About Me

My name is Garry I Wise,

Have you ever wanted to do something so intensely that you could not imagine your self not having done it. This applies to me in a variety of ways. Imagine a small boy in Atwood, Kansas wanting to build an airplane out of scrap wood and get this a lawn mower engine.

That is correct I was in the second grade when I got my hands on one of these picture books, you know the kind with the stickers you peel and put in the correct place. This book was about airplanes. WW1, WW2 and a multitude of different kinds. I was addicted to airplanes long before that though. My mom used to tell me that when I was three or so years old we lived at the end of a runway. I in no way remember where but I remember the story. She said “you would go running out the door every time you heard an airplane fly over the house.”

That was the beginning, later in life I was so engulfed by the wish to fly it would be what I thought about most. We later moved to a small town in Kansas called Bennington where every time we came back to town we had to drive past this small airfield. It had two light planes (Cessna s) They may have been Cessna 150’s or 172’s. I don’t know, as I was young and starting in school at the time. Then I remember being out in our back yard and I saw this radio-controlled airplane flying over at the school baseball field, I got so excited that I went running in the direction of the plane. Did I mention that I have a passion for all creation with wings, that does include a multitude of bird species?

Flying is not the1 passion I have, oh no, no, no. I have more, yes I love to work with wood, I don’t remember doing this before I reached 6th grade. I do remember that sixth grade wood shop, we weren’t allowed to use equipment like the band saw, table saw or any of the major power tools. You understand, liability reasons. Apparently no one wanted to see a bunch of sixth graders running around the school with blood shooting from missing digit’s etcetera.

The teacher for the wood shop class would do all the cutting for us, yes all us. Thankfully for him there were a small number, 11 or 12 being in the class. They would give us project limits, a good example is we were to use a combination of wood and foam rubber. This is where I tell you I was a rebel child. I was not able to do what we were assigned. I somehow managed to get away with doing my own thing. This particular memory goes back to the airplane thing. See I am clueless how I am not capable of getting off of the plane on the brain subject for long.

On the subject of this particular project, I drew out this plan to build a model airplane in that class. Of course there’s no way this thing is flying. I built it using ordinary wood and tissue paper covering. The wing ribs were over a quarter inch thick. This of course made the project far to heavy, well that and I didn’t have a motor to make it fly. The control would have been wire control, radio-control would have been nice. There would be little opportunity for me to have money for that, but the main reason the airplane was too heavy.

I did go on to enroll in other industrial art classes later. In my junior and sophomore years at Kennedy senior high school I signed up for a variety of classes like painting & drawing, woodworking, I learned basic welding and light machining. I am as I am sure you are, we are all in good company, loving the working with our hands mentality.

Then of course the auto shop classes, what teenager doesn’t love cars? I am sure they are out there somewhere. I had a chance to buy a 1970 Boss Mustang for $200.00, my step dad wouldn’t loan me the money. Of course in fairness to him he didn’t have it either. There were countless hours spent in his garage in Geneva, Ia rebuilding engines. Of course all Ford. He even taught me the basics of driving. There were a multitude of driver ed classes too, but he started me out in that 1962 Ford Galaxy he had rebuilt. We did do a lot of fishing, but he was not interested in woodworking. I am though grateful for the auto education. That is no longer the same, look what they have done to cars today. You have to be a master at electronics to do any kind of repairs to one now.

After you finished school in Geneva, IA you were then bused to Ackley, Ia where you started Jr. high school. Duane and I (he was my closest friend as we grew up) I used to run around in his Torino GT. He had one that was that bright blue with the reflective stripe. Loved that car, swore I would have one like it one day. I did buy a Yamaha LT3 from Duane.

I rode that motor cycle everywhere. Lots of good times as teens. Of course, we got into our share of trouble as well (oops, did I say that out loud?)

I was 16 years old, When I ran away from home, this time (can’t remember how times we did that) Duane and I, Patty his girl friend we all had done this together as well as others I knew from Cedar Rapids, Ia. This time I was looking for my dad again.

I didn’t find him, so I took a job at a dairy farm in Atwood, KS. Guess who the guy was that came in and fed the cows in the morning and again in the evening, after I got established on the dairy I bought a 1970 metallic purple Dodge Charger RT (plum crazy) with a beautiful white interior.

