Like a lot of hand tool woodworkers, I wonder what it would be like to work wood in a time where mastering wood and tools was an essential skill to survival and success. After a few moments of reverie, I quickly thank my stars that I was born in the 20th century.
I am legally blind. Really. My vision is terrible. One time I let my eyeglasses prescription lapse, and then even with my glasses on I was considered legally blind (the diagnosis of the optometrist). Eyeglasses weren’t tolerated in early woodworking shops. Wear glasses, and you were sacked. It was a sign of being old.
When I was 15, I contracted pneumonia. I was so sick that I can remember clutching the rubbery bladder of my water bed (please don’t ask) and wishing I were dead. Had I been born before antibiotics, I probably would have gotten my wish.
I could keep going. When I was a kid, my front teeth stuck out like I