It is possible, however, that Odie, who happens to be a standard goldendoodle dog, has a little help.

In particular, the woodworking background of Odie’s chief communications officer, Brian Li, may be of interest. Although Brian took shop class in high school and helped his dad build stuff around the house, it was when he and his wife, Erica, bought a house in 2012 that he started building more projects.

“My wife wanted benches for our little porch area. When we went to the store, everything was either too expensive or looked cheesy. So I built some out of cedar planks: a couple human-sized and a small one for Odie,” Brian said.

“It was kind of fun doing the project, and it evolved from there,” he said. “I built useful but random stuff. Even if you have to buy the tools and materials, it’s still less expensive than buying the finished piece, and you have the tools for the next time.”

As Erica posted some of these projects on Facebook, some of the couple’s friends started asking about Brian building something for them. In particular, after Brian built a farmhouse style dining table, his best friend asked if he could build a play-size one for his young daughter. The three-foot by three-and-one-half foot “Ariella mini farmhouse table” was the first thing Brian built for someone else.

After that, the thought was, “If we’re going to start doing this, it might be fun to create a business,” Brian said, while noting that, “It’s really a passion business rather than something we’re hoping to retire on.” Both Brian, a finance manager at Target, and Erica, a kindergarten teacher, have kept their day jobs. As has Odie, who maintains his skills of napping and looking out the window.

“We love our dog. He’s like our kid,” Brian said. He and Erica were married in June 2009. Neither of them grew up with dogs, and they had never talked about getting a dog. “On Christmas Eve, 2009, we got a text from a friend: ‘You want a dog?’”

Odie had been born the runt of a litter in northern Minnesota and was 10 weeks old. The friend told Brian and Erica that if a home couldn’t be found for him, “They were just going to let him go in northern Minnesota and let him fend for himself.”

“My wife was like, ‘We’re getting him.’” Odie arrived in their home on Christmas Day. “We didn’t know anything; we didn’t have anything.” After that, Brian said, “Saving dogs is one cause my wife and I are passionate about.” And, with the beginning of the Odie and Board passion business, they started getting in touch with rescue organizations. Currently, they partner with four (Coco’s Heart Dog Rescue, Midwest Animal Rescue & Services, Ruff Start Rescue, and Secondhand Hounds), which receive a portion of the proceeds from overall sales, as well as earmarked contributions from specific items that feature the rescues’ logos.

After Odie and Board launched in October 2016 with items like cutting boards, coasters, the mini farm table and a coffee table made out of birch butcher block with steel legs, the Christmas season saw the addition of other products like a dog-shaped ornament and a keychain, both of which can be personalized.

Adding new products both helps to increase the assortment of products, and “also to keep sanity,” when building through multiple production runs, Brian said. For the “rustic, farmhouse-y” part of the product line, lumber is often 2x4s or 4x4s from the hardware store, while coasters, cutting boards, cheese plates, etc., are mostly hard maple, black walnut or birch sourced from Youngblood Lumber in Minneapolis.

Other woods might be used, too, with Brian noting that Odie “does gravitate toward the cedar in our shop.”

The Odie & Board company name reference, however, does not refer only to the building materials. In addition to the executive leadership team (rounded out by chief creative officer Erica, who has launched a line of greeting cards that are serving as an entry point to retail sales), there is a “board of directors.”

“Some are friends; others are people who pinged us and asked to be part of the board,” Brian said. “It’s kind of a fun way to highlight other dogs” – a key requirement for board eligibility is “Be a dog.” (The other requirements, Brian said, are not stringent: “You basically have to be able to send a picture.”)

Board responsibilities? “Assist Odie in creating business objectives, setting strategic vision, and advising on the hiring and firing of Odie’s human employees.”

As for Odie himself, the CEO maintains a personal inspection of every item produced at the Odie & Board workshop to ensure it meets his high quality standards.

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– Dan Martin
Galena, Ohio

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– Dennis Chenoweth
Ventura, California

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SYSROCK’s sound comes from its 10-Watt 8 Ohm 2.5-in. Neodymium speaker. A digital sound processor automatically adjusts bass as volume increases, to produce full and natural sound with rich bass but without distortion.

In terms of other functionality, SYSROCK has FM reception coupled with Bluetooth (4.1) capability, providing flexibility to either tune in your favorite local station or stream your own music from a mobile device. Its Radio Data System provides data from FM broadcasting stations that provide song information, artist and time of day. Additionally, the SYSROCK pairs with smartphones wirelessly for hands-free usage. Or, plug your non-Bluetooth device into SYSROCK through the Aux-In jack. A built-in microphone lets you take calls from your phone, hands free.

The radio can be powered in two ways: either use the supplied AC power cord, or outfit it with a Festool flat pack battery (sold separately), ranging from 10.8 to 18 volts. Festool reports that SYSROCK will run from four to five days at medium volume on one charge of a 5.2 Ah 18-volt battery.

