How we fill our homes and with what.

The New York Times has an interesting article about the pandemic buying of cheap furniture to fill homes and the quick return of all that cheap stuff to fill our landfills. 'Fast Furniture is Cheap and Americans are Throwing it out in the Trash.' 

We have choices. We can make what we need while harvesting the benefits of our own growth. We can simply live without so much stuff and lean toward simplicity in our lives. And we can do both.

Today for me is a day of rest and reorganization, as I put away the various tools and materials used in my weekend class, and savor having watched my student's growth.

The photo shows a few of my veneered boxes made a few years back. Where they are now, I have no way of knowing.

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

veneered boxes

I just finished a three day class at ESSA with my students making lovely veneered boxes. It was a great group of  students including old friends. It was a delightful way to spend a three day weekend. All the students ended up with first class, beautiful boxes and some parts to take home to make more.

My thanks to all and to ESSA for a good time.

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

witnessing the growth of skill

In the early days of manual arts training, students were not to decorate their work, as the underlying skill in the use of tools and techniques in the development of form were to be emphasized. 

For the younger kids, however, the application of color to what they've made or assembled provides a sense of pride and agency. 

Some children will work on the development of patterns, while others emphasize broad and rich strokes appearing random to an adult mind. Each can spend a great bit of time, doing so. 

For the woodworking teacher, the coloring of the work allows those students who are a bit slower in the assembly process to catch up.

Learning must start with and be maintained by the interest of the child, and this is as much true for adults as it is in Kindergarten.

Yesterday in the wood shop we continued making flip cars and tops.

Next week is fall break at the Clear Spring School. The kids have told me that they want to make toy boats next.

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

A table and two boxes

Yesterday and today I worked on two boxes and a table for articles in Popular Woodworking Magazine. I did the various set ups and operations, while editor Logan Wittmer took photos. It was challenging work for both of us. 

All the work will be finished in my own shop. The boxes are fitted out with a tray and compartments to hold ink, fountain pens and accessories.  

Make, fix and create... Assist others in learning lifewise. 

A way to support the arts

Our Eureka Springs School of the Arts is hosting it's annual fall fun raising Mad Hatter's Ball tonight. Many fine works of art are being sold at auction to benefit the school. You can view and bid through this link, knowing what you spend will support good work. 

https://one.bidpal.net/mhb2022/browse/all

Among the items is a cabinet I made years ago that was donated by fellow founder Mary Springer. It was made of honey locust and oak in the 1990's.

This morning I meet editor Logan Wittmer from Popular Woodworking Magazine to work on two articles. I'll make a box and a table while he takes photos for the articles.

Make, fix and create... Assist others in living likewise.

Yesterday and today

Yesterday I visited with woodworking and trades students at North Arkansas Community College and did a book talk and signing in their library. The students were very attentive.

Today I taught our Clear Spring School kids how to make flip cars, a tradition at the Clear Spring School. The kids were very excited, and recognizing my age asked if it is OK to call me "Grandpa."

I think, being the age that I am, it's OK.

The photo is a silly one.

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

Back to Kindergarten

I resumed my weekly  Kindergarten classes this morning and we made tops. I started the lesson with teaching the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise, a bit of information essential to understanding the use of a hand crank drill for decorating the tops with colored pencil and markers. Turn the crank clockwise while holding the  chuck and the chuck tightens to hold the stem of the top. Turn the crank counter-clockwise while holding the chuck and the chuck loosens so the stem of the top can be removed. 

Is that too advanced a concept for Kindergarten students to understand? Not when it's called to their attention and they can observe it for themselves. If the concept is over their heads at this point in time, they'll have a chance for it to register later in life. 

It's too bad, however, that regular clocks are no longer in vogue. I offered my wrist watch for them to observe the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise and the subject will come up again later in the year as my students make their own clocks. 

The hand crank drills mounted in the vise provided an opportunity for kids to work together... one turning the crank while the other colored their top. 

Each student made two tops.

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Material symmetry

Temple Grandin has an article in the Atlantic in which she challenges educators to spend far less time on Algebra and far more time making things.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/against-algebra/671643/

The essay is adapted from her new book, Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions.

Folks rationalize teaching algebra in that it is considered useful in development of higher thinking skills. The hauntingly abstract equal sign in which formulas on one side are to "equal" formulas on the other need, for which kids see no direct application needs to be preceded by the concrete application of a thing I'm calling "material symmetry. "One side of an object frames its opposite side. Boat building is an example, as are many of the techniques I demonstrate in box making. If you've developed a half model of a boat, it conveys all the information required for shaping both sides with the centerline being the exact location of the equal sign. If you've performed a certain function on one side of a box, it's easy to do the same thing on the other. The same thing applies if you are making a pattern for a dress, or a pair of shoes that fit left and right feet.

Material symmetry exercised through the crafts is useful to children of all ages. It is a building block that's neglected in the teaching of math and is, of course, useful throughout life. The abstraction of Algebra is useful only on being promoted through an educational experience, never to be used again.

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

adjustable sled runners.

Fine Woodworking has published a brief on-line article about making adjustable miter gauge runners. Their advantage is that you can adjust them to a perfect fit, even when there are stark changes in humidity in your wood shop.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2022/10/05/adjustable-sled-runners

I'm now testing negative for covid-19 and when my energy returns I'll be happy to go back to normal life.

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stuck in Indiana

I'm in Indiana for a class in box making and came down with a case of covid-19 mid-week. Fortunately, by Wednesday, we'd proceeded far enough in the class that my students have been able to carry on without me.  

My assistants took on responsibility for oversight and remaining lessons. I am grateful for such help, but worried that if I've gotten covid-19, others from my class may also. Fortunately, and thanks to my vaccination status, my case is rather mild, requiring isolation and a few over-the-counter medications as well as isolation. I'll return home on Monday.

I stopped by school yesterday after class to pack up my things. A few students were still at work and insisted that even without me, the class has been one of their favorites at Marc Adams School of Woodworking. The reason, I think, is that once the techniques and tools are put in place, student creativity is unleashed. With each student making different boxes of their own design, they stimulate and inspire each other. Add to that shop supervisor Doug Dale and his expertise, and my assistant Jerry Forshee with whom I've worked for years, student success was guaranteed, even without me.

Photos attached. Make, fix and create.

Moving in circles...

I am in Franklin Indiana to teach at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking and am looking forward to a great week making boxes with friends, both new and old. 

While I'm here Marc Adams and his wife Suzie will be headed to Boston where he'll make an address to the American Society for Surgery to the Hand at their annual conference. 

While I'm here, my cousin Mary Lou will be visiting my wife in Eureka Springs. 

I'm reminded that things tend to move in fascinating ways, circles mostly.  I'm here, Mary Lou is there at home in my place. Her husband, Michael, my dear friend, is no longer with us, but had arranged with a friend of his, Rose Ann Reser, to translate for me, an essay by Alfredo Bosi, from Portuguese, Os Trabahos de Mao, The work of the hands. To send Marc thoughtfully on his way to the hand conference, I shared Bosi's thoughtful essay with him, for there is no more beautiful expression of what the hands do, and their importance than what I share now with you.

Os Trabaljos de Mao. The Works of the Hand--Alfredo Bosi 

 It seems to be a characteristic of the symbolic animal to make use of one part of its body to perform many different functions. The hand is an example. The hand pulls from the earth the root and the herb, gathers fruit from the tree, peels it and takes it to its mouth.

The hand catches the object, moves it, brings it into the body, throws it away. The hand pulls and pushes, gathers and scatters, squeezes and relaxes, contracts and distends, rolls up and unrolls; tightens and loosens, clears (as in clearing brush for planting), palpates, caresses, pinches, claws, squeezes, slaps, pummels; afterwards, massages the sore muscle.

The hand feels with the fingertips, palpates and presses with the flesh, scrapes, scratches, rakes (interestingly, in carpentry – the verb escarvar means “scarfs” – creates a joint to unite two pieces of lumber in one continuous piece) scarifies, picks with the fingernails.

