Classes in wood and working

Shavings were plentiful tonight. I swept the shop and sharpened the planes and chisels for the next class. I did all of the saws after last weeks class so they are in good shape. I look over the empty benches for a last check before I go home. The benches are cleared except for the tools, the wood is milled in boxes by my bench and all the vises are drawn tight.

 

For the students, order is everything. A sense of confidence comes with order I suppose. Sharp tools cut well, planes adjusted shave without faltering and saws somehow ease their way through the long cells. It takes practice, but confidence develops with each stroke they make and I see growth minute by minute. Sharp dovetails don’t come from dull chisels so in the first hour we talk through sharpness, quickly and simple.

In last week’s class I saw men and women enter that passage of uncertainty I’ve seen so many enter before them. I admire them. Some come with no knowledge of woodworking tools and never made anything from wood, but it’s at that minute that they somehow become woodworkers. That’s why last week’s class and tomorrow’s class and all the future classes are important.

I’m not a businessman but an artisan. I work with my hands and make wood work. We all invest together and in a few days that serious speculation becomes something worthwhile.