This was my favorite, I will never forget that car. I sat on the shoulder of I-80 near Greenfield, Iowa and cried when I rolled that car. I had fallen asleep at the wheel.

After I rolled the Charger My dad bought for me a 1967 Mercury Cougar, the Cougar was rough but it got us where we needed to be. We were on our way to see my siblings. You know his other children, but we turned around and headed back to Atwood. Dad wasn’t feeling to good after we had the wreck. Going back was his choice.

I did get the 1972 Torino GT, even better mine was the Cobra package, (another car I loved) I blew the already worn out engine in that one and traded it in on a 1968 mustang when I was stationed at Ft. Riley Ks.

The Beautiful 1970 you see pictured here is compliments of Kevin from V8Tv If you have a minute you should go check out their website and YouTube channel.

Included here a link here for the video of this gorgeous 1970 Torino GT Cobra. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDmSipA_dVc I wanted to give you also a link to their website shown below. Imagine what it would be like to have all the cars we had in our youth. Well mine anyway. To list those cars here would take far too much time. Also, some awesome cars manufactured over the years, the Camaro’s, Shelby’s etc. Some cars were so popular the manufactures thought it would be a good idea to bring them back. http://www.musclecaroftheweek.com/

Then I have a lot of good I can say about my mother and my step dad. I learned the majority I know about cars from him. I had a worn out crankshaft in my 1968 Mustang. We pulled out the engine under a tree on the farm he and my mom lived on while I was in the army.

We were putting the engine back in and I had bolted the transmission to the engine before stuffing it back in. The tail housing stabbed the dirt as it went under the fire wall,

This was a bad thing because it didn’t make it to my next duty assignment which was Fort Hood Texas. We got about half-way from my mothers home in Bartley, Nebraska to Fort Hood when I lost the Transmission. Apparently they don’t work well with a tail housing full of dirt. Don’t get me wrong I did clean out the end before putting the drive shaft back on. Apparently I did not get enough of the dirt out. Believe it or not I gave that mustang to the Ford Dealer ship for the cost of Their time and Labor I was after all in the U. S. Army and didn’t have much in the way of income. Being that I was a private, married at 17 with a child. I made less than $400.00 per month. This didn’t leave much to pay for repairs. I did try later to go back and buy that car back. The dealer wasn’t about to let me have a 68 mustang he got for less than 400 dollars. I kind of got off on a tangent with this post, I wasn’t planning to talk about the cars so much. I did want to express the mentality, I have always had an interest in all the mechanical interests I have had. We haven’t even scratched the surface on the building of airplanes yet.

About those Airplanes, In my blog post “The Art of Woodworking” I mention this, I won’t bore you with a repeat of that, That is if you have read the article. We are primarily talking about wood working on this site. This page is the about me section, and why I did this. I love the creative side of my make up. There has always been an interest in my artistic abilities.

The other side of that same coin is The idea of encouraging you, those of you that have children still interested in having a creative side. Explore that together, I mention my father, he wasn’t much for any kind of hobbies,

This brings me back to my step dad. I did learn about cars from him, that, and we did spend time fishing. He was a cat fishing fool. He was also a simple man. His main interests were cars and fishing, He was happy! I wish I had made a video, I took these pictures with my Panasonic HD 20 video camera.

We had come from my mothers funeral. He was telling me stories about when he had grown up in Bartley, Nebraska. This is another reason I built this website. I can’t encourage you enough to take up family projects and activities. Remember to watch for my video contest, featuring you and your family projects. Father son, or daughter, mother son or daughter you get the picture. I am still working on the details of the contest. This contest may not be about woodworking projects alone, but may include art, sewing, it’s all about family.

Thanks For Reading me,

Garry Wise

Don’t hesitate to contact me here in the comments or email: mktgtips@garrywisemktg.com

What I do

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Woodworking is not my only passion, I am a writer and videographer which kind of makes me exactly what I was complaining about. The kid that just wants to play on his computer. Nope! far from it, All of these hobbies and craft ideas came first. Contact me if you like, especially if you are in need of copy writer or article. Thanks Garry.