With the knuckles, it hits. The hand opens the wound and dresses it. Ruffles the hair (or fur, animal’s coat) and smoothes it. Braids and unbraids the hair. Wrinkles and unwrinkles the paper and the cloth. Anoints and conjures, sprinkles (like baptizing?) and exorcises.

It accuses with the index, applauds with the palms, protects with the cupped hands (literally the “shell”). Allows life with a thumbs-up; and with thumbs-down, orders death. Measures length with the span of the hand (palmo) and weight with the palm (palma).

Signals with gestures the I, you, him, here, there, over there, today, yesterday, tomorrow, little, a lot, more or less, one, two, three, numbers up to ten and its multiples and fractions. No, never, nothing.

It is the voice of the mute, the voice of the deaf, and the reading of the blind. It directs the voice to rise, quiets the hubbub, imposes silence. Greets the friend, waving lightly beside the head, and in the same setting, stretches out the arm and says good-bye. Urges on, and orders a stop. Brings a child into the world and strangles the enemy.

Soaps clothing, scrubs, wrings, rinses, lays it out in the sun, gathers it from the line, smoothes the wrinkles, folds and puts it away.

The hand prepares the food. Grinds grain, peels the vegetable, picks the greens, scales fish, plucks the bird and bones it. It cleans. It squeezes to extract the juice. Pounds with clenched fist, cuts to size, mixes, kneads, flattens, rolls up, smoothes out, oils, covers up, flours, wraps, shapes, pulls apart, flours, garnishes, embellishes and serves. 

The hand throws the ball and catches, parries and strikes. Lifts it and lets it fall. The hand makes sound; beats on the leg and on the chest, marks the beat, strikes the drum and the tambourine, beats, snaps the castanets, plucks the strings of the harp and the guitar, fingers the keys of the harpsichord and the piano, grasps the bow of the violin and the cello, holds woodwinds and brass. The fingers close and open the path of the breath that comes out through the holes of the flute, the clarinet and the oboe. The hand directs the orchestra.

The hand, carrier of the sacred. Hands clasped pray, palm against palm or with laced fingers. With the hand, the faithful makes the sign of the cross. The hand, giver of the sacred. The hand mixes the salt and the water for baptism, and anoints the new Christian; the hand anoints with oil at confirmation, while the godfather’s right hand rests on the godson’s shoulder; the betrothed extend their hands to celebrate the sacrament of love and give each other rings to receive the ring of the alliance; the hand absolves the penitent from sin; the hands serve the eucharist bread to the communicants, hands consecrate the new priest; hands bring extreme unction to the dying one; and to the dead, the blessing and the prayer of peace. In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum. 

To perform so many actions, it takes only a small but flexible part of the anatomy; eight little bones in the wrist, five metacarpals, and the fingers with the lower, middle and fingertip phalanxes.

We could never describe all that the hand can do when it is extended and empowered by the tools that human ingenuity has invented in its contradance of needs and desires.

. . . In the Machine Age, has the hand perhaps lost its finest articulations with which it fitted the protuberances and recesses of the material? The workmanship, thus of necessity, diminishes or declines, and hands operate the assembly lines far away from their products. They push buttons, turn handles, connect and disconnect keys, pull and push levers, control panels, ceding to the machine tasks that they used to do. The machine, docile, and therefore violent, does exactly what the hands tell it to do, but if the operator’s muscle flinches, it also knows how to continue, demanding constant vigilance; if not, it cuts off inattentive fingers. There were 8 million work accidents in Brazil alone in 1975. 

Bosi, a poet of renown wrote this piece to urge reform in industry to protect workers from serious injuries... like those that hand surgeons are called to address. My thanks to Henrique for alerting me to Bosi, and to my cousin Michael for bringing Rose Ann into the circle of hands...

Make, fix and create...

letter holders

This week in the Clear Spring School wood shop, my Kindergarten students made letter holders, that could also be used to hold napkins at the kitchen table. There are very good reasons for kids to make useful art. It goes home with them and establishes a great relationship between home and school. When children see the things they've made celebrated by use in the home, they know that they and their work is valued and appreciated. A carefully crafted item is concrete evidence of learning. And when the parents ask their kids, "what did you do in school today?" it's a question easily answered, and the kids are very proud of their work.

