Comments on: The legacy of one woodworker http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/ A chronicle of woodworking and furniture design Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:00:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark (The Craftsman's Path) http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/comment-page-1/#comment-244 Mark (The Craftsman's Path) Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:36:51 +0000 http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/#comment-244 Ethan, Thanks for the comments and the nice story about "Pops". You did an admirable thing in helping out his wife and I'm sure that you'll carry on his legacy well. It's kind of profound how much certain individuals can influence us - sometimes we don't even realize their influence until they are no longer there to do so...I guess that's what a legacy is all about. --Mark Ethan,

Thanks for the comments and the nice story about “Pops”. You did an admirable thing in helping out his wife and I’m sure that you’ll carry on his legacy well. It’s kind of profound how much certain individuals can influence us – sometimes we don’t even realize their influence until they are no longer there to do so…I guess that’s what a legacy is all about.

–Mark

]]> By: Ethan http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/comment-page-1/#comment-243 Ethan Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:57:48 +0000 http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/#comment-243 Mark, Sorry for the late comment... I found myself reading through some of your older blogs after your latest one you linked to on Lumberjocks... One of my woodworking mentors, a man everyone called 'Pops', passed away last year and his wife asked me to help her evaluate, value, and price most of the tools in his shop. It wasn't an easy task, emotionally or otherwise. Afterwards, she asked me if there was anything from the list I might be interested in having. The first project he ever helped me make was an osage orange carving mallet, based on one he had (a lignum vitae mallet). I bought his old lignum mallet (one of the finer examples of a lignum carver's mallet I've seen, I might add) for double the price we'd agreed upon because I knew she was having financial problems. I also ended up buying his bandsaw a few months later. It is a Rockwell/Delta - not the best Rockwell has ever put out, but after a bit of tuning and some replacement parts, it runs great for what I need. Both items will stay with me for as long as I do woodworking and I think of him often as I use these tools. I hope I can help carry on Pops' legacy through my own woodworking and then, ultimately, pass the knowledge I learned from him on to others. Thanks for the gift of a great post. Ethan Mark,

Sorry for the late comment… I found myself reading through some of your older blogs after your latest one you linked to on Lumberjocks…

One of my woodworking mentors, a man everyone called ‘Pops’, passed away last year and his wife asked me to help her evaluate, value, and price most of the tools in his shop. It wasn’t an easy task, emotionally or otherwise.

Afterwards, she asked me if there was anything from the list I might be interested in having. The first project he ever helped me make was an osage orange carving mallet, based on one he had (a lignum vitae mallet). I bought his old lignum mallet (one of the finer examples of a lignum carver’s mallet I’ve seen, I might add) for double the price we’d agreed upon because I knew she was having financial problems.

I also ended up buying his bandsaw a few months later. It is a Rockwell/Delta – not the best Rockwell has ever put out, but after a bit of tuning and some replacement parts, it runs great for what I need.

Both items will stay with me for as long as I do woodworking and I think of him often as I use these tools. I hope I can help carry on Pops’ legacy through my own woodworking and then, ultimately, pass the knowledge I learned from him on to others.

Thanks for the gift of a great post.

Ethan

]]> By: Mark (The Craftsman's Path) http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/comment-page-1/#comment-92 Mark (The Craftsman's Path) Sun, 11 Nov 2007 14:27:04 +0000 http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/#comment-92 Neil, Yeah, it was a good day. One that caused me to reflect a little on the philosophical side of the craft. --Mark Neil,

Yeah, it was a good day. One that caused me to reflect a little on the philosophical side of the craft.

–Mark

]]> By: Neil http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/comment-page-1/#comment-91 Neil Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:57:33 +0000 http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/#comment-91 Hi Mark: Sounds like you had a wonderful day along "The Craftsman's Path". Neil Hi Mark:

Sounds like you had a wonderful day along “The Craftsman’s Path”.

