I love the smell of pine in the morning...

I haven't written in a couple of days because my focus has been on completing the "Shoulder Tool Box". I should have mentioned last week that groups have been rotating through Drafting class each week (we start on Friday afternoon) while the others are completing their tool box. The tool box has probably been a little harder than I hate to admit. My dovetails are seriously lacking but the four sides fit together. The other technique I have had to become more proficient at is cutting the dados. I think there are six so far and that includes two stop dados (cuts that do not extend to the end of a board). Because there are many variables; thickness of the dado stack, depth and width it can become frustrating at time (especially because we are sharing one table saw to do this). Speaking of the table saw...we actually got to see (more like hear) what happens when the SawStop works. One of my classmates was cutting with the dado stack and had a kickback that propelled his thumb into the blade! I'm pretty sure he wasn't using proper technique but the good news is that he still has his thumb. We have also had demos on the joiner and planer, and I actually used the planer today to work on my tool box bottom. We also had a demo on the lathe and using it to make a small wood mallet from a square piece of maple stock. When and if I ever get the extra time I plan on making the mallet as it would have been beneficial in cutting dovetails as opposed to big sledgehammer like mallet I made earlier. So the tool box now has four sides and a bottom that kinda fits together. Tomorrow I will work on putting a divider in the bottom of the box and making my sliding till. After that it is gluing and finishing.

When I look back on my earlier posts I realize that my more recent ones have lacked philosophical or comical comments. I think that is because the work we are doing has in fact become that...work. Although there is some instruction going on, the main focus has been in executing a project from start to finish using the tools and techniques we have learned to date. What I have personally learned is that this type of work takes two things: concentration and patience. Concentration is black or white. You either are or you're not. Patience is a different animal. To me it is learning to trust the skills that you are developing to see you through the process. At times I have caught myself rushing to get something done for the sake of getting it done and not allowing what I am doing evolve over time. I hope that I can improve on this...at the very least I am cognizant of it.