For this project, I re-sawed white pine to make thinner stock for the front and back of the letter holder, and I introduced the use of coping saws to cut curved shapes. 

Re-sawing makes thrifty use of the material and makes cutting easier with the coping saw as the kids try to master a new tool. The thinner stock also allows the use of smaller nails which the kids can start themselves without pre-drilling as I did with earlier projects.

The project fits into a series I'm developing, leading the students through the normal progression of learning... From the known to the unknown, from the easy to more difficult, from the simple to the complex and from the concrete to the abstract.

In the first lesson we started with straight cutting Japanese style saws, marking and following straight line cuts. By adding incrementally to the student's foundational skills, they progress in short order, even though not all were at the same starting point.

In my home wood shop, I've been sanding boxes to fill orders. Some are ready to sign and begin finishing today (at least a two day process.) I'm also nearly ready to leave for my weeklong class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking which begins on Monday.

Make, fix and create...

the effect of trees

New York City embarked on a plan to plant 20,000 new trees a year and already the addition of trees is having its effects on neighborhoods. While I'm grateful to live in a forest, even a single tree in an urban environment can make a difference, as reported in the New York Times. 

On one block in East New York, a line of trees, planted in 2009, has grown into a canopy. Neighbors gather for cards, dominoes and barbecue. “When they first came, I could touch the tops of the trees,” Jaytee Spurgeon, 55, recalls. “It makes the neighborhood better.”

When it comes to human effects on climate, scientists speculate on a "tipping point" at which the effects of CO2 become irreversible and begin accelerating out of control. If we assume that people must be brought to some minimal understanding of nature in order to understand the importance of protecting it, and as people become more and more isolated from it, will we reach a tipping point in our insensitivities at which we allow destruction of nature to proceed without protest?

As demonstrated in New York, even a single tree can make a difference. Also in the New York Times this week was an article about the use of Chestnuts to redeem areas stripped bare by coal mining.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/climate/coal-mine-american-chestnut.html

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values

Mattie Bergström warned that those who's hands are left untrained will be left "values damaged," and what he meant by that is that they will be left without the full and normal range of human values, and incapable of perceiving the deeper meaning of things. Values like care for the natural environment, historic preservation, art, craftsmanship and real love for each other will ring hollow for those who've been sequestered from engagement in life though failure to develop skills hands-on. 

I am reminded of the Bonwit-Teller Building in New York, that was torn down to build the Trump Tower.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4XWoirFToYn

John Baron (really Donald Trump with his voice disguised) claimed that the Art Deco sculptures Donald Trump had previously vowed to preserve, were "without artistic merit." The saving of the sculptures, previously promised to the Metropolitan Museum (where they were thought to have profound artistic merit) was delaying construction, so Trump had them destroyed. Those sculptures were conceived by artists and carved by craftsmen,  and were to be welcomed and preserved by the Met, but did that matter? It would have to a man cognizant of the full range of human values.

Those Bergström described as "values damaged" are lacking the full depth and diverse range of human values. They, knowing little else and having no solid core of humanity adopt money and power as their only driving principles. They become reckless and careless for all else.

We are left in a sad and sorry state when our leaders are drawn from among those Bergström  called "finger blind." And so, developing integrated skills and intellect of hands and mind is essential to the preservation of the quality of human life. Let's make certain that all kids develop integrated skills of hand and mind to prevent them from becoming destructive egomaniacs and putting human culture at risk.

Today in the woodshop, I'm working on small boxes made from ash with lift off lids made of various hardwoods. There's an interesting zen poem that applies. It goes: "Inch, time. Foot gem. Each moment is a precious flower that will not bloom again." If we reflect on the huge expanse of time that brought us to this moment, and then notice that we're brought to this moment by a chain of circumstances, that then lead outward from what we are doing right now, we then observe that the entire future of all things rest upon what we do now. The small boxes I make will pass through a series of hands, each person responding in some way, and in that, the entirety of our known universe is ultimately changed. Must we waste the moments we're given? 

