However, I have never tried to impose my interests on him.  I have always wanted him to be his own man and to find himself. My strategy  has worked pretty well. He is a good kid with a long line of successes packed into his 17 years. I don’t need for Michael to follow in my footsteps. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t want him to work wood.  In fact, I have longed for him to join me in the shop.  I told him I would be delighted to work with him and teach him. 

He explained that he had looked at all the tools on the walls and realized he did not know what they were used for, or how they worked. I observed that countless woodworking tools have ended up on the market because the generations who inherited them did not know what they were or how they worked.  It sounds morbid, but I did tell him that someday I would be gone and if he does not learn what I know from me, he will most likely end up auctioning everything off.  

Michael made a chair when he was 12 years old. He took the class with his cousin and godfather Robert,  and gave his chair to his grandmother as her 80^th birthday present. I told him if he wanted to repeat the experience I would put him into any chair class that interested him.  He explained that by Wednesday of his class he could not absorb any more information. I told him not to feel badly, every adult who takes the class has the same experience. He asked instead to spend weekend time in the shop; one-on-one. He hasn’t brought up the subject since that morning, and I won’t.  I’ll let it percolate, and if he is truly interested, he will raise the matter again.  Meanwhile, I have my fingers crossed. 

I of course, had another thought in mind. Michael has formed a rock band that practices at our house every week. Two of the musicians are tall and strong.  If Michael was spending a lot of time at the shop, perhaps I could get their young, strong backs to help out once and a while.            

 By the way, I mentioned here earlier that Michael had served as a congressional page.   The local newspaper just ran a front page story about him and his experiences. Check it out. Tell me, do I look too proud? http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100720-NEWS-7200319  

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            Dongil has a PhD in economics and teaches at the university level.  His goal is to make more chairs and I am curious as to what species of trees he will find in Korea that substitute for the species we use. I did a Google search and came up with some candidates for him.  I’ll keep you posted.

            This class also has Freddie Dudak as a student. Freddie is noteworthy because he is only eleven years old. In fact, he is barely 11 years old, his birthday being in May. The previous youngest boy to take a class was my son Michael who made a chair when he was twelve.  So, Freddie sets a new record and in doing so blows the old one out of the water. Freddie’s father Sir Freddie Dudak accompanied him, but the youngster is doing his own work. In fact, he has put a few older guys to shame and they regret being on the same bench as this talented 11 year-old.  Freddie is taking the class very seriously.  He never fools around or gets distracted.  Every demonstration he sits up front with his notebook and takes copious notes. His father tells me Freddie is planning on exhibiting his chair in a local fair this August.

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            Here’s  a story a lot of chairmaker wish would happen to them.  The email tells the whole tale and I have nothing to add. “This week I received the mother of all chair orders. The historic site near buy has ordered 100 chairs to be completed this year under a facilities grant. Over the past several years I have already made about 50 or so for them and this will complete the restoration of the building. The chairs are a simple four spindle rod back with a box stretcher and quite plain turnings except for the rings. The originals (which they still have a few of) were made nearby around 1830. I had anticipated being able to cut back this year when the deposit check arrived in the mail. I have nightmares thinking about the 1400 turnings required. Thanks to Oneway I have a very quiet and smooth running lathe that is a joy to turn on. So, it is a little less painful. As you know I have been blessed with some considerable orders over the years, but I am sure this will be my last big Rodeo!! Hope all is well with you and your family. John Robinson.”  Eat your hearts out. 

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A lot of you have changed your email addresses lately.  If my monthly eLetter is returned I have no choice but to delete your name, as I have no way to get hold of you to ask for your new address. If you did not recently receive the July issue about the Gluck Brothers Chair Manufacturers ink blotter, you need to send me you new address.

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            Don and I stumbled into a miserable job last Thursday; one that should have taken us twenty minutes, but instead lasted all day. We have a DeWalt 13 inch planer. It gets most of its use during classes when students plane red oak stock into chair parts.  Because it  planes mostly narrow pieces of unseasoned wood, it continues to work well, even after the cutters have become too dull for other jobs.

            I discovered the blades were dull when I tried to plane some wood for a project slated for a magazine article. In my mind, this was no problem. Swapping the cutters is a quick job and on this machine — very easy. In no time, I had the top off the machine and had exposed the cutter head.  Each cutter is secured in place by a cover. A row of eight equally spaced screws secures the cover and cutter to the head, and creates even holding power.  I locked the head in position and placed the Allen wrench in the first screw. It wouldn’t budge.

            I tried the next and had same problem. I was actually twisting the wrench without being able to loosen the screw. I tried all eight screws on the first cutter cover. Not a one would budge. I was growing concerned. I wondered if it was possible the screws were left handed and I had forgotten this detail. I tried turning a couple clockwise, but with no success.

            Next, I turned the cutter head and tried the screws on the second face. Again, no luck.  Every one of eight screws was frozen. I turned the head to the third face. Same thing. By now, I was frustrated and perplexed. I heated the screws with a propane torch and sprayed them with penetrating oil. Still, no go. I repeated both steps. Nope. Same as before.

            Eventually, I called Don away from gluing seat blanks to consult with me. I also wanted a witness. I didn’t think anyone would believe  that I couldn’t change the blades on such a simple machine. Don tried and he too was unable to loosen a single screw. We took a break and when we got back I tried again. The first screw made an audible snap as it moved. Joyfully, I withdrew it and put it in the parts tray inside planer’s housing. I worked my way along the first blade cover and managed (with some effort) to loosen and remove all eight screws. I turned the cutter head and accomplished the same on the second side.

            I turned the head again to bring up the third side. I was able to loosen all but four screws. In the process, the Allen wrench cammed out of two of them, striping the hexagonal holes. I asked Don to try his luck. He applied so much torque he twisted the Allen wrench almost 90 degrees without loosening the other screws.

            After some kibitzing we decided to give the four screws a long and intense application of heat and a dash more of penetrating oil. Nope. That didn’t work. We concluded we had to attempt an Easy Out. With two stripped hexagonal holes, we didn’t have much choice anyway. We tried to drill pilot holes into the tops of the screws, but dulled bit after bit. I can’t imagine the screws were hardened, but they sure chewed up a lot of bits without us ever  making much of a hole.

            We gave up on the Easy Out and decided on a new tack. We would grind off the screw heads. This would allow us to remove the cover and replace the cutter. However, that would leave us with only four screws securing the third blade. I would have no choice but to hope that four screws would be sufficient. Don dug out the Dremel and mounted the grinder bit in it. The Dremel did grind away the screw head. However, the grinder attachment disappeared faster than the screw. I kept repeating to Don, “I’m glad you’re here to witness this. ‘Cause no one would believe this story. This is the longest change of blades in history.”

            Being chairmakers, Don and subscribe to the “get a bigger hammer” school of thought. If drill bits and the Dremel couldn’t cut  those screws, it was time to break out the cold chisel. After several whacks I looked at the results. I wasn’t making any progress on the screw, but the chisel was getting chewed up. I half expected Alan Funt to jump out and say, “Smile. You’re on Candid Camera.”

            I tried the chisel again with Don watching. The screw moved under the blow. “It moved,” I yelled. “I saw it move.” Don watched more closely as I took another hit. Sure enough. It moved again. Don grabbed a pair of pliers and with  little effort,  extracted the screw. I moved onto the next.  It took a bit of hammering, but sure enough, it let go too. The same happened with the third.

            One last screw was all that stood between us and completing this blasted job. You guessed it. This one was the granddaddy of them all. To top it off, we were in the machine room without air conditioning and it was now the heat of the day. Sweat was dripping off our faces. We tried heating the screw again and applying a liberal dose of penetrating oil. Our persistence finally paid off. After chiseling around the head from every position that would give me some purchase, the screw finally moved.  Don and I crowed in victory – man over machine. The blasted thing had not beaten us.

            After removing the cutter covers we examined them.  They are protected with a thick black paint, or perhaps japanning. However, under the screw heads was bare metal. I’m wondering if the finish had adhered the screws to the cover, because the threads were as clean as a whistle. Also, once a screw moved, it withdrew easily. Any way, Don and I swabbed each hole with oil before we reassembled. That process took the predictable 20 minutes.

