A brand new Adirondack Chair sat on the assembly table last week, waiting for a final sanding. All the joints were tight, no gaps. The chair went together smoothly. Really pleased with the result.
As I build a new chair or table or bonsai stand (or whatevuh), I’m always looking for a little more efficiency in the production of the piece and thinking about ways to improve its appearance. This new chair is no different.
When I see something I want to change, I’ll modify a template and try it out on the next iteration of the piece. If I don’t like it, I can tweak it or let it go for a while. But the process is always one of self-critique.
Miss Marple, a wise old spinster, used to say that “the world changes and we must change with it.” How right she was. Being critical of your own work is a blessing if you don’t go too far down that road. If you get to the place where you always find fault with everything you do, maybe you need to do something else! Thankfully, I haven’t been down that road in a long while.
With the chair, I’m pretty happy with where it is right now although I do intend to try out a new back or two on the existing frame to give folks some more options. When this amazing heat finally breaks, it will give me more hours in the shop to build new things. Til then, I keep adding stuff to the list of stuff I want to design or redesign. This process of creation and recreation is one aspect of woodworking that makes it so enjoyable.
Your Correspondent: hoping that July feels like October in about a week.
