The Boy (Girl) Who Cried Wolf

Probably you have heard the cautionary tale.  A boy rushes into his village crying, "Wolf, wolf, the wolf is coming!"  Everyone runs for cover only to discover there is no wolf. He does this so often that when he actually sees a wolf approaching the village his cries go unheeded.

Sometimes I feel a little like the boy who cried wolf. I get excited by possibilities and decide then and there that I'm going to write a book on teaching techniques, or become an expert on picture framing, or learn marquetry, or become a life coach, or publish a children's book. The problem is I don't end up doing most of these things. That doesn't stop me from talking enthusiastically about what I intend to do and, when I'm talking about it, it's all consuming. Somehow the brilliant plan gets set aside. Something more interesting comes along.  I get bogged down in the  complexity of the task and stop because I don't know what to do next or it takes too much energy to persevere through the icky bits.

I have been trying to cut tight dovetails for twelve years now. I seem to either cut plumb or cut at right angles to the face of the board. I don't seem to be able to do both at the same time and both are required for a tight joint. I've been learning to play piano for seven years and the progress is similarly slow. I can play the notes correctly or I can play in tempo. Doing both at the same time is
fundamental to making music.

Although I'm similarly stuck in both pursuits I feel very differently about them. With the dovetails I can shrug, put them away and try again tomorrow or throw them across the shop and not return to them for months. I enjoy the process of sawing or planing for its own sake. Of course I want to end up with beautiful results but if I don't, I mostly have fun anyway. Since I can remember I have always wanted to work with wood.

Piano is different. I've never particularly wanted to play the piano but a great opportunity to learn came along and I took it. The contentment in the practice in the shop is not there with piano. I want the hands to get out of the way and just do what needs to be done to make music. I have little patience when they play wrong notes or stop when the music should continue. I know I could improve with time and practice but I lack the will to push through. It's time to let go.

Music will always be a part of my life and even as I let piano go another idea takes shape.  I want to return to making door harps but I want to make the bodies differently. Making them from large thick pieces of wood means there is a lot of waste. What if I could make the bodies of door harps more like guitar bodies?  I have started to learn about building guitars. Of course I'll break a lot of wood and the burn pile will grow in leaps and bounds but what if I could develop some of the skills of a luthier and what if I could, then, make a concert ukulele for myself? The dream takes hold and I wonder if I could become skilled enough to make ukuleles for others to enjoy. What if this is a way to combine my love of music with my love of woodworking?

So stay tuned. Down the road we both may be able to laugh at another of Marian's crazy schemes but maybe, just maybe I will one day produce an instrument I'm proud of and, maybe just maybe, I'll be able to build more than one. In the meantime I hear the siren song of possibility and door harps are waiting to be built.

A Story of Two Friends

I have two friends, well I have more than two, but this story involves two of them and me.

Both are woodworkers and both are my teachers. What they have taught me has kept me at this work I love even though it has been frustrating beyond measure at times.  I have learned by watching them that everyone, no matter how skilled, makes mistakes. I have watched how they look carefully at what has gone wrong and how they proceed to move the project on from there. I think of both each time I'm in the shop.

These two have known each other longer than I have known either of them.  I met both in 2004 when I took my first hand tool course. One was the instructor and one dropped by for a visit having taken the course before. When I took the course again the next year  Teacher 2 was Teacher 1's assistant in the class. Both were kind, patient, helpful and skilled. Teacher 1 lives on the other side of the country and Teacher 2 lives a 45 minute drive away from me.

They make a good team and, at times, puns and practical jokes fill the shop with laughter and groans. Teacher 2 has been known to let fly with colourful expletives under some conditions and Teacher 1 has a strict rule about the language that is acceptable in his shop. Out of respect for Teacher 1, I've never known Teacher 2 to let fly in his presence.

That is not the only way in which they differ.  Teacher 1 is a committed Christian and strict follower of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.  He has 10 children and his motto is "Family First."  I remember at one point he told me when he and his wife were starting out he was advised to never let his current circumstances dictate the size of their family. To follow that advice takes courage. At the time he was a university student.  He has always provided for his family while his wife home-schooled their children. He has a wonderful way of trusting that he will be able to feed his family and create the kind of life that is so important to them. And he has managed through many changes. I've seen him struggle with giving up one source of income when the situation became untenable even though he didn't really know how he was going to replace it.

About the time I got to know him, he began making woodworking DVD's and after a few successful years, his son-in-law showed him he was losing money because people were pirating his work. He changed course and began offering online subscription classes.  He moved from selling other brands of tools to creating a brand of his own. And he consulted on plane design for a large US retailer that has since provided him with many teaching opportunities throughout the US.  When a policy change at the Calgary facility from which he rented space for week-long summer classes made it no longer viable, he took some time off from teaching the longer courses and then found a place in Ontario where he could resume the in-depth teaching. He continues to provide hundreds of woodworkers world wide with information and encouragement.

Teacher 2 has also been woodworking for many years. His story is similar in that he too has made many changes to the way in which he puts food on his table. He has sold cars, worked in the home building industry, sold a health-food product and obtained his license to drive big rigs.  He is tremendously talented musically and plays flute and trumpet. He has competed in figure-skating and sky-diving events.  When I first met him he had recently suffered an accident on a jointer in which he lost part of a finger on his right hand. I know of few people who are as careful as he is. Before that accident he also played guitar. After the accident he continued to work with wood and began to teach courses out of his shop. He once told me about his lost finger, "It's a drag but what are you going to do after you get through crying in your beer?"

Despite his care and attention to safety Teacher 2 had a nearly fatal paragliding accident a year ago, one from which only 5% of folks with as serious a concussion recover their intellectual capacity.  He has beaten the odds and the puns are as bad as they ever were. The struggle both physical and emotional isn't over yet and some days it's hard just to get out of bed.

Not too long after we met Teacher 2 shared with me her transgender status. I've taken a number of courses from her and have come to know some of the people who share this the knowledge of her gender identity. Living as a man has been difficult for her and she has gradually moved to living as a woman in the outside world. The relief of no longer hiding must be huge. As part of this acknowledgement she posted a new Facebook profile photo of herself in a gown.  It's a lovely picture and she looks content.  I responded to the post with, "Looking good."

Shortly after my post I received a phone call from Teacher 1, with whom Teacher 2 had not directly shared this information, asking what on earth was going on with Teacher 2. I tried to explain as best I could.  There was humour in the call and Teacher 1 said that he almost broke his jaw when it hit the floor. He asked why he hadn't known about this earlier.   I can imagine a sense of surprise and confusion thinking you know someone very well and then finding out that there is a hugely important part of them you haven't known.  I responded that Teacher 2 was afraid that she wouldn't be accepted by Teacher 1 if he knew. I assured Teacher 1 that Teacher 2's decision to live as female was a long time in coming and was not taken lightly. Teacher 1 and I talked about the costs of such a decision.  He was concerned about what that would mean in a hobby where many of the participants are male and  have a strong belief in the separateness of the two genders within individuals. He acknowledged that if facing this new knowledge was difficult for him it must be much, much more difficult for Teacher 2.

I don't know how this story will progress.   They are both kind, compassionate and courageous. I'm grateful that they are both my friends and, although I never imagined I might be in a position to mediate between their two worlds, I hope I have been able to, at best, do some good and, at least, do no harm. Only time will tell.