            So, there is our story. A day to loosen 24 screws, and 20 minutes to change the blades.  Remind me to tell you someday about getting the bevel gear with a broken tooth off our monster, cast iron Taiwanese thickness planer.

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            Don Harper and Donny Chesser helped out.  Don teaches with me at the Institute, and Donny has taken classes here. He also works at the Portsmouth Woodcraft Supply store. I began the activities with an involved presentation on bending; touching on its history in general  and eventually sharpening the focus onto our work. I began at the very begining — the tree growing in the woods. I talked about the need to know a log’s history and how we accomplish that. If you read about our splitting parties, you do too. I spent quite a bit of time describing log selection; how to read a log and how to make an educated guess as to what the wood looks like inside. Then, I described how we determine where to cut when bucking the logs into bolts. I explained that we need two, three, four and six foot bolts, as those lengths yield everything we use in our Windsor chair classes.

            I described good bending days vs. bad bending days and noted how they are counter intuitive. I talked at length about techniques for plasticizing wood and the wood’s properties. I explained what happens internally when wood bends — why compression is easy, but tension is a problem.  Because I had all morning to make my presentation, I could get into the real nitty-gritty details; whereas a chair class’

schedule constraints do not afford me the time to talk about the subject in this depth.  I dispelled the erroneous notions that result from the term green woodworking. I explained how the misconception that wood needs to be wet results in lots of people losing all their hard work to decay.

            Next, we went outside to examine the pile of splits we have stickered beside the shop.  I explained why we use our method of stacking as it allows air to circulate between them. The stacked splits are left over from our last splitting party and will be slowly turned into bending stock as we have time. While we were not able to demonstrate splitting, we were able to show the blue stain where wedges were placed in the rpocess of opening a six-footer by hand. We flipped some of the splits so the bark was facing up. This allowed me to better illustrate what to look for when selecting a log. We discussed winter vs. summer cut logs and the advantages of storing logs, bolts, and splits  during a New England winter – they freeze solid. We also touched on the problems of summer cut logs. The sap is up in them, and in the heat of summer, decay sets in quickly. During this time there was a lot of Q&A and interaction.

            Our next stop was the machine room where we spent some time talking about our Hitachi resaw. Most people were amazed to see a three-inch, stellite tipped blade. It does look aggressive.  Last Monday we had purposefully left the large stack of freshly cut bending blanks  propped up against a bench. This way, our guests could touch and feel and examine the wood at the stage when it begins to become a chair. I also left the door open into the catalog building so they could walk in and examine a big pile of spindle blanks on a bench. They also saw our huge chest freezer, that simulates a New England winter for us. by keeping our stock frozen 

            Finally, we went to the bending area. Don and Donny had set up some bending forms and had been tending one of our steam boxes for about an hour. So, we were ready to go. I talked about our steam box design and why we call it the Ultimate Steam Box. Besides being very efficient, it solves most problems woodworkers have with steam boxes. Then, I identified much of  the rampant misinformation about steam bending that has been printed in the magazines; such as why you don’t over bend to allow for spring back. I took lots of predictable questions –such as how long to steam and how long to dry?

            Next, I illustrated what I had said several times during the morning – bending is an art, not a science. Failure is very much an option. We keep a selection of dramatic failures to illustrate what can (and does) happen. We maintain our  failure pile because it does a good job of tempering our students’ enthusiasm and helps them remember the most important point – speed is your enemy. After seeing what can happen, students bend a lot more slowly and deliberately. Fear is a great teacher.

            On Friday, I had made up some chair parts that represented several different types of bends – sack back arms and bows, c-arms, and a crest.  Don, Donny, and I demonstrated bending each type. Then, we turned the bending over to anyone who wanted to try it. It took some coaxing before two guys got up the courage to volunteer. After seeing their success, lots of the others wanted to bend. In spite of it being a so-so bending day nothing broke. The parts were all added to our catalog inventory of pre-bent parts.  They will be sold to chairmakers all over the country and will end up in chairs we will most likely never see.