SYSROCK’s small size makes it easy to take along and set up anywhere. Stand the radio on its feet or suspend it from an included swiveling hanging hook. There’s also a 1/4″- 20-thread internal mount that’s compatible with Festool’s Magnetic SysLite adapter, so you can attach the SYSROCK to any ferrous metal surface or affix it to common camera tripods with a camera mount. For added durability, the radio has an IPX3 Rating for splash protection, making it rugged enough for the jobsite, campsite, yard or shop.

Festool’s SYSROCK Jobsite Radio (model 200184) comes with the hanging hook, AC adapter cord, Aux-In cord and carrying bag. It is covered by a Service All-Inclusive warranty, including a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
It sells for $119.

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Tim Inman: Keep that saw! While I cannot say with any authority whether there is a modern equivalent to your good old saw, I can say with complete confidence that whatever might be available in the open market today will not be anything like what you have — and not even close for the money you might spend. If your ugly old saw is annoying you, my best suggestion is that you invest in some spit and polish. Shine it up; paint it. Rewire where appropriate. But KEEP THAT SAW. I use an ancient Crescent brand jointer in my shop most of the time. It is an 8-inch jointer. The blades are set at an unusually low angle and the cutterhead runs in oil-bathed Babbitt bearings. The jointer was made to run on a flat belt driven by an overhead belt system in the early 1900s. I have converted it to a V-belt running on an old but more modern electric motor. The two tables show the marks of hand planing on the metal to be sure it was flat and true. Both infeed and outfeed tables have really elegant adjustments in two planes, not just in one plane as the modern tables are adjusted. They even have dovetailed wedges to accommodate for wear. I got this jointer from a church furniture company that closed in the 1980s. Their foreman told me they had taken the jointer from the Beloit Wagon Company in Beloit, Wisconsin. It was originally used to make wagon tongues. No modern replacement machine would come with the stories I have about this machine. And darned few can match it for cutting quality and accuracy, either. I like old machines.

Rob Johnstone: I am not aware of a machine that uses both kinds of the saw blades that you talk about. Rockwell has a tool they call the Bladerunner X2® Portable Tabletop Saw that uses a jigsaw blade (see it pictured in both of the photos here), and it does so in a very similar way to what you describe with your saw. It is not heavy at all (less than 15 lbs.) but as far as I know, it will not use a traditional scroll saw blade.

Chris Marshall: I think a big and heavy, but uniquely versatile, old scroll saw sounds great, Steve. You have a gem of history there. Glad to hear it’s still going strong!

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– B.A. Briggs

See the Gallery Below:

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“’Keep your nose to the grindstone’ comes to us from the gristmill. It refers to the miller keeping his nose close to the grindstones to detect any burning smell caused by the stones being to close together and burning the flour. In essence, it is saying, ‘Pay attention to business.’” – George Perry

In that April Fool’s issue, one of our “Tricks of the Trade” pictured using a lathe in place of a rotisserie grill for some delicious chicken. In a case of truth is stranger than fiction, here’s one reader’s response. – Editor

“Your article last month reminded me of the last time my wife needed to peel some rutabaga. To save effort, I mounted it between centers and peeled it with a gouge. Worked great, but my lathe is still in the workshop.” – Rich Egan

And, going back to our “normal” eZine issue that preceded the 2017 April Fool’s edition, we heard from this reader who had some further insight on a question posed about a “stuck” radial arm saw. – Editor

“In response to the person with the radial arm saw that would not raise or lower: I have owned a Craftsman radial arm saw for at least 45 years. It is a smaller version of the Craftsman radial arm saw, but it functions pretty much the same. Although it is possible the column that raises up and down could be rusted and, without seeing it, no one can be sure of the condition, it is more likely that everyone of the three people that responded about it are wrong and giving bad information. The column that raises up and down will get dirty and collect a very fine sawdust — the same sawdust the we breathe and don’t realize that we are breathing it. This very fine dust will get damp or get moist with changes in the air and humidity. When this dust gets moist, it will collect even more dust and eventually get thick enough to make the column very hard and almost impossible to raise and lower. The use of DW-40 or other lubricants is a big mistake, because that will only make the dust that is present more moist and collect even more dust.

“The fix for a column that will not raise up or down is to loosen the bolts that are around the part that the column moves in and out of. Loosen them so that the column is free to move. Then raise the column as high a possible and wipe the column clean. If the column is really bad, you might want to use steel wool very sparingly to clean the column. Once you get the column clean, you can then tighten the bolts that secure the column. The best preventative measure is to every once in a while raise the column as far as possible and clean the column. How often you do this will depend on how much you use the saw. After you clean the column and tighten the bolts, you may want to check the alignment of the saw to be sure that it still cuts straight. I have cleaned my saw several times over the years and have not had to realign the saw after cleaning. By the way, my saw is in my shop in my garage which sees temperatures from the 30’s to over 100 in a year, and rust has never been an issue.” –  Jim Wilson

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