Celebrate the Journey!

 Remember the things you made when you first got into woodworking? Some of them are probably still in your home or the home of other family members.

Now that you’ve progressed way beyond that level of work you probably sort of wish those other pieces just didn’t exist anymore, at least not in a prominent place in the house, and even though there are some quite good pieces now in the collection it probably just irks you to no end when your family members are showing visitors around the house pointing out the pieces you’ve made and they always include the ones you wished they would leave out of the tour.

Yep…..,me too, but hey let’s get over it. The truth of the matter is this. You probably put a lot of time and effort into those pieces and even though you had not perfected your dovetailing and finishing skills and most probably assembled most of the components with screws in lieu of finely executed joinery, they probably turned out pretty good in spite of everything you didn’t know at that time. Why else would they have stood the test of time and still be in your house when the assemble in 10 minutes particle board stuff has long been gone to the dumpster?

After 4 years of construction we finally moved into our new/old house about 6 years ago. I was really torn about which pieces I wanted to transition into the new home and which ones I would have just as well left behind. We had the perfect place in our new kitchen for a corner cupboard and we had a pine corner cupboard that I had made many years ago and frankly was quite proud of at the time. I resisted the idea of moving that cupboard into the kitchen and for many years it was part of the furnishings my youngest son used in his living quarters in the Garden House. I knew I could make a much better piece and had good intentions to do just that.

But time passes and people want planes and I aim for them to have planes so the corner of the kitchen that so deserved a corner cupboard was occupied with an iron baker’s rack that I really didn’t like at all, but due to my stubbornness about the corner cupboard we were forced to live with it.

Recently our youngest moved into an apartment. When we finally settled down from the celebration of finally having an empty nest we had to decide what he was to take and what was to be left behind. We decided he should not take the pine corner cupboard to his new digs. I cleaned out the corner cupboard and went over the outside with a dark scratch cover liquid which in this case actually accentuated all the nick, dings and scrapes the soft pine cupboard had received in it’s years of service.

The cupboard combined with a table that I also didn’t consider one of my better efforts now resides in our kitchen and I have to admit I was wrong this entire time. Both pieces look very at home in their new location. Julie resisted the temptation to say I told you so, but I certainly would have deserved it.

Furniture is part of life. Especially when you’re talking about pieces made by someone in the family. Woodworking is a journey and those pieces that you’re not so proud of are part of that journey and were a necessary part of getting you to where you are now in your woodworking skill set. Don’t be embarrassed. Celebrate the journey!


Ron