Ponderings #16: The Certain Feeling

I don’t smile much. Well, let me rephrase that. I smile all the time, but only when amused, so it’s always obvious why I’m smiling. I’m not one of those people you will see smiling for no obvious reason. I need a reason to smile, and honestly that leaves a lot of time when I’m not smiling at all.

That was, until yesterday. I started building my bench. I put in about 6 hours yesterday, and was frankly exhausted by the time I went in for the day. As a newbie, I figure 6 hours is a long, long time. The odd thing was why I called it a day. I needed my spokeshave for the next part, and frankly it was as dull as Forrest Gump on Quaalude’s after a fifth of vodka. I knew that, by the time I sharpened it and got it set up correctly, it would be about supper time anyways. It just seemed the logical point to call it a day.

My wife was pretty proud of me, so she took me to dinner (free food is good). When I got home, I collapsed in the bed with the TV on and watched design shows on HGTV (shhhh…don’t tell! Let’s keep this between us). While laying there, during a commercial even, I caught myself just smiling. I’m physically wiped out, but I’ve got this goofy smile.

This smile was for a variety of reasons, I suspect. One is that I started a project that, I think, will kick much butt when it’s done. Two was the fact that I’m pushing myself to try new things with this project. Granted, as a newbie, everything is a “new thing”, but I could have been content just building a rough outdoor bench that no one would have looked down on for being “not pretty”, but that’s just not my style. I want people to oo and ah over this thing, and it to be legitimate oo’s and ah’s. In short, I want a kick butt piece. So, I’m forcing myself to learn new things in building this.

Now, originally, this was going to just be a simple bench. Nothing fancy. Well, it’s still not “fancy”, just more challenging. It’s a challenge I’m not backing down from, and I’m not rushing through. That’s always been an issue for me, rushing through things. I wanted the result, not the process so much. This time, however, I seem content to let the process happen. What makes one a “woodworker”? It’s working with wood. Not necessarily having furniture in your home that you built, though that’s a nice bonus for some of us. I’m a woodworker…not a pretender or a wannabe, but an honest to God woodworker.

If that’s not reason enough for me to smile, then what is?

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!