Training the New-genre Woodworkers Means Making

DSC_0359 We just spent two more days filming, which for me is making too. Carrying the coffee table home yesterday was one of those rare satisfaction moments when you just made something completely by using your own hands and set the finished article in its place. I say rare because we actually live in a culture where 90% of people no longer actually make something in the way I am talking about. Oh we read about making something, even write about it. We blog and discuss issues on  forums, spend hours discussing an issue that’s really quite simple and thinking about it; even plan on doing it someday, but that illusive moment when we actually decide to go do it can be what I am talking about. Last week I taught a nine day continuous class to a group of enthusiastic woodworkers. I also made a couple of knives and a mallet, a frame saw and restored a couple of planes and saws. DSC_0394 I skipped mowing the grass but finished filming making an oak coffee table for the latest woodworkingmasterclasses.com series we’ve been doing. Often, when you are filming, you end up making two or three parts because you want to show several techniques as alternative methods. That extends the work time many fold and can make the day and the workout quite long. DSC_0067 I suppose for me, and I have blogged on this recently, sanity in a somewhat insane world is making something you love making. Getting off the fast track, the conveyor belt, the not so free freeway for even just one hour can transform and renew your mind in ways a keyboard in a virtual world and a flat screen never can. Got wood? Buy a gouge, carve a spoon and change a life. It works!

One Comment

  1. Can really relate with these sentiments. Working wood this way is such a great way to unwind, and end up with a useful item worth handing down to the kids.

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