another good read from you. Thanks! When reading this essay a smile spread on my face, a smile of enjoyment for your facility with language and of the perspectives you bring to the topic of woodworking. I can certainly get stuck in a rut -- isn't there something easily comforting in it? a dull yet familiar despair? -- but I DO enjoy being jolted out of my complacency, so thanks, again.
I think I've found a way to respond to your essays: Split-screen. Your essay on upper half of screen, txt.-document on lower -- scrolling commentary :-)
"... how shops can be deeply personal spaces..." Indeed. I'm really interested in looking at pictures of other peoples shops. You cannot really separate a woodworker from his shop, no? They say so much about the person that made / organized the shop-space and it's possible to deduce so much about the work being done in it. Chris Schwarz, over on the Lost Art Press Blog, posted a picture of his chair-making hero John Brown a little while back:[ https://blog.lostartpress.com/2023/04/13/stay-at-pantry-fields-where-john-brown-built-his-chairs/ ] You get a measure of the man. Another woodworker / shop I cannot but admire is Peter Follansbee [ https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/ ]. It's ... humbling. In the best sense of the word. And have you seen the 'YouTuber' Mr. Chickadee? [ https://www.youtube.com/@MrChickadee/videos ] He appears to be self-taught, and has built everything you see in these videos from the ground up. It's so damn impressive it would be depressing if it wasn't so ... well done! This is one thing I love about America; Your multitudes contain such talent that is rarely seen and therefore of great interest.
A peculiarity I've noticed about 'woodworking in America' is how it's often conceptualized as a 'rural, old timey' activity, best done at the end of a winding country lane, over a brook, and preferably without electricity. As much as I admire for instance Mr. Chickadee's work and undeniable skill, I cannot shake the impression that it looks like 'cosplay' ... what with the 'historical' clothes and the vintage tools. Why? In my country it's not that farmers did not do woodworking -- of course they did! -- but fine woodworking was always an urban craft; because that's where the money, the jobs, the manpower, the education and the tools were. Of course the farmer would build, repair and make both the buildings (with some help) and much of what he would need. I do not say this as a 'put-down' on farmers as a 'town-boy' -- the older I get, the more I've come to realize what's really important in this world. But: Is woodworking in America viewed as an escape from an awful contemporary society? (I mean no disrespect, but one cannot but notice the great division in American society (and its spreading like cancer to our countries, too), and the (forgive me!) utterly corrupted state of ... things. My hope, my belief, is that 'America' is not really its institutions, but its people. I belive in people. They are human, like me. I can trust humans, but only a fool would trust 'a system'.
"... inanimate objects have faces and sometimes names ..." Ahhh... but what do you mean by 'inanimate' ? I animate my 'objects' whenever I use them, and some of them have considerably more character than some people I know ... No, I do not recognize this distinction :-) They come alive in my hands, and they are my trusted helpers whithout which I would be a subservient office-worker? Pfføy! I know I have a stunted social life -- my patience with the average human is limited -- but I do take part in a conversation spanning centuries through literature -- it's the best I can do it seems. But back to 'objects': I have, for instance, noticed that I get slightly provoked when some hobbyist tells me how 'unsuitable' my bench is. No. Scratch that. I GET FUCKING INCENSED when some armchair amateur'woodworker' lectures me about how the only bench worth having is a Ruobo replica made from vintage French oak. He does so from the safe distance of his keyboard... My bench! That has been my faithful, everyday companion for 25 years and facilitated me making a living ... not good enough!? It's like insulting your mother and they are too stupid to realize ...
The more I hear of your father, the better I like him. A good man is like a tree. He holds the sky up and provides sustenance and shelter. There needs to be a forest of them to make a proper society. My father was a teacher and a good man. I am so proud to be his son, but it seems I am the last of our line. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvPynMI6Umc&list=FLAlkGJyffDfjBOsGiw_n_2Q&index=133 ]
"I believe I emphasized it with an expletive, just for clarity." Nice to know :-) Vulgarity DOES have a place in language, as in life. I have one of my favourite expletives from the HBO series ROME where Octavia utters the scripted but funny! (and feminine) "piss and blood!" [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ui4h0lYqg ] When I'm not swearing in Norwegain, of course. That's a a completely different cauldron of obscenities.
“[W]e should look to the bonds that connect us, rather than to divisions ..." Yes! Now more than ever. There is so much isolation, frustration, anger and unnecessary strife among people today. I honestly believe it is created by social media. It is in their interest to divide in order to rule, and they are our new rulers, make no mistake! It would seem they have 'hacked' humanity, most of us are only averagely intelligent, by definition, and that is no match for our new Artificially Intelligent overlords. The only thing we have that they do not is love. To them it does not compute. Believing in love is like believing in God. God is love. It does not compute, rationally. But when confronted with evil you have to choose. Choose love, despite everything! Love creates; it's opposite is ... ugly and sterile -- that's how I recognize it.