Neil

]]> By: Mark (TheCraftsmansPath.com) http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/comment-page-1/#comment-90 Mark (TheCraftsmansPath.com) Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:22:34 +0000 http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/#comment-90 Hi Doug, Thanks for your comments. I think that you were able to express my sentiments more eloquently than I. The legacy that I spoke of legacy is something that lives on in each woodworker that uses a tool, or learns a skill that is passed on from someone else - not unlike yourself with your books, videos and your blog. Maybe I'm just getting older and melancholy, but this feeling definitely struck me when I visited this gentleman's shop. I'll do my best to put the tools to good use and continue that chain! Your point regarding our children being consumed so many things that do not involve creating or building is one that I share. I'm doing my best with my own children to expose them to these things - but, as you know with the many distractions out there today, it is increasingly difficult. Thanks again for visiting and commenting. --Mark Hi Doug,

Thanks for your comments. I think that you were able to express my sentiments more eloquently than I.

The legacy that I spoke of legacy is something that lives on in each woodworker that uses a tool, or learns a skill that is passed on from someone else – not unlike yourself with your books, videos and your blog. Maybe I’m just getting older and melancholy, but this feeling definitely struck me when I visited this gentleman’s shop. I’ll do my best to put the tools to good use and continue that chain!

Your point regarding our children being consumed so many things that do not involve creating or building is one that I share. I’m doing my best with my own children to expose them to these things – but, as you know with the many distractions out there today, it is increasingly difficult.

Thanks again for visiting and commenting.

–Mark

]]> By: Doug Stowe http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/comment-page-1/#comment-89 Doug Stowe Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:02:23 +0000 http://thecraftsmanspath.com/2007/11/09/the-legacy-of-one-woodworker/#comment-89 I had a friend, Tommy Thomas, who was a retired art teacher from the Kansas City Art Institute. He was a great painter, a good woodworker, and it was the woodworking he truly loved. He came by one day with a gift of a complete set of Bracht mortising chisels. These were tools that had been given to him, and that he decided to hold out from the auction of the rest of his shop. He was dying of cancer. I went to his auction and bought a few things. Each reminds me of him, and as these things were old before he bought them, they remind me of an unbroken chain. That legacy you speak of is not something one man leaves, but something that passes through the lives of lose of us who love working with wood. It connects us each with the best part of what it is to be human. Each small decision we make connects us with and reflects higher purpose. At some point, my own shop will be distributed. If I am lucky, I'll know some woodworker in the neighborhood who will receive a complete set of Bracht chisels. But frankly, we are a nation of idiots. We spend millions of dollars on laptops so our children can be distracted and entertained instead of creative and engaged. If they are quiet in their rooms, we think they are OK. But they need to be pounding and hammering things in our shops, sawing, cooking sewing, and learning the highest values of human life. Doug Stowe I had a friend, Tommy Thomas, who was a retired art teacher from the Kansas City Art Institute. He was a great painter, a good woodworker, and it was the woodworking he truly loved. He came by one day with a gift of a complete set of Bracht mortising chisels. These were tools that had been given to him, and that he decided to hold out from the auction of the rest of his shop. He was dying of cancer. I went to his auction and bought a few things. Each reminds me of him, and as these things were old before he bought them, they remind me of an unbroken chain. That legacy you speak of is not something one man leaves, but something that passes through the lives of lose of us who love working with wood. It connects us each with the best part of what it is to be human. Each small decision we make connects us with and reflects higher purpose. At some point, my own shop will be distributed. If I am lucky, I’ll know some woodworker in the neighborhood who will receive a complete set of Bracht chisels.

But frankly, we are a nation of idiots. We spend millions of dollars on laptops so our children can be distracted and entertained instead of creative and engaged. If they are quiet in their rooms, we think they are OK. But they need to be pounding and hammering things in our shops, sawing, cooking sewing, and learning the highest values of human life.

Doug Stowe

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