We'd best not. Over a period of a year or more, stone carvers were engaged in creating the beautiful sculptures that Trump destroyed in minutes. Certainly a serious sign of what was to come.

Make, fix and create.

reshaping teacher understanding

Adolf Diesterweg was a 19th century German educator and friend of Friedrich Frobel. I was reminded of him as I was perusing my recently published book Holtzwerken mit Kindern, translated from English and in which only a few words from all that German are decipherable by me. 

Diesterweg was responsible for a part of the theory Otto Salomon's Theory of Educational Sloyd in its recognition that learning must move from the known to the unknown, from the easy to more difficult, from the simple to the complex and from the concrete to the abstract. What he was describing would later become known as "scaffolding."

In building knowledge in this manner, it would be essential for the teacher to understand the needs and interests of the child. And of course, given the fact that children are individuals, each with differing needs and levels of understanding, we ought to be pointed in the right direction. Sadly, the needs and interests of the individual child are brushed aside in order to establish control of the "class." And today's classes are generally too large for teachers to discern or respond to the needs and interests of the individual child.

Classroom management has become the overriding objective in most schooling. But Otto Salomon dared to question the idea of "the class." You may also question the idea of the "class" through a thought experiment in which you reflect on your own learning experience.

Say that you are sitting in a college classroom. I'll use my business law classroom from college as an example. You are sitting at your desk. The teacher begins his lecture. If you've done your reading in preparation for the class, some of what the teacher is saying rings a bell. But a question comes up in your mind. You wonder whether or not to raise your hand, and as you deliberate, even for moments, you are no longer listening to what the teacher is attempting to impart. 

My business law teacher in college used a strategy to compel us to do our nightly readings before class. He would call  upon individuals in the class and would ask us to tell in our own words, the outcome of a case. So our attentions were placed in the prayer, "Please don't call on me!!!" It was extremely embarrassing to have to admit to not having read the assignment, the confession being made before the entire class.

The teacher cannot control the attention and learning of all those 25 to 30 individual minds in the classroom that are zooming in or more likely out of his own train of thought. Add to that the fact that some didn't read the homework assignment and had very little prior experience upon which to build an understanding of the lectures content or its relevance to their lives and learning. So with those factors, one can guess that less than 50% of the students are receiving value at any given time.

Today with my Kindergarten students we began building upon last week's lesson. We made color wheels. The project involved repetition of part of what we did in last week's lesson, but to build a fresh project. 

While making note holders was a project intended to build a relationship between school and wood shop and home. The color wheels invited the kids to use markers  to decorate a wheel that can spin and blend the tones into new colors. It added drilling to the project, and allowed each student to work at their own level, with some demonstrating a higher level of sophistication in design, but with each being very pleased with their results.

So what happens when teachers are brought to an understanding of the ineffectiveness of classroom learning? You begin to talk far less and help much more.

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for the last 30 years.

For the last 30 years, Republican lawmakers have insisted that   1.Global warming is a hoax. 2. That if it is real, man is not the cause of it. 3. That tackling if it was real would be too costly and disruptive. 4. That the fossil fuel industry that helps also to fuel their conservative candidacies is not to blame for global warming. 

Are we finally at the point of clear understanding that our use of fossil fuels is fueling planetary destruction and disruption? An are we finally at the point where we can call out those obstructionists in politics and replace them in congress with folks capable of understanding science and willing to guide us (and the planet) toward a more sustainable future?

Jimmy Carter, when he was president, was mocked by "conservatives" for wearing a sweater in the White House, turning down the temperature by a few degrees and for putting solar panels on the roof. His idea was living more in line with the concerns of science and human responsibilities regarding nature while reducing our dependence on foreign oil that put nation at the mercy of rogue authoritarian states. Reagan was elected and promptly had the solar panels removed. To conserve was not to be an objective of a "conservative" party.

Can we finally accept the fact that we are not safe in Republican hands and defeat them all (each and every one) in the next election?

I am on the porch, looking out at our forests, the light passing through the trees as it did yesterday and the day before. When we bought this property, part of our objective was to protect it and let the trees grow large. The trees have done their work. But I wonder when others will do theirs? 

