These days I can’t help but examine every structure I see for design and construction hints. I find myself staring at leaves and branches and thinking about how I could incorporate those beautiful lines into an inlay or table leg. So it was no surprise to me when while sitting in a parking lot waiting for a business contact to get his cup of coffee that I began obsessing over this simple rough board fence.
It’s nothing special in construction, just some 4×4 sunk into the ground and 2×8 nailed across them. But look closer and you can see the circular saw marks on the rough sawn planks. I figure the diameter of the saw to be around 30 inches so these cedar planks were obviously sawn at a mill. All of the mills that I have visited in the local area use a band saw for sawing up trees so this must have come from out of the area. In addition, you don’t find a lot of Cedar in the mid Atlantic states.
It was at this point in my reverie that my client came back to the car and I went on with my day, but I can’t help but think about how I look at the world as a woodworker. Have you ever been sitting in a restaurant and wondering how the chair you are sitting in was put together, or noticed that the table top has a breadboard end and wondered how it has held up to the wear and tear of a busy restaurant? George Walker said in his Woodworking in America presentation that observation is the key to design. I think that as woodworkers we naturally are drawn to the “how does that work” of every day life.
So here is where I alienate my non woodworking readers (if they exist). I think that this hyper observant trait makes us more intelligent, open minded, and in tune with our surroundings. We are well adjusted individuals yearning to make something beautiful and thoroughly enjoying the process of making it. You never hear about a woodworker snapping and “going postal” on anybody.
Remember this the next time someone rolls their eyes when you point out the tools marks on a telephone pole or the underside of a table top and just tell them it is your way of paying homage to the craftsmen that came before us.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Larry Marshall // Jan 4, 2010 at 9:48 am
Great post! I’ve long felt that having some view, whether it be the view of an artist, writer, or craftsman that causes one to actually pay attention to things around us is a very good thing. What we notice is not so important as the fact that we’re always looking to notice… something.
Cheers — Larry
2 Torch02 // Jan 4, 2010 at 9:50 am
As my wife and I were leaving a friend’s last week, I noticed they had a smallish secretary next to the front door. I’m planning on building one to fit a space in my parents’ kitchen, so I actually asked if they had a tape measure handy, so I could get a few dimensions from that piece. They did, and I did.
3 The Village Carpenter // Jan 4, 2010 at 10:22 am
Very thoughtful post, Shannon. I couldn’t agree more!
4 Adam King // Jan 4, 2010 at 11:17 am
This right here. THIS is the moment I was waiting to see in you! It’s when all things around you become inspiration. All forms contain possibilities. All of the world is your new design teacher.
Isn’t it amazing?! Great job. Great post. Great work. Keep it up.
5 Rick Waters // Jan 4, 2010 at 11:26 am
Shannon,
I agree completely with what you are saying!
My wife is constantly ‘waking me up’ when staring at the furniture in restaurants and hotels. Wondering where the wood came from, and how old it is, and why was that selection made…
We even have a couple of office chairs at home that I continually stare at because I’m determined to find out how they were put together.
6 Ken Weinert // Jan 4, 2010 at 11:28 am
You mean the sort of thing like when watching Avatar over the weekend it bothered me that the dominant species on the world was the only one that didn’t follow the quad forelimb pattern of all the other biology?
7 Matt Gradwohl // Jan 4, 2010 at 1:03 pm
I agree and find myself doing this too!
My wife and I went to the “Radio City Christmas” and the entire time I was studying the set pieces and the architecture of Seattle’s Paramount Theater.
I enjoyed it, and the Rockette’s!
8 Jeremy Kriewaldt // Jan 4, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I hope you are right and woodworking makes us more observant (and all the rest). But couldn’t it also be that those who are naturally observant are drawn to express that somehow, so woodwork is the consequence of the observation not the other way around? Of course, the consequence could be any thing creative, and not just woodwork.
Thanks for a very though-provoking piece.
9 Rob Porcaro // Jan 5, 2010 at 12:57 am
What a relief to know others share this affliction!
Looking at what joints failed and which survived, why a curve seems just right, where the wood split, what forethought went into making a design and construction live on however humbly, and on and on . . .
And knowing that it was someone’s mind and hands that went into work that outlives him.
Thanks for the post Shannon.
10 Bryan Free // Jan 7, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Thanks for the post Shannon. It is refreshing to see that mine is not the only wife who thinks their husband is crazy. I have been following your blog and podcast for quite some time now, and I really enjoy your content and style. Keep up the good work, and stay safe.
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