A delight, shared.
Whimsy; or, I’m getting soft as age creeps in; but I thought enough of a ‘delight’ today to warrant sharing it with some folk who may understand it. In my humble workshop I have what I call the healing shelf. On this shelf live those items which require mending, fettling or too much time to do now. I often hope the fettling fairy will turn up and all will be fixed; bright, shiny, sharp and ready to go to work – alas. On said shelf I have had, for almost 18 months now a couple of wooden ‘coffin’ planes; filthy and un-serviceable, the irons pitch black and sinister, out of square and some fool had made a pigs ear of the ‘grind’.
Well, the latest refugee from the scrap heap had arrived, another old, rusting hulk in need of attention. Sunday was quiet and my own, so I set to. The ‘tank’ was prepared and the rusty bits were duly immersed. I rolled a smoke and my eye landed on the healing shelf – why not? So I wrestled the cutter out of one of the ‘Matheson’ relics, separated it from the chip breaker and threw the whole lot into the tank. With time on my hands, I looked to the wooden plane – what a mess. Clearly it had been dropped, three dowels and screw to hold body and soul together; as stated, time on my hands – I got stuck in; more to see how the plane had been made, rather than in the interests of sorting it out. Well, one thing led to another and I sorted out the geometry, the mouth and the base; even cleaned up the body. Long ramble short, when the iron came out it looked halfway decent, and it felt ‘right’ the weight and the balance played a ‘fix me’ song. So as though led by some strange force, I put about four hours into the thing, made it square, sorted out the geometry then sharpened it. Wow.
Put the whole thing back together, fiddled about a bit to get the chip breaker in the right slot, then fiddled some more to get it set. Then I used it – what an absolute treat. I cannot express the feeling of ‘delight’ the first few full width, smooth as silk shavings gave me. I’m still smiling. It’s silly I know – a few shavings and a foursquare board in record time, with consummate ease; but how often in this life does an inanimate object, a chunk of wood and lump of steel make you smile – all day long.
I just wondered if among those of us who turn large lumps of wood into small lumps, there may be some who could share and understand my smiles. Daft ain’t it.
Whimsy; or, I’m getting soft as age creeps in; but I thought enough of a ‘delight’ today to warrant sharing it with some folk who may understand it. In my humble workshop I have what I call the healing shelf. On this shelf live those items which require mending, fettling or too much time to do now. I often hope the fettling fairy will turn up and all will be fixed; bright, shiny, sharp and ready to go to work – alas. On said shelf I have had, for almost 18 months now a couple of wooden ‘coffin’ planes; filthy and un-serviceable, the irons pitch black and sinister, out of square and some fool had made a pigs ear of the ‘grind’.
Well, the latest refugee from the scrap heap had arrived, another old, rusting hulk in need of attention. Sunday was quiet and my own, so I set to. The ‘tank’ was prepared and the rusty bits were duly immersed. I rolled a smoke and my eye landed on the healing shelf – why not? So I wrestled the cutter out of one of the ‘Matheson’ relics, separated it from the chip breaker and threw the whole lot into the tank. With time on my hands, I looked to the wooden plane – what a mess. Clearly it had been dropped, three dowels and screw to hold body and soul together; as stated, time on my hands – I got stuck in; more to see how the plane had been made, rather than in the interests of sorting it out. Well, one thing led to another and I sorted out the geometry, the mouth and the base; even cleaned up the body. Long ramble short, when the iron came out it looked halfway decent, and it felt ‘right’ the weight and the balance played a ‘fix me’ song. So as though led by some strange force, I put about four hours into the thing, made it square, sorted out the geometry then sharpened it. Wow.
Put the whole thing back together, fiddled about a bit to get the chip breaker in the right slot, then fiddled some more to get it set. Then I used it – what an absolute treat. I cannot express the feeling of ‘delight’ the first few full width, smooth as silk shavings gave me. I’m still smiling. It’s silly I know – a few shavings and a foursquare board in record time, with consummate ease; but how often in this life does an inanimate object, a chunk of wood and lump of steel make you smile – all day long.
I just wondered if among those of us who turn large lumps of wood into small lumps, there may be some who could share and understand my smiles. Daft ain’t it.