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We created a new sack back class that begins October 18. I stilkl have space in it. When it is full, there will be no more sack back classes until next spring.

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            In spite of our age, less than two hours after we begin, the logs have been turned into piles of two, three, four, and six foot splits, ready for the next step. Those lengths provide us with the lengths we need for all our parts. The process reminds me of when my parents would put down a steer or a pig. In two hours we had only large parts of the carcass, but nothing that looked like the original animal. Even though the heavy work was done, there was still a lot of work ahead cutting the steaks, roasts, and making the hamburger. Two hours after we begin a splitting party, there is nothing left that looks like a log, but there is still lots of work remaining to get the material we need.

            The day got off to a worrisome start. The first log we opened was ugly. This is the risk you run making chair material. A log may look good outside, but have lots of unpleasant surprises inside. We split that wood into pieces anyway. There was some good areas and at some point we will pick through the splits for whatever they will yield.

            While Kevin and Don were splitting the next bolt using Kevin’s tractor and a four foot log splitter, and Fred was bucking the other logs with a chain saw, I started splitting a six footer.  We need six foot splits for c-arms, bow backs, settees, etc. However, these bolts will not fit on the splitter and have to be opened the old fashioned way; the Abe Lincoln way.

            This was one miserable log. I buried two wedges in the end without making much progress. This is usually an ominous sign, signaling something inside is holding the log together. I worked some wedges along the short spilt in the side of the bolt. As I leap frogged the wedges the split grew longer, but only by inches. Finally, I had a split the length of the bolt and we could look down in. A few strips of wood held the two halves together. I snipped these with a hatchet and the bolt fell apart. The wood was beautiful. Why it gave me such a hard time, I do not know. But in the process I thought about a line I use in classes. You work with wood. It has its own nature, and each piece has its own quirks. You have to work with them.

            By 11:00 Fred and Kevin had begun resawing the splits on our Hitachi resaw. This process reduces the oak down to the size we use in chairmaking. It is a noisy, nasty, boring, and repetitive job. It will take several days to work through as much wood as we split yesterday, but we will pick away at it. The splits they did not get done by 4:30 is neatly piled out of the sun.

            During lunch, a truck arrived with a load of pine for seats. (This is not coincidental. We plan things this way.) Don and I laid out the seat blanks and bucked the pine. We then sorted the pieces according to width, grade, and quality. That way, we do not glue up two clear pieces into one exquisite blank and two pieces with knots into another more challenging blank. I began jointing the pile while Don started the glue up. We have enough clamps to glue 15 blanks at a time (three clamps per blank, three glue ups per day.) So, this job too requires several days to complete and we will pick away at it.

            We knocked off around 4:00. Our work creates so much of a mess it takes all four of to clean. We haul barrels of saw dust into the high grass behind the shop where we compost it.  Kevin came back with three ticks on his legs from the first trip and two the second.

            The final step is to go into the air conditioned shop and have a cold beer. I can see why Chris Schwarz likes beer. It does taste good at the end of a hard day. However, I would have preferred a martini, or a shot of single malt scotch.

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            By the way, our October 4 sack back class is full.  I can’t make people wait until next April to get into a sack back class. So, we have scheduled another that will begin Monday, October 18. The two October sack backs bracket peak fall foliage, which typically happens around Columbus Day.  So, if you want to see the foliage in its splendor, arrive before the new October 18 class, and come make a chair after touring the New Hampshire mountains. I grew up in New England, but fall foliage never grows old. It is always spectacular.

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            Today is my son’s first day at work as a congressional page.  We have C-span on hoping we will catch of glimpse of him.

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The May 17 class included several students I want to tell you about; as I am sure you are curious about them. Popular Woodworking editor Chris Schwarz, his father Paul, and his friend John Hoffman took the class together.  John is also Chris’ business partner in their venture Lost Art Press. I didn’t tell you in advance that these guys would be with us, as I didn’t want Chris inundated with visitors while he tried to enjoy a week of vacation. It was good to have these three guys visit. They are all three fun people and we did a lot of laughing.

It the past month I began to wonder if the May 17 calss had a curse on it. I kept signing up people, but as soon as one enrolled another bowed out. I couldn’t tell those people at the time that they were missing out on the chance to spend a week with Chris. That’s too bad, as he is arguably the most influential person in woodworking today. Popular Woodworking is driving all the other woodworking magazines.  As they struggle to stay afloat in this lousy economy they look at Popular Woodworking’s success and try to figure it out.  I hope Chris won’t mind if I give away the formula. It’s real easy. Like most of their woodwoking readers, the editors and the magazine are down to earth. There is nothing elitist about them. They write about basics and they are eclectic. Rather than rehash the same articles over and over, they surprise readers with interesting and curious topics.

Chris and John came into town a day early and we three spent Sunday shooting photos for a couple of articles I have written for them. I hinted before about one of the articles last year when I was writing it. It is a subject that chairmakers pioneered. I forgot to ask when the articles are scheduled.  So, I have to counsel patience. Meanwhile, subscribe to Popular Woodworking, if you haven’t already. That way, you won’t miss the article when it is published.

I was surprised that several visitors showed up with gifts of bottles of craft beers for Chris. I enquired about this phenomenon. He explained that he writes about his fondness for good beer in his own blog. As a result, people often bring him local beers from their own region. I think that is clever on his part. Have I ever written about my fondness for martinis and single malt scotch?

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NYC bow back is also the companion side chair for the sack back. A lot of chairmakers choose this as their second class so they complete a set of Windsors – two sacks with four to eight NYCs. For that reason, we had one of the largest Raisings in quite a while.  Six chairmakers were transformed from Entered Apprentices to Master Chairmakers. Now, they too possess the secret hand shake and the secret distress call. They can greet other Masters and are always protected, wherever they go in the world.

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Some chairmakers have gotten good publicity recently. His Grace Ralph Quick and his wife Caron, and Sir Fred Chellis and his wife Dame Priscilla were all selected for the list 200 Best Craftsmen by Early American Life magazine. His Grace Ralph and Caron also got a nice write up in their home town paper the Clarksville (MO) Monthly. His Grace makes me look handsome.  Have you seen those Capital One credit card ads with the Viking barbarians? Then you have seen Ralph. Somehow His Grace managed to convince a tall, gorgeous blond to marry him. His Grace usually makes sure that any photos that  accompany publicity show Caron. She was looking particularly nice in the Clarksville Monthly photo.

No matter what rules we make for ourselves, we can’t resist exceptions, usually to our detriment.  His Grace did  relent from his rule recently and posed for a newspaper article featuring his chair shop. Ralph, remember what Alice said when in Wonderland. “I give myself very good advice but very seldom follow it.”  From now on, let Caron pose.

His Grace wrote us this. “Just wanted to send you a copy of a photo of me showing a young boy how we make our chairs at our shop. The newspaper photo is not that good. As a matter of fact, it makes me look like I am as bald as one of the Bald Eagles here. Ha! Ha!

We had the Governor and his wife come to Clarksville over the weekend to view the Eagles, since Clarksville is known as the Eagle Capitol of the Country. While they were here, our mayor mentioned to the governor that there is a Windsor chairmaker in town. The governor’s wife is a real history buff, and is especially interested by anything to do with Daniel Boone and his time. She insisted on stopping in to see our shop and she was thrilled to find us in costume. We always dress in our colonial clothes when there are tours or events such as Eagle Days. 

  The Governor’s wife REALLY liked the Writing Arm chair and we are pretty sure she will be placing an order for one. Our Mayor, who was escorting them around town, heard her tell the Governor that she wants to have one of them in the Governor’s Mansion. So, they did take our information and such.

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Sir Ken Neiswender exchanged some emails with us that you will find interesting. This is the first. “On the update front, my church is having a mission marketplace on this Saturday where local small business set up tables, sell their wares , and donate a portion of their proceeds to the Methodist Committee on Relief.  I was asked if I’d donate a chair for a silent auction and agreed.  They chose a sack back that I carved knuckles on for the auction.  They are two church members who are talking about buying a chair from me and are looking at the auction one.  I guess there are plenty of organizations that would like free chairs, but the idea of selling a few as a result of a good cause appeals to me. We’ll see what happens.”

