Shavings and such.

Greetings from Sussex

Day Two

Honing my planing skills by trying to get the shavings  as light and thin as possible

After a couple more hours of sharpening, I was finally given a block of wood to touch, feel and plane. Yay. Setting up the plane to obtain fine even shavings is definitely a skill, and almost an art form. Most of the time, I'm not quite sure whether the uneven size of my shavings is a result of a mis-tuned plane or my incompetence at planing! Tricksies.

Day Three

Let's play spot the rub joint!

More sharpening, some more planing and mild swearing. Made a rub joint (which, as Mark kindly pointed out, is just a fancy name for glueing two pieces of wood together) and got a boo boo on my finger by clamping it in a vise. Not the smartest! Started work on a tool of some description (can't remember what its called, but am sure a picture of the final product will emerge at some point).

Day Four

Sighting down and tuning my plane. No, I'm not just about to kiss it.

Gouged a huge chunk out of my finger today with the help of a bench grinder. I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this was going to happen, and am wondering if I should have chosen a career which is less likely to cause physical damage or injury! At least I still have use of the finger.
I asked John a question which has been weighing down on me somewhat, "In your years of experience, have you ever come across someone who just doesn't have the aptitude for woodworking?" (The unspoken question being aimed at yours truly of course). The answer, unsurprisingly I guess, is that very rarely, and one just simply needs to put in the hours of practice to become good at it and more specifically, at least 10,000 hours of targeted practice at each specific action (be it planing or chiselling, sawing, etc) is required! Not sure if that is meant to be reassuring.

Day 5

A handmade scratch stock atop my wooden piece with the inlay around it.

Finished my scratch stock (yes, that's what its called) and made an inlay with it. All digits still intact and no new war wounds. Phew. Bring on the weekend.