More on works in progress

Today was another shop day of saneness. I finished the second drawer so that the tool chest will be ready for the show; cardboard boxes aren’t the greatest travelling protection, but they’ve got me thus far. My tool chests are full and safe behind three-foot thick Penrhyn Castle walls in North Wales.  The contrast between the UK and US workshops is indeed quite radical when I think about it. But regardless of contrast, both spheres give rest in which I work. My hands move quickly, deftly, from chisel to router plane and recesses and tenons make the back of my drawer become mine. I enter realms of acute awareness and find no words to share just how and what I feel. Building up from slowness at the start I scarcely stop to think or even breath as my hands race to task and challenge moment by moment. I have never known anyone who feels and works this way. I once thought my work could be conditioned and that perfect shelves full with perfect tools in perfect order would give me fulfilment. I found that not to be true and went back to what I had. I know many people now who think that they know the way of this crafting man They write about him, lay on pages clever words still thinking that they know, but never can they really know what’s in the heart of an artisan who simply places his hand upon the wood and shapes its substance with a gouge and chisel and knife. I enjoy a rest I cannot get from anywhere to rethink my consciousness and allow myself time to be moulded and shaped by my work. In single-minded simplicity my work becomes complete and with each piece I make I find rest time and time again. Isn’t this what we look for as we work?