{"id":107049,"date":"2022-07-04T14:54:37","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T21:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=107049"},"modified":"2022-07-04T14:56:53","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T21:56:53","slug":"sawdust-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/sawdust-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Sawdust Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span> came late to the hobby of woodworking, and I\u2019m terrible at it. Like many people, I suppose, I took up a new pastime during the COVID-19 lockdowns. In my case, it was working wood. I use both power tools and hand tools: power tools for the big cuts and rough shaping, and handtools for the fiddly details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fun, and I generally find it relaxing. Unfortunately, starting the study of a new craft in middle age when you have never had much in the way of experience with it can be a torture to a person who is by nature a perfectionist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there can be no perfection when you\u2019re first learning a craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My hands don\u2019t move the way I want them to, the tools can be persnickety, and wood \u2013 while a most forgiving medium – hardly ever behaves the way I expect it to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, I make a lot of mistakes, which is only to be expected, but I lack the skill and experience to recover smoothly from many of those mistakes. So I end up spending an inordinate amount of time staring at things and trying to figure out how to make them work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an example, I have been working on the skirts for my workbench, and I can\u2019t seem to make them work. This should be, at most, a couple of hours work. But no matter how many times I measure, or how carefully I cut or router, the stupid things absolutely refused to fit with the bench top and the legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started this morning with a very clear idea of how to fix it. I even still think it might work, but I have been singularly unsuccessful so far in actually cutting anything to the proper measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I\u2019ve set it aside until tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, our delightful little bunny Alice died last night, and I am unexpectedly sad about this. Which is, of course, the entire point of this post.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came late to the hobby of woodworking, and I\u2019m terrible at it. Like many people, I suppose, I took up a new pastime during the COVID-19 lockdowns. In my case, it was working wood. I use both power tools and hand tools: power tools for the big cuts and rough shaping, and handtools for the fiddly details. It\u2019s fun, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Blatherings from the Blog - Sawdust Memories","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15,3,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","category-moments-in-time","category-pistachio-house"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-rQB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":110633,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/promises\/","url_meta":{"origin":107049,"position":0},"title":"Promises","author":"Thom","date":"12 August 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I read a chapter (or part of a chapter) from the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict. This is done on a specific cadence, so that in a year I read through the entirety of the Rule three times. Today's reading discusses the three promises a new monk makes upon entering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-12-11.07.06-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-12-11.07.06-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-12-11.07.06-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-12-11.07.06-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026-08-12-11.07.06-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109494,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-patricks-breastplate-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":107049,"position":1},"title":"Saint Patrick’s Breastplate","author":"Thom","date":"17 March 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Yet, today, nobody is going to go around speaking in fake Latin and wearing a toga and sandals, oh no. 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From their blog: NORCIA, ITALY \u2014 Beginning January 22 at 7am EST and following closely on the heels of the chart topping release of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fun"","block_context":{"text":"Fun","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/fun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blog-Monks-2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Blog-Monks-2-1024x575.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Blog-Monks-2-1024x575.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Blog-Monks-2-1024x575.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":83721,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/charles-the-great\/","url_meta":{"origin":107049,"position":5},"title":"Charles the Great","author":"Thom","date":"28 January 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is the 1200th anniversary of the death of Charlemagne. 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