Bigger, bigger, better, better, faster, faster and never fast enough, and when will we slow down a bit and conserve the beauty that surrounds us?

When someone self-identifies as "conservative, " please ask them what they are conserving. And you'll likely find them lying through their teeth when it comes to the matters that matter most.

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On the dangers of belief.

To see, to touch, and to believe. It seems that most human beings live in fantasies devised by others. I do so myself. I grew up within a Christian mythology. Christ could heal the lame, setting them on their feet again. That he could walk on water and feed the multitudes on only a few loaves of bread, was said and taught. He offered a means of altering the laws of Karma, that most chose to ignore, going instead for the perpetual motion of eye for eye. And within that there was at least enough confusion to plant seeds of doubt, for which I'm grateful.

I write this as I sit on the front porch, Rosie at my feet, observing the sun coming through the leaves and feeling the cool air against my skin.

The subject of belief is a curious one. We live in an age in which we're allowed to believe what we want, as that's assumed to be our right. And conflicting beliefs appear to be tearing us apart. We go to certain websites to affirm the main lines of our accepted beliefs, yet fail to open our eyes to the world that surrounds us. 

In this, I'm reminded of Pizarro's conquest of Peru. It was of course sponsored in the name of God, and so Pizarro with under a hundred mounted conquistadors and a few Catholic priests confronted Atahualpa, the emperor of the Incan empire and handed him the sacred book that they had explained to him had the ability to talk. Atahualpa fanned the pages of the book through his fingers, and finding that they had nothing to say, tossed their sacred book to the ground. At that moment in disgust, the Priests gave their blessing on attack. A merciless slaughter of Incan warriors ensued.

The irony of course, is that the Incan quipu, knotted strings recording their history, could talk as you ran your fingers down patterns of knotted thread, in vibrations felt in the finger tips. And so in the coming years most of the quipu were destroyed as was the civilization at large. After capture and confinement Atahualpa was offered ransom. The Incan people were to fill the large room in which he was held captive a number of times in both gold and silver which was delivered as carefully crafted work from all parts of empire. The gold and silver objects of enormous beauty were melted down and shipped to Spain, and with the ransom delivered, Atahualpa was executed anyway.

Isn't it odd and tragic what belief can lead us to do and how it can set us apart from each other and from the natural world as well.

Forgive me if I have not belief but that we intricately entwined with each other. Rosie lifts her eyes to gaze into the woods. My ears perk up at the sound of a siren passing through the valley below. Folks are rushing off to be of aid to each other. Instead of believing, can we simply bear witness instead? Listen, look, attend, allow ourselves to be blended in the reality of things that surround us?

The temperature here on the porch is a delight to the skin. The sky is blue. The wind velocity would be zero on the Beaufort scale, as not a leaf is turning. I don't need my iPhone to tell me this is so.

The photo is a project done by an elementary school student in wood club where they're making catapults. It started as a model cut out by a laser printer, but taken by the student in a more decorative form with additional engineering applied.

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Kindergarten woodworking

I began my Kindergarten wood working class this morning and had a great time. The kids asked, "What are we making today?" And the great thing about working with this age of student is that they're excited about making any thing...

So we made note holders for them to take home and used to convey messages to each other. It is a simple project but involved sawing, hammering, and decorating. Three things that all kids love.

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chipping away at nature.

Chipper mills in the US have been destroying southern hardwood forests in the US and are now doing the same thing to old growth forests in Europe according to this article in the New York Times: Europe Is Sacrificing Its Ancient Forests for Energy. 

The energy monsters claim that burning ancient forests is a form of green energy, but nothing could be further from the truth. It takes hundreds of years to grow a mature forest, and the burning of them is more costly to the environment than burning coal or natural gas.

In the meantime, today is my first day teaching woodworking to the Kindergarten class at the Clear Spring School. And yesterday I received copies of my Guide to Woodworking with Kids, translated into German. 

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

Lynda Barry in the New York Times

If you agree with anything I've written thus far, you need to read this article about cartoonist and creator Lynda Barry from the New York Times. 

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