Learning

I recently came across a few articles in long-ago editions of Fine Woodworking on Shaker furniture. The simplicity, solid construction and good looks spoke to me.

The final finish coats are going on my attempt at Chris Becksvoort’s Shaker stool (Fine Woodworking issue #231). Making it with hand tools, as Chris suggests you do, was humbling.

Sawing a straight line is surprisingly difficult. I feel no shame admitting that I’m still not there. My lines meander. They slope. They feature a multitude of angles that are not supposed to be there.

I conversed with myself in French when chiseling the 1/8″ deep dados. Cutting two shallow grooves into the bottom of a board. Such a seemingly simple thing that requires patience, practice and persistence. I’m still working on the first of those.

I understand why a coping saw has that name. In shaking my head at my attempts to saw a curve, I found myself smiling and occasionally laughing out loud. The piece that eventually fell from the first leg resembled half of a shark’s jaw. The second was much the same. Please don’t tell Chris, but I cheated here and used a spindle sander to smooth the curves. (I’d do it again too.)

When the glue was dry and the clamps came off, the block plane came out. Crooked joints, roughly hewn mortises and angles that approached–but never quite reached–the intended 90 degrees were forgotten. Time stopped with the subdued swish, swish of wood shavings falling to the bench. I picked them up and held them, marveling at tenon shavings of translucent end grain.

Holding the stool, I can note the progression of my improvements. One dado has sharper shoulders than the other. Each piece of corner bracing showcases my progress towards my someday goal of sawing a straight line.

My wife said “It’s beautiful!” when she saw my stool. In writing my thoughts down today, I realize (again) that she’s right. It is. We all have flaws and loose joints. If only it was as easy to fix our imperfections as it is to acquire the skills of a master woodworker. Again, in writing my thoughts down, it occurs to me that perhaps it is: with patience, practice and persistence.