Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Warm shallows


A similar routine to that of yesterday, but as I was out messing about with the chainsaw in the drizzle a neighbor called out on his way down the road to ask if I wanted an old chainsaw chain that was still in fairly good nick. This prompted me to sort out my electric chainsaw, which was in need of a new chain. In the end the gift was the wrong size, but I took the bar and chain from a defunct Stihl saw and that worked nicely. Somehow that falling domino made way for me to start on the large baulk of timber in the foreground on the bench this past Monday. I had been hesitating over it as the saw chain was in poor condition and some polite chainsaw incursions were essential to discover the extent of various checks and knot holes that were not encouraging. The piece having now been probed and cut in half it is beginning to take shape in my mind. The two parts will form the arm rests for the sofa bench.
It seems like there is always some Achilles heel that has to be understood before things begin to tip into place. Or perhaps it is just that these object making activities are closely related to stone carving in many ways. At first it is a hell of a job to make any headway, but as time passes the accumulated stress in the stone from repeated blows from hammer and chisel makes carving easier. Carving is more my natural mode of work, the weakness that has to be exploited is known, I merely have to see what is waiting in the material to be pulled out. With the furniture making there is a more complex process of material preparation and assembly to be undertaken before any subtraction can begin. So at first I suppose it is natural that I feel rather like a fish out of water, once having floundered back into the shallows one is perfectly located for a tentative nip at the heels of the appropriate Greek god should he happen to pop in for a refreshing paddle.

Meanwhile practicalities have to be attended to and I burnt off batches of the mountain of planer shavings throughout the day. Just as evening was falling a rather excessive final bin load snubbed out the flames and eventually created an absolutely wonderful plume of delightfully dense smoke. For a minute or two I watched this as it was gently wafted off by the breeze coming down from the hills, then the flames burst back to life and it was gone.