One of my favorite shows is Parks and Recreation. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the entire series exactly, but it’s probably an embarrassing number.
In one of the final episodes, Ron Swanson is making chairs for the opening of Tom’s restaurant, when he picks up a nearly finished chair and smashes it into the ground.
Tom: “What was wrong with that one?!?”
Ron: “It was too perfect. It looked machine-made.”
I am no Ron Swanson in the woodworking department. But I can appreciate the desire to hand-make something, rather than using power tools.
I am long-overdue on building a baby gate for the top of our stairs. I finally started working on it this week, even though I’ve had the lumber in my garage for months. I cut the pieces on my miter saw, and could have just butted the joints and screwed or nailed them together.
I had initially planned on routing out a groove in the middle of the top and bottom rails to hold the spindles, and then screw them in place. After working on a test piece, I didn’t like the way it looked, and opted to hand-cut mortise and tenon joints.
I had never hand-cut those joints before.
It only makes sense that when I am long-overdue on a project, that I do a manual process that I’ve never done before, which will take me even longer to complete. That makes sense, right?
Hell, I hadn’t even sharpened my chisels prior to this, so that added an extra step to work on.
Thankfully, Abbie is very understanding…and patient
I have 16 joints to complete, and I have 8 that are mostly done.
As I was cutting the tenons yesterday, some people were over and reminded me, “You know, you could use a bandsaw or router, set up a jig, and get all of these done really fast.”
I am aware.
But I really like using hand tools, even though they are slower, and since I’ve done only 8, they’re also not that good. But across those 8, I have gotten faster and better.
Even in a project that I need to complete, and soon, it’s not just about getting it done as fast as possible for me. I can already see errors and “problems” with the pieces. And that’s ok. I’ll never get better at these techniques if I don’t actually work on them.
It’s not about pumping out as much product as I can in this instance. It’s about building something the way I want to build it. Implementing new techniques I’ve never tried, that I think will look nicer than just butt joints and screws.
We live in an increasingly digital world. Digital cameras allow us to take thousands of pictures and process them with such ease. Yet I am sure there are some out there who prefer to sometimes use film and process in a darkroom. I have no desire for that, but I can appreciate the sentiment.
Sometimes it is nice to just slow down a little and get lost in a manual process.
Not to mention, it’s nice to be doing some woodworking and not require ear protection.
I could make relatively perfect cuts by setting up a simple jig and using my router. I could get the tenons cut to a nearly perfect 90-degree angle and they would all look the same.
But what fun is that? There is something appealing about the slight imperfections in my cuts. They are a reminder of how far I still have to go - how much I still have to learn. But they are also a constant reminder of how far I have come - how much I have improved.
So, slow down every once in a while. Put down the e-book and pick up a physical book. Put down the the power tool and pick up a chisel (and be careful). Allow yourself to get lost in the work.