"Josiah, my sweet yet sardonic partner in life..." Sardonic, eh? My favourite rictus :-) At the rate I seem to warm to your family, you might as well adopt me :-) You seem to have the good fortune to be surrounded by men capable of giving you the resistance you need to grow. I can only dream of being surrounded by such women, fallen Adam that I am. Lucky girl, you! And still so young! You'll be formidable! when you relize your true capabilities.
"...getting carried away on the currents of our own self-delusions." What the on-line world facilitates summed up in 11 words. Delusions are pretty and comfortable. No one will thank you for pricking them. So don't. Circumvent the deluded. Let them suffocate on their own delusions. Most people come to their senses (SENSES!) when things starts to hurt, but will indulge their beautiful fantasies until that point. Cold and wet? Want to sit by the fire to dry yourself? Are you my friend? Do you scorn me for cutting the wood that warms you and dries your clothes? Do you despise me for succoruing my detractor? If so: Why should I?
"...space for gratitude..." Yes. This, as they say. Gratitude is the solvent, the softener of souls. All the small, ugly souls I have come to know in my life have that in common that they are without gratitude ... for anything! They are the Lost Boys. Not even bushes, let alone proper trees.
"...and taper the legs." Ahh... but on which side will you taper the legs? On the outside or the innside? [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58YS9kJ8hm8&list=FLAlkGJyffDfjBOsGiw_n_2Q&index=175 ] Have you considered the innside? Outside straight and firm, strong vertical where the eye notices, but inside tapering makes for subdued elegance. Come to think of it; my notions of aesthetic preferances are so deeply entwined with my sensibilities and heterosexual preferences that I can not differentiate them. I guess I'm just hetero by nature. It's one of the deepest parts of who I am. I can see no reason to be ashamed of that fact. [just for fun : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllRW9wETzw&list=FLAlkGJyffDfjBOsGiw_n_2Q&index=179]
"Digital content feels like spectacle, a sanitized version of the whatever internal madness drove a person to build something out of wood in the first place." ... you have a way with words ... but, tell me all about it... I am a novice to this online world, where 'share!'and 'be kind or be gone!' are valid exhortations. I did sign on the dotted line, but I do not recollect giving my consent to being an online whore. Then again, I've lived next door to real whores and drunk & laughed with them. They are quite fun to be around, they are fun 'party-girls', it's one of their talents. I do not despise them, but certainly I do not envy them. Their talents are very limited and are usually exploited by bad men, really bad men. The sort of men that should be resisted. Resisted and incarcerated by the State, because what they are doing is no god for no one.
Dear Tali,
another good read from you. Thanks! When reading this essay a smile spread on my face, a smile of enjoyment for your facility with language and of the perspectives you bring to the topic of woodworking. I can certainly get stuck in a rut -- isn't there something easily comforting in it? a dull yet familiar despair? -- but I DO enjoy being jolted out of my complacency, so thanks, again.
I think I've found a way to respond to your essays: Split-screen. Your essay on upper half of screen, txt.-document on lower -- scrolling commentary :-)
"... how shops can be deeply personal spaces..." Indeed. I'm really interested in looking at pictures of other peoples shops. You cannot really separate a woodworker from his shop, no? They say so much about the person that made / organized the shop-space and it's possible to deduce so much about the work being done in it. Chris Schwarz, over on the Lost Art Press Blog, posted a picture of his chair-making hero John Brown a little while back:[ https://blog.lostartpress.com/2023/04/13/stay-at-pantry-fields-where-john-brown-built-his-chairs/ ] You get a measure of the man. Another woodworker / shop I cannot but admire is Peter Follansbee [ https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/ ]. It's ... humbling. In the best sense of the word. And have you seen the 'YouTuber' Mr. Chickadee? [ https://www.youtube.com/@MrChickadee/videos ] He appears to be self-taught, and has built everything you see in these videos from the ground up. It's so damn impressive it would be depressing if it wasn't so ... well done! This is one thing I love about America; Your multitudes contain such talent that is rarely seen and therefore of great interest.
A peculiarity I've noticed about 'woodworking in America' is how it's often conceptualized as a 'rural, old timey' activity, best done at the end of a winding country lane, over a brook, and preferably without electricity. As much as I admire for instance Mr. Chickadee's work and undeniable skill, I cannot shake the impression that it looks like 'cosplay' ... what with the 'historical' clothes and the vintage tools. Why? In my country it's not that farmers did not do woodworking -- of course they did! -- but fine woodworking was always an urban craft; because that's where the money, the jobs, the manpower, the education and the tools were. Of course the farmer would build, repair and make both the buildings (with some help) and much of what he would need. I do not say this as a 'put-down' on farmers as a 'town-boy' -- the older I get, the more I've come to realize what's really important in this world. But: Is woodworking in America viewed as an escape from an awful contemporary society? (I mean no disrespect, but one cannot but notice the great division in American society (and its spreading like cancer to our countries, too), and the (forgive me!) utterly corrupted state of ... things. My hope, my belief, is that 'America' is not really its institutions, but its people. I belive in people. They are human, like me. I can trust humans, but only a fool would trust 'a system'.
