6 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
I often question whether or not
I’m getting better at woodworking.
I can saw a straight line with a hand
saw, take paper-thin shavings with
a plane, use power tools safely and
even turn four very similar-looking
table legs on the lathe. But those are
all things I learned to do very early
on. There was a lot of growth in my
woodworking abilities in that fi rst
year, but since then, progress feels
like it’s slowed. Each piece of furni-
ture I make seems to take more time
than the last.
I’m generally happier with the
things I make today than even a few
years ago. That’s due, in part, to
woodworking being the way I relax
and de-stress. For me, nothing beats
a few hours of uninterrupted shop
time with some good music, a pile
of wood and a little bit of a vision. I
also think that my happiness stems
from patience, which is something
woodworking has taught me.
Sometimes, things just don’t work.
Maybe milling stock reveals twists
and stresses in the lumber, so I need
diff erent material. (No big deal, I can
make a lumber yard run in the morn-
ing.) Maybe a check starts to develop
at the end of a panel. (Should I trim it
shorter? Or stabilize it with a bowtie
and it becomes a feature?) When
woodworking is your hobby, and
you’re not under the pressure of a
deadline, patience and being open to
change becomes the best course of
action. Those are two sentiments we
can all benefi t from.
In our cover story (page 22), Mike
Cliff ord shows you how to use glass
fi ber-reinforced concrete (GFRC) in
furniture designs. It’s a versatile ma-
terial that looks great next to wood,
and working with it uses a lot of the
same skills you likely already have.
But, as the author explains, a healthy
dose of patience (when waiting for
parts to cure) is a very helpful thing.
The same goes for Will Myers
(page 32). His beautiful reproduc-
tions and no-nonsense approach to
hand-tool woodworking are inspir-
ing. When he caught a glimpse of a
candle stand—an antique form he’s
quite familiar with—with a base he’d
never seen before, he knew he had
to build one. He wasn’t looking for
another candle stand to build, but he
was inspired to do so.
There’s defi nitely a healthy dose
of patience built into the process
of making Willie Sandry’s take onFROM THE EDITOR
Learning
Patience
By Andrew Zoellner
a Limbert chair (page 42). Angles,
curves, lots of pieces and tricky
joinery mean there’s plenty of room
for things to go awry. But if you
follow his guidance and complete
all the steps, you’ll have a beautiful,
comfortable seat to plan your next
project from.
As I ponder what to do with this
log sitting in my back yard (Chair
parts? Turning blanks? Viking
chest?), I know that patience is going
to be key to my success. I have no
idea what will be inside as I split the
log or how it’ll dry. But, as a wise
sawyer once told me, “It’s taken hun-
dreds of years for this tree to grow.
We can take a few minutes to make
sure we do things right.”This 30" diameter ash log came from the park next to my house. I asked the ar-
borist if I could have it, and he dropped it in my back yard. I’m not sure what I’ll
do with this log, but I knew it was too good to be chipped. (Banana for scale.)