After 4 grueling days of beating my head against the computer screen, the Apprentice “Foundations” video is now ready and available for streaming at our e-store. Click here to purchase.
As previously mentioned, there was technical hurdle after technical hurdle during this exporting and uploading process. I’m not going to get into it for my blood pressure’s sake but I will say I’ve again learned a lot about the intangible world of ones and zeroes. On Saturday, my son and I spent some therapeutic time outside splitting firewood. After watching snail crawl “progress” bars for days, there was little more satisfying than lifting an axe overhead and swinging it down, making a firm connection with physical matter. The axe struck and the halves fell. What a glorious thing to be part of such an immediate cause and effect scenario. Digital technology is decidedly not this way in my experience.
Anyway… forget I said that stuff. You don’t need to hear my sob story. I know you all have been waiting. Thank you for your patience. This first “Foundations” video in the series is an overview of the way that I work wood. It is a seamless amalgam of techniques developed from period texts and illustrations and modern woodworking sources with my own experience filling in the gaps. This is not 100% perfectly representative of one particular period or region so I am not claiming that every little technique shown here is certified “period accurate”. I’m just not interested in that level of micro-scrutiny.
This apprenticeship series shows the way that I have found to work efficiently based on examination of pre-industrial originals. It turns out hand tool woodworking is not simply naïve anachronism. It is an immensely enjoyable and totally viable option for the 21st century woodworker. Join me in my shop. Click here to purchase.
Below is the official trailer: