I like wood.

(written 21/09/2006)

Ok, same night as when I finished my last ramble. Too many things to consider, so
I have to limit myself.


Wood.

I love the stuff, but hate the fact that it's so scarce. I guess I have to accept that it's not my grandpa's world.

Anyway, my wife and I are learning a lot about working with wood. We've been putting finish onto some old cheap bookcases and turning them into wonderful things. Used a dark stain with polyurethane (sp?) finish on top to shine it up (and protect it from little cats' feet).

I am also very interested in learning how to build things with wood. Starting small, as my wife reminded me, is a very good idea. I have the habit of getting ambitious and obsessive with my ideas and I tend to lose patience when incapable of executing them. Small (simple) is better. I need to practice dealing with materials for a bit longer and work with simple joining techniques.

First off, X = 23" Y = 18" Z = 23" end table. no legs, just three boards joined together with finishing nails and looking pretty with mitred joints. just three peices.. or one peice of pine 1x18 by @6 feet

whatever I can get ahold of..


---

Funny thing is, all the time I've spent playing Perl has effected me in thinking about wood. With my ambitious (and as yet unlikely) project ideas, modularity has been at the center of my thinking. If I want to build a secretary, I want to have the basic table entirely independent of the rest of the unit. The drawers should be manufactured entirely seperately and be installable and removable with little fuss.

This is markedly different from a drafting table my wife and I put together sometime ago. The table is a beautiful peice of furniture that really is a good tool for those times when you feel extra creative with a pencil. The problem is that it is put together in a mess of peices that interlock in a most inconvenient way. I think this wierd design actually contributes to it's lightness and reduces the materials needed to construct it, but it still sucks trying to put the bugger together. So, it's modular for me!!


goodnight.