Mitered finger joints

The mitered finger joint is one of my specialties that I teach in my box making classes. Its advantage is that it offers the incredible lasting strength of the finger joint, but the top edges coming together at a miter allows for an inlaid edge around the perimeter of the box. I've been inching my way toward the completion of these boxes, as I'm also tied up with end of year business accounting.

Today I have a conference call with an organization hoping to establish a therapeutic woodworking program. Many woodworkers, recognizing how wood working makes us feel regard it as "sawdust therapy." The evidence is compelling. 

In people's minds there is a slight difference between art and craft. It's not set in stone. Some art is repetitive and formulaic and tends to be like a craft in practice. Some craft is experimental in scope and tends therefore to be more like art.

What we often think of as craft may be more closely aimed toward the making of useful objects, or may be derived from the tradition of making useful objects. Most woodworkers do not consider themselves "artists" as we intend our works to be useful. 

While the arts are an important calling, woodworking and other crafts are easier to grasp by mind and taken in hand. Art often requires explanation or a certain cultural perspective to be seen of value. Things that are useful are often more easily understood. The useful crafts are often not valued at the same level as art because it's intended that we use them and wear them out, while art is to be placed aside and admired and yet our lives and the lives of others in our communities can be transformed by the making and use of useful beauty.

Make, fix, and create...assist others in learning likewise.