I'll begin looking for places they can be displayed or sold. I'll take suggestions.
Each contains 25 samples of native Arkansas hardwoods in their natural colors. The reliquaries are made of white oak, and based in part on a small tin reliquary in the Nelson Atkins Museum, and also on a Sunday School finger game, "Here's the church, here's the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people."
Make, fix and create.
One of the things you may notice in working with Arkansas woods is that they may not be quite as colorful as some imported tropical woods, but they still offer enough variety of color to do interesting things. And we know where they grow, and can devote some resources in making sure they'll be around for the next generation to enjoy.
Make, fix and create...
On the radio this morning they were discussing the problem of boys in schools, but would have benefitted by knowing about John Amos Comenius for he had the problem with boys solved in the sixteenth century.
John Amos Comenius, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Amos_Comenius was born in 1592 and was considered the father of modern pedagogy (the science of education). He observed:
"Boys ever delight in being occupied in something for the youthful blood does not allow them to be at rest. Now as this is very useful, it ought not to be restrained, but provision made that they may always have something to do. Let them be like ants, continually occupied in doing something, carrying, drawing, construction and transporting, provided always that whatever they do be done prudently. They ought to be assisted by showing them the forms of all things, even of playthings; for they cannot yet be occupied in real work, and we should play with them."
What better play can we find for either boys or girls, than the activities found in woodshops? The most important point buried in Comenius' quote is the phrase, "now as this is very useful, it ought not be restrained." And the point is that our best leverage on boys learning is to make use of their most natural inclinations. We can say the same for girls as well. There's a saying that you can't push a rope. You can pull one to very great effect. By ignoring the nature of the child, we create education that is destructive, ineffective and least efficient. But if we were to use their natural inclinations to our best advantage, schooling would become efficient, effective and undamaging. If a great teacher in the 16-17th centuries could understand children so clearly, and if subsequent educational leaders like Pestalozzi, Froebel, Comenius, Salomon and Dewey understood children so well, why has education fallen so far off track?
Admittedly, having children do real things in service to their families and communities requires having smaller classes, more teachers and greater preparation than having large number of students sit idly at desks while lessons are administered. And so we have schools where the primary objective has become classroom management rather than learning and development. And now, according to Republicans and folks from the NRA, classroom management should include ready access to guns.
I have another new tool to be used teaching woodworking to kids. Anyone with experience woodworking with kids and the tiny nails required will know that nails get spilled and wasted, and it takes time to pick them up. The small square of cherry, as shown in the photo, has rare a earth magnet embedded in the surface and provides an easy means to supply the necessary nails for a project. Since my students liked working in close proximity to each other, one magnetic block can be shared between two students.
Make, fix, create, and adjust schooling so that students learn lifewise.
I submitted an article for publication in an online journal and was told that they'll evaluate it when the staff returns from a no internet retreat. What a refreshing idea. We are each, I think, overwhelmed by too much meaningless and distractive overly shallow connectedness, when getting off the usual online stuff would provide greater insight.
When Arificial intelligence first began to threaten schools by allowing AI services to do student writing I had a simple idea. Require the students to write directly about the things they know from personal experience... Not the BS you find online. In other words, avoid the Kardashians unless you are one.
One of the advantages I've had as a writer is the gift of doing real things. Seek that gift.
Make, fix and create... assist others in living likewise.
The steeple has a 3/8 in. tenon on the lower end so that it can fit a hole to be drilled in the chapel ridge.
Make, fix and create.
The interior structure of the reliquary involves drawer guides that run parallel to the direction of the wood grain in the base. While complex thinking directed me to screws or dowels and the challenges they present for accurate alignment, there is actually no stronger joint than wood glued of same species with grain running parallel.
Is it not odd that we often overcomplicate simple operations, adding to them a greater likelihood of error? A question a craftsman must keep at the forefront of mind is this: "How can I simplify this and thus reduce mistakes?"
If you've used wood glue, you'll have noted the way pieces being glued can slip and slide in relation to each other as pressure is applied. The simple answer is to let the wood absorb enough of the glue and the glue to get tacky before applying pressure. And then one must observe that pieces have remained exactly as you want. If not, a very careful tap with a block and mallet will quickly loosen things if you've noted misalignment before the glue is fully set. Check and check again.
