Making my Japanese Planing Board

Описание: I confess, when I first decided to enter the world of woodworking, I thought I’d finally be escaping the realm of politics. I thought, no one can deny the value of a table or chair, no matter where it comes from. I was naïve and incorrect. I am now in my final semester of fine woodworking classes, and I’m feeling a bit rebellious. Realizing that every choice I make is, by nature of how I exist in this world, an act of protest. Trusting my joy and my own sense of peace over authority, trusting my abilities over the Western ideals & marketing noise proclaiming EASIER, FASTER, SMARTER (but screw your health and the planet) is defiance. I refuse to be bound by the shackles of convention. My limitations should be set by tree and heart alone. We’re witnessing a lot these days. The incongruity between our constructed paradigm and the reality of the natural world is a crack starting to show. Woodworking is ancient. It exists and is mastered everywhere there are trees and human beings together, yet we're spoken to like there's only one authority in this beautiful craft. Pay attention. The hate speech about people like me being allowed to pass as politics is horrifying. It's all connected.

This is footage from this past summer, when I started shifting my shop into a truly fluid, multicultural and hand tool-centered space. Cutting sliding dovetails with my azebiki nokogiri for a Japanese planing board. This was one of the first projects I completed mostly on the ground—a technique I have yet to master due to years of limited mobility, but that has already proven its worth. Using our feet and body to hold pieces grants an efficiency and flexibility that is unparalleled by any fancy jig, provides fantastic leverage, and keeps our body from being locked in the same position for hours all day. Grateful for the many droplets of wisdom I continue to learn thanks to traditional Japanese techniques, and looking forward to many more years ahead learning what I can from amazing craftspeople around the world. Bo-matúm.