This week I worked on a cabinet my daughter asked for – it’s just basic pine from the home store. I glued up a couple panels to make the carcass and was cleaning up the glue line with a scraper and smoother.

snick – shhhhhhhhhh

snick – shhhhhhhhhh

Nice long ribbons of shavings came out, the surface seemed to pick up more depth. And I found that at the end of each pass, I would clear the shavings with my left hand, and unconciously run my palm over the section I had just planed, while moving back to the start position. I had intended only clean up the glue line – but I was in the zone…

When I was done, I had dressed both sides of the two panels that I was going to make the carcass from. I was tired and sweaty, but felt satisfied – calm, relaxed, and satisfied. There’s just something about working on a project, when both the material and I are in sync.