Popular Woodworking 2009-02 № 174, страница 6

—• Out on a Limb *—

BY CHRISTOPHER SCHWARZ, EDITOR

The Map is Not The Territory

A

/ V college professor who taught Zen Buddhism once told me the following odd story about a test he gave to his students.

The test had only one question: "Explain the nature of Zen Buddhism."

All the students scribbled furiously for a couple hours to answer it - except for one guy. He sat quietly at his desk during the exam. At the end of the two hours he turned in his blue examination booklet.

Except for the student's name on the front, his test booklet was empty.

The professor thought about this for a moment and then gave the following grade: "A" for content. And "F" for grammar.

The process of learning woodworking is filled with odd dichotomies like this. On the one hand, you can read about woodworking for years and never take it all in.

And yet you will then know nothing of woodworking.

At the same time, it's troubling when you meet woodworkers who have been building their entire lives but have only a modest grasp of the complexity of the craft.

True story: 1 once met a career cabinetmaker in Indiana who showed me his work. When we were examining a pie safe he pointed out how the panel in the door had cracked. He mentioned that this was a problem he had all the time.

"No matter how many nails 1 use, the panel still cracks," he told me. "Big nails, little nails, nothing works."

Work itself will also give you nothing.

10 ■ Popular Woodworking February 2009

Last weekend we finished up our first-ever Woodworking in America conference (go to our web site for photos, stories and video highlights). There were a lot of lectures. A bunch of PowerPoint presentations. And reams of paper that explained everything from the price of an 18th-century chisel to the over-arching tenets of contemporary furniture design.

But what was really amazing for me was to hear the words, read the text and then see how the work progressed. When 1 watched Contributing Editor Adam Cherubini sharpen a chisel it was like kissing an electrical outlet. Wow. That's how he does it. It is simpler than I thought.

When I came home and tried it myself, 1 fumbled a bit. But after a few minutes it clicked. I couldn't say, however, if it was my studying, my observations or the act of sharpening that made the edge keen. It just clicked.

So here's the point: You need to do three things to really master a skill. Read about woodworking to understand the rules. Watch someone else do the task so you can see how fluid the body mechanics can be. And then do it.

But be prepared for your skill to come from some place undefinable.

As Juvenal, a Roman satirist, put it: "I cannot describe it, 1 can only feel it." PW

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Safety is your responsibility. Manufacturers place safety devices on their equipment for a reason. In many photos you see in Popular Woodworking, these have been removed to provide clarity. In some cases we'll use an awkward body position so you can better see what's being demonstrated. Don't copy us. Think about each procedure you're going to perform beforehand.