One of the things that I hope is happening these days is the greater recognition of the value of the common person, woman or man. The world is chock full of folks doing wha they can to make the world a better place. We may get mesmerized by money, power or fame, but let's keep things simple. And simply express love for each other. And if your first inclination in dealing with others is not the expression of love. Get therapy.
One way to express love is by crafting useful beauty to share with others.
Make, fix and create...
I'm taking a slight break from the lathe where I've been turning small samples of Arkansas hardwoods to place in the reliquaries of wood. Add it up. Five reliquaries, 25 hardwood species in each, and that's a lot of time on the lathe. They're small, but require intense concentration. Each has to be checked carefully to be sure the bases fit the holes where they're to be placed in the boxes.
I received a nice email thanking me for the inspiration offered by my books and youtube channel. The sender was a retired MD and medical specialist. He included photos of his excellently crafted work. He also had a question about how to sell his work. I get that question a lot.
I will point out that selling things is work. I have a friend that sets up at the farmer’s market each week. He has the process down. He quickly sets up the tent and arranges his merchandise and occasionally sells a few things… mainly toward Christmas. He likes seeing the folks and seeing them admire his work. But his prices are so low that he can’t make much money if that was his objective.
Make a plan to give away as much as you can. That will clear the decks for making more work. And we must recognize that the best reason to do woodworking (or other crafts) is not to make money from it, but to grow from it. There are so many things to learn from it, and there are no limits to how far one might grow.
If you are recently retired from making the big bucks, a crafts practice like woodworking might be a way to continue to learn and continue to give back.
While away from the lathe for now, I'm hand sanding the bases for the reliquaries. Because they have a 30 degree table sawn angle around the perimeter, hand sanding with a sanding block is the best approach. Machine sanding would round the edges and remove the crisp lines that accentuate the design.
The sanding block is a piece of birch plywood with a piece of self-adhesive sand paper applied.
Hand sanding is work I look forward to as it can be done as I sit on the front porch and as golden doodle Rosie rests near my feet.
Make, fix and create.
A friend of mine, Connie Goddard, has published an article in the Front Porch Republic, "Manual Training for All." It is based in part on research done for her new book Learning for Work published by the University of Illinois Press.
You can find the article here: https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2024/08/manual-training-for-all/
Make, fix and create.
Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning likewise.
Making the reliquaries of wood involves fitting unusual angles, and that leads to hand work as machines are too complicated for the casual woodworker to set up. Routing for hinges to fit the sides of the boxes was done prior to assembly, but fitting the lids to the box requires some more typical hinge mortising hand work.
To make things a bit easier and more accurate, I did use the router table to partially rout where the hinges will fit, establishing the depth of the mortises. From there, fitting the lids required careful marking of where the lids would align with the hinges already fitted to the box. So far, so good, but with hand work, there's alway a chance for error.
Make, fix and create. Risk it. You'll be rewarded.
Make, fix and create.
Since it is impossible to put an assembled lid in place and mark it for cutting to size, I use a stand in. By fitting a narrower piece, I then know the angles and table saw settings to cut the lids, taking those settings from the perfectly fitting piece as shown in the photo.
Make, fix and Create. Give your life greater meaning.
While a carpenter might erect a series of walls in a single day, the woodworker might spend a week or more working on a small box.
This is not a complaint.
Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning likewise.
Make, fix and create...
I was contacted by a man seeking help in developing a program for home schooled kids from his church. That raises for me the question as to why Sunday schools don't offer the same kind of learning opportunity Jesus found in his father's shop. Are church leaders oblivious to the moral values imparted through the creation of useful beauty? And are they oblivious to the history of the church? And most importantly, are they oblivious to the obvious interest in attending that woodworking would arouse in their young ones?
I've been contacted over the years by many folks hoping to launch woodworking with kids programs. One of the major challenges they face is that of finding funding for their work. Woodworking Sunday Schools might provide an answer.
The assembly shown is temporary, and just to provide positioning for the center display as it is glued in place. Real assembly will take place after all the parts are sanded, and after the top rail is given its final shape.
Make, fix and create...
As some know, I've made thousands of wooden boxes, but perhaps these reliquaries are the most meaningful as they are intended to convey a sense of sacredness regarding our forests.
The front doors will be trimmed to length and then fitted as the front of small trays that will hold 10 of the wood samples, with the balance being held in the space above. The wood used here is white oak.
Make, fix and create... assist others in learning likewise.