"... inanimate objects have faces and sometimes names ..." Ahhh... but what do you mean by 'inanimate' ? I animate my 'objects' whenever I use them, and some of them have considerably more character than some people I know ... No, I do not recognize this distinction :-) They come alive in my hands, and they are my trusted helpers whithout which I would be a subservient office-worker? Pfføy! I know I have a stunted social life -- my patience with the average human is limited -- but I do take part in a conversation spanning centuries through literature -- it's the best I can do it seems. But back to 'objects': I have, for instance, noticed that I get slightly provoked when some hobbyist tells me how 'unsuitable' my bench is. No. Scratch that. I GET FUCKING INCENSED when some armchair amateur'woodworker' lectures me about how the only bench worth having is a Ruobo replica made from vintage French oak. He does so from the safe distance of his keyboard... My bench! That has been my faithful, everyday companion for 25 years and facilitated me making a living ... not good enough!? It's like insulting your mother and they are too stupid to realize ...
The more I hear of your father, the better I like him. A good man is like a tree. He holds the sky up and provides sustenance and shelter. There needs to be a forest of them to make a proper society. My father was a teacher and a good man. I am so proud to be his son, but it seems I am the last of our line. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvPynMI6Umc&list=FLAlkGJyffDfjBOsGiw_n_2Q&index=133 ]
"I believe I emphasized it with an expletive, just for clarity." Nice to know :-) Vulgarity DOES have a place in language, as in life. I have one of my favourite expletives from the HBO series ROME where Octavia utters the scripted but funny! (and feminine) "piss and blood!" [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ui4h0lYqg ] When I'm not swearing in Norwegain, of course. That's a a completely different cauldron of obscenities.
“[W]e should look to the bonds that connect us, rather than to divisions ..." Yes! Now more than ever. There is so much isolation, frustration, anger and unnecessary strife among people today. I honestly believe it is created by social media. It is in their interest to divide in order to rule, and they are our new rulers, make no mistake! It would seem they have 'hacked' humanity, most of us are only averagely intelligent, by definition, and that is no match for our new Artificially Intelligent overlords. The only thing we have that they do not is love. To them it does not compute. Believing in love is like believing in God. God is love. It does not compute, rationally. But when confronted with evil you have to choose. Choose love, despite everything! Love creates; it's opposite is ... ugly and sterile -- that's how I recognize it.
"Josiah, my sweet yet sardonic partner in life..." Sardonic, eh? My favourite rictus :-) At the rate I seem to warm to your family, you might as well adopt me :-) You seem to have the good fortune to be surrounded by men capable of giving you the resistance you need to grow. I can only dream of being surrounded by such women, fallen Adam that I am. Lucky girl, you! And still so young! You'll be formidable! when you relize your true capabilities.
"...getting carried away on the currents of our own self-delusions." What the on-line world facilitates summed up in 11 words. Delusions are pretty and comfortable. No one will thank you for pricking them. So don't. Circumvent the deluded. Let them suffocate on their own delusions. Most people come to their senses (SENSES!) when things starts to hurt, but will indulge their beautiful fantasies until that point. Cold and wet? Want to sit by the fire to dry yourself? Are you my friend? Do you scorn me for cutting the wood that warms you and dries your clothes? Do you despise me for succoruing my detractor? If so: Why should I?
"...space for gratitude..." Yes. This, as they say. Gratitude is the solvent, the softener of souls. All the small, ugly souls I have come to know in my life have that in common that they are without gratitude ... for anything! They are the Lost Boys. Not even bushes, let alone proper trees.
"...and taper the legs." Ahh... but on which side will you taper the legs? On the outside or the innside? [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58YS9kJ8hm8&list=FLAlkGJyffDfjBOsGiw_n_2Q&index=175 ] Have you considered the innside? Outside straight and firm, strong vertical where the eye notices, but inside tapering makes for subdued elegance. Come to think of it; my notions of aesthetic preferances are so deeply entwined with my sensibilities and heterosexual preferences that I can not differentiate them. I guess I'm just hetero by nature. It's one of the deepest parts of who I am. I can see no reason to be ashamed of that fact. [just for fun : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllRW9wETzw&list=FLAlkGJyffDfjBOsGiw_n_2Q&index=179]
"Digital content feels like spectacle, a sanitized version of the whatever internal madness drove a person to build something out of wood in the first place." ... you have a way with words ... but, tell me all about it... I am a novice to this online world, where 'share!'and 'be kind or be gone!' are valid exhortations. I did sign on the dotted line, but I do not recollect giving my consent to being an online whore. Then again, I've lived next door to real whores and drunk & laughed with them. They are quite fun to be around, they are fun 'party-girls', it's one of their talents. I do not despise them, but certainly I do not envy them. Their talents are very limited and are usually exploited by bad men, really bad men. The sort of men that should be resisted. Resisted and incarcerated by the State, because what they are doing is no god for no one.
Please do. I think it adds another layer of art to your communication processes, the recording makes it so everyone can participate.
Tali, I like how you stated inconvenience can be useful. To me this is great advice, sometimes the days just get too crazy. Makes you stop and think!
Are you still doing recordings of your essays?