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Thread: NOW, I get it! A moment of neander nirvana

  1. #1

    NOW, I get it! A moment of neander nirvana

    Yesterday, I had neander nirvana.

    After doing a dental presentation for two large groups of second graders, I went to my workshop for the first time in months.
    I found my Craigslist unidentified Japanese hand plane...
    There was my sushi chef friend's parent's 30-40 year old cutting board (3 feet x 16 in x 2 in thick slab of wood) that was warped about 14 mm each side.

    I figured...what the heck?

    A few hours later, I got the board in usable shape.
    It was really amazing to see pitted, fuzzy, uneven wood start to look better than new!

    All I used was the no-name plane, a Mujinfang polishing plane, and a stray fretboard blank as a leveling stick...and a Blum workbench and bench dog...no router sled. No electric planer. No micrometer. No apron. Not much noise or dust. Just glorious shavings. My dust control was a broom and a horsehair brush...and the winds of freedom.


    Now I totally get it.

    -Matt

    ps. Thanks for putting up with my silliness in the meantime. Stressing over what steel, what's cheaper, etc. Most of my former posts were pretty pointless.

    pps. What do you guys find as your moments of Neander nirvana?

  2. #2
    For me it's the sound a plane makes as it's taking fine shavings off a piece of wood. Lovely, and really hard to beat.

  3. #3
    I still have them more and more: Two days ago I was struggling with how to put a 7 degree taper along the face of a 7/8" board. Planer sled? Upright on the table saw? Before I could say "featherboard" or "doublesided tape" I had the piece on the workbench, marked, and jointed with a #7.

    The biggest moments of revelation are realizing that "this isn't exactly 7 degrees? No matter, I'll just plane the mating pieces to match".

    Sneaking up on the fit feels so much less stressful to me than machine set up. I still do both.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    A big one for me was realizing that what I thought was “sharp” was really only “not so dull” once I learned how to sharpen well. I slogged along with SiC paper on glass for a few years and it was such a PITA I found myself accepting mediocrity in the condition of my edge tools. Once I learned better technique & later switched to water stones the light bulb really came on.
    Another one was when I completed our dining table a few years ago. The build wasn’t entirely hand tools only, but the majority of the joinery was cut by hand. It’s not perfect. But it came out nice and (most importantly) my wife loves it. It taught me that I don’t need .001 precision to build something aesthetically pleasing and perfectly functional.
    ---Trudging the Road of Happy Destiny---

  5. #5
    The first time I got my plane perfectly dialed-in and sharpened well enough to get shavings that were 0.003" thick. I usually get better now, but I get the same thrill every time.

    Another nirvana comes on those still-rare occasions when my dovetails fit sweetly right off the saw.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  6. #6
    Dude, I still need to do my first real dovetail or mortise and tenon.

    A part of me wants to just go to ikea and buy a desk (since I really need one).
    Another part of me wants to laminate a top, through dovetail the ends, and make a trestle base.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Lau View Post
    A part of me wants to just go to ikea and buy a desk (since I really need one). Another part of me wants to laminate a top, through dovetail the ends, and make a trestle base.
    Why not build your desk, but simplify construction? Buy a laminated top (here's one example) and make a base using simple joinery. Build it in a way that you can slide a couple 2 drawer file cabinets underneath. This will be more satisfying than Ikea, without killing you on time or skills. Later, after your finances and skills allow, build the magnificent desk you deserve for all your hard work.

    If you take it in small bites, you can do this Matt!
    Fred
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    For me it is success over challenging circumstances, not always on a grand scale but minor success and imrovrnents can really perk up the action. For hand tools, I think it does not get better than a Kanna in yellow cedar, if it does maybe pulling a big shaving with a wooden try plane.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
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    What do you guys find as your moments of Neander nirvana?
    About 25 years ago I was installing doors in our newly built house. My tool of choice was a Makita power plane ... you know, the one that sounds like a jet plane taking off. Tonic for the eardrums.

    Anyway, the blade was dull and it was the weekend and late, so the stores were all closed. I remembered my late FILs Stanley #3 lying on a shelf. Amazingly, for a plane that had not been used in many years and one I had never used before, it began to produce wonderful (so it seemed at the time) shavings, in silence (well, I thought I heard violins in the background ...). No turning back from then on

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    For me (at last the earliest I can remember) was the first time all 200+ pieces of a double-layered mentori sliding glass door with a kamahozo top rail joint came together without any hiccups. Nothing has scared me since.

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    For me it was discovering that I could finally saw straight enough "on autopilot" for 99% of joinery tasks.

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by brian zawatsky View Post
    A big one for me was realizing that what I thought was “sharp” was really only “not so dull” once I learned how to sharpen well. I slogged along with SiC paper on glass for a few years and it was such a PITA I found myself accepting mediocrity in the condition of my edge tools. Once I learned better technique & later switched to water stones the light bulb really came on.
    Another one was when I completed our dining table a few years ago. The build wasn’t entirely hand tools only, but the majority of the joinery was cut by hand. It’s not perfect. But it came out nice and (most importantly) my wife loves it. It taught me that I don’t need .001 precision to build something aesthetically pleasing and perfectly functional.
    Good point Brian. Recently I visited a clock museum and was admiring the beautiful pieces. As an intermediate woodworker I examined these fine pieces made by hand by skilled craftsmen over two hundred years ago. I was surprised ( & delighted ) to find irregularities I might find embarrassing on my ideal project. There were areas of end grain tear out, hand carved molding that got a little wacky, and arcs that strayed just a bit. It gave me the confidence to do more. Hand made, not machine perfect. While there are masters in this forum that exceed this level, I am glad to make furniture that most think is beautiful.

  13. #13
    Join Date
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    I love the sound of a plane when it is performing as it should...Usually related to sharpness and adjustment...
    Jerry

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly View Post
    Why not build your desk, but simplify construction? Buy a laminated top (here's one example) and make a base using simple joinery. Build it in a way that you can slide a couple 2 drawer file cabinets underneath. This will be more satisfying than Ikea, without killing you on time or skills. Later, after your finances and skills allow, build the magnificent desk you deserve for all your hard work.

    If you take it in small bites, you can do this Matt!
    Fred
    Thanks for the tip!

    My mom told me to just use our spare folding table, and focus on finding a good wife instead.
    I'll work on baby steps first (making a workbench, making a slab coffee table)...and work my way up.
    Maybe by then, I'll be married and "too practical" for this stuff. I hope I'll get to still do this.

    Anyways, I'll probably never do Stan's sliding door, but it's something to work towards.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Lau View Post
    Thanks for the tip!

    My mom told me to just use our spare folding table, and focus on finding a good wife instead.
    I'll work on baby steps first (making a workbench, making a slab coffee table)...and work my way up.
    Maybe by then, I'll be married and "too practical" for this stuff. I hope I'll get to still do this.

    Anyways, I'll probably never do Stan's sliding door, but it's something to work towards.
    Any woman that wouldn't want you to continue in this hobby is not wife material.

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