collecting dust at my Mother's place. That quickly some how found it way to my garage.
Once my father-in-law found out about my project, he dusted off his Triton and brought it to my place. It was also sitting in his garage collecting dust. He had a Triton table saw and router conversion.
The family came to the rescue, the only tool I needed to buy was a belt sander and biscuit joiner.
Every night, 3 hours a night, for 4 weeks - I slaved away at the cot.
The thing I remember most about the 4 weeks was when my father-in-law came over and inspected the half built cot. With a large roof carpenter's square, he checked to see if everything was in-line and square. Through his thick glasses and grin on his face, he looked up and called me "the butcher". "Your a butcher" - "look at this - its 40mm out of square".
I rasied my shoulders and put my hands in the air, "nah! - it should be alright".
The cot was eventually finished. I though it was a great hand built cot, everyone who saw it also agreed.
How time and experience changes your perspective on life. I now look back at the cot (which we still currently using for our 3rd child) and shake my head. I can't believe how poorly made it is.
This cot was the beginnings of my love affair with woodworking. I went to work at 7am in the morning counting the hours until I got home to have some shed time. From that piece on - woodworking has been a part of my life.