fine tuning...

Yesterday I continued to work some at ESSA to get ready for summer classes. Much of what I'm doing now would not be readily noticed. I've made two router tables but for the fences which come next. In addition to building table saw storage carts, I finished the table saw sleds by adding Lucite shields over the blades. These are to suggest keeping the hands a safe distance from the blade. They also keep small offcuts and parts from being dropped on the spinning blade.

There's still plenty of work to do that would keep me busy one or two afternoons a week up until the start of classes. We are attempting to hire a shop manager who would lift some of the burden and allow me to spend more time in my own shop.

If the weather is good, we will continue to paint boats today. The temperature is just right, but will it rain?

In my interview with Charles Brock for the Highland Woodworker, he asked a simple question that he asks all his program guests, "What do you hope to see as the legacy of your work?" My answer was "Lucy." You may know that my daughter Lucy is teaching high school in New York and a long ways from my wood shop. But having her in my shop as a very small child was what led me to consider the need for children to be involved in wood working and led me then in time to teach at the Clear Spring School. She is a symbol for all the students who have passed through the Wisdom of the Hands program over the last 17 years.

They each have gained a bit of knowledge about themselves by having crafted beautiful and useful things from wood. Each carries an understanding of the way the hands work to reinforce, and re-inform mind. The effect may be subtle, but the hands, awakened will leave their mark.

Make, fix and create...