This is Sir Ken’s follow up. “The event raised over $1,000 for Haiti Relief, I don’t know how much of that was from the chair. You might recall when I was at C-arm class that I did a wonderful job reaming my leg holes.  They were the most perfect ever done by a student.  Dead on angles, absolute perfection except for one minor detail.  The angles were reversed.  I’ve sat in that chair at our family table for about four years, and it is the one that the auction person selected for the auction. Every time I sat in it, I thought that this is a nice chair.  If only I hadn’t screwed up the front leg angles, I would really like it.  So guess it’s good that chair went to somebody else and is helping a good cause.  Plus now I get the pleasure of making a new chair, maybe one that won’t mock me at dinner.”

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Luke Cabanel and Sir Bob Longstreet landed a great commission.  They made a group of reproduction furniture for the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia.  The two also got a nice bit of publicity out of the commission when the Philadelphia Inquirer did an article about their work. Luke was also filmed by a local television station. The segment will be 15 minutes long and will air in the fall.  Fifteen minutes on television is a very long time.  

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             You mostly likely have seen a tete at tete. It is a double chair, like a settee, only the sitters face different directions. I dreamed up a Windsor version that I made using the c-arm.  I think the piece was attractive and I really liked the way the S-shaped double arm is reflected in the seat platform.

            After I published Make a Chair lots of other guys made a tete a tete. I am amused that the idea even made its way to China.  Those miniature doll-sized Windsors you see in Americana shops are made in China. The Chinese factory that makes them also makes a sack back tete a tete.

            A Windsor tete a tete is a fantasy chair, the froth of my fevered brain. It is also an anachronism, in that the two never existed together in time. Think of it being like those movies where dinosaurs chase caveman, or George Washington reads maps before the Battle of  Trenton by the light of a kerosene lamp.    The C-arm dates to the 1790s, while the tete a tete is a Victorian form from the mid-19^th century. Thus, half a century separates the two. 

            This class was the first ever that was 100% Royal Orders – not a commoner among them. Also, there were no ceremonies, which meant there was no cake. That seemed inappropriate to H. G. Troy Beall. Since H. G. Lyndon Gallagher was here from Montreal, H. G. Troy decided to initiate a new celebration on his own initiative. He went to the pastry counter at the local market and bought a cake that celebrated “Canada Week.”  The cake decorator should travel more. She spelled the name of our northern neighbor Canida. Anyway, the cake was great, and the decorator did provide us with a lot of laughs.

            By the way,  H. G. Lyndon kicked off Canada Week by bringing each of his fellow Royal Orders members a pair of 2010 Olympics mittens. Apparently these mittens were so popular with the people attending the games in Vancouver that the Olympic Committee ran out them.  H. G. Lyndon had already bought so many pairs we suspect he had cornered the market, creating an artificial shortage.  I understand why the mittens were in such demand.  They are fleece lined, and very warm. Every picture taken during the week has H. G. Lyndon’s hands in it, wearing a pair of the red mittens with a white maple leaf on the open palms.

            While there were no Royal Orders celebrations, the class did celebrate the event that opens our school year. We drilled the first hole.  The backboard with all our signatures and the photo of the event hang on the wall between a window and the white board. It will be the first board into the fire when we close the year with the official Burning of the Backboards ceremony.

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            The winter 2010 issue of the magazine Maine Bar Journal included a four-page interview with Bill Clifford. Bill is an attorney from Lewiston and has taken numerous courses at The Institute. The interview included five color photos of Bill and his work. A full page portrait of him in his workshop preceded the text. We did learn something new from the article.

Bill’s nickname is Bim. Remember that if you’re ever on a bench with him. “Hey Bim, how ya been?”  Coincidently, Bim’s college roommate practices here in Hampton and they get together whenever Bim is in town.

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            You may be wondering how I made out with my winter projects. I did get the tete a tete prototype completed. I finished the article I was writing, but the editor and I will shoot the pix for it and another article when he is here in May.  I wrote 30,000 words of my next manuscript. It is a long story, but I did not undertake the book of meditations and dogs. Instead, I began the book about living with and caring for our friend Jim. June is my target for finishing the first draft. I’ll keep you posted.

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I am not far into the book. In fact, I only read the Introduction. However, I was so impressed by something she wrote I stopped to ponder it. I am going to quote her, but first I have to set up the story. If you have taken a sack back class with us, you have heard my discussion of the Four Objectives. These are the objectives we all want to accomplish whenever we set out to make a piece of furniture.

The fourth objective is to make a piece that elicites a favorable response from the people who look at it.  It is a natural desire on our part to want people to like and appreciate what we have made. I note that the large number of 18^th century chairs still extant proves that the chairs we make will outlast us. In my discussion these leads me to  point out something else that makes us feel warm and fuzzy.  It is the thought of a great-great grand daughter showing someone our chairs and saying, “Those were made by my great-great grandfather.  He was an amazing craftsman.”

Now you know how Marie Musser’s experience fits into our experiences as chairmakers. This is what impressed me and made stop reading to write to you. She wrote, “During these forays for information, I met and came to know many fascinating people whose pride in their ancestors’ work remains undaunted by time.”

Keep making chairs, not only for people alive now, but for generations yet unborn.  Who knows, a future Marie Musser may  track down your descendants to gather information about you.

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I have three months without a class. Before you congratulate me on a long vacation, I assure you I have lots scheduled. I will be doing a lot of writing. I have some more magazine articles scheduled with Popular Woodworking. We will shoot the photos for those articles; plus the big one I told you about, that is now in the can. I also have plans for future postings here. I will be doing a lot of this writing from home. So, if you need to contact me, email is best.

I have another book underway. I hope to complete it, or get very close to finishing it during the break. It is a book of mediations; something I find myself doing a lot more of as I age. Everyone who has studied here knows we have two dogs we love – Angus and Menlo. If you have been taking classes for a long time, you have met our other dogs, who now rest in the well-maintained dog cemetery overlooking the stream that runs by the house.

I have always interacted with our dogs. I snuggle them; I talk to them; and I take them with me wherever I go. I have found that if my dogs don’t like someone, there is usually a good reason. I have learned that generally the people I don’t warm up to don’t like dogs.  

Above all, I watch our dogs. I study them as they go about their daily lives. I watch them play. I watch them do what they consider their work – their jobs. In watching them, our dogs have taught me a lot, or reconfirmed many of the principals that guide my life. Dogs are generally happy and content, and because I am in many ways like them, I too am a happy and content man.  It took me many decades to achieve peace with myself and with life, but I did. I did it by doing a lot of things dogs do instinctively. It is amazing that they avoid many of the problems that afflict humans. Thus the subject of this book which I title Turn the Other Jowl: What Dogs have Taught me about God.

If I complete this book, I expect to move right on to the next one. This one is comparable to Tuesdays with Morrie. In Tuesdays the author, Mitch Albom visited his friend Morrie as he died of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Through their conversations the author learned many important lessons about the meaning of life and the things that truly matter. My book – with the working title Everyday with Jim will be from the point of view of the caregiver who lives with a “Morrie,” day in, day out. From that proximity and point of view, the caregiver learns even deeper life lessons.

In my book, the role of Morrie is our friend Jim who has been rendered a bedridden invalid by MS. I am the caregiver, who in caring for him has learned how little really matters in this life, and that the little that does matter really matters a lot.

I won’t get this far during the break, but book five in my Young Adult fantasy adventure series is all outlined. I do expect to begin it before 2010 is done. Meanwhile, my search for a literary agent goes on.

During the break, I will complete the tete-a-tete (head-to-head in French) that has been on my bench for the last several classes. It will be the prototype for our first class of the year. I may even get some work done on a prototype of our 2011 new chair class. Right now, that one is a secret. But you’re gonna love it.

To receive my eNewsletter of periodic updates, tips, tool reviews, and new sources, that are in addition to this blog, join our mailing list by emailing me at mike@thewindsorinstitute.com Help us spread the word about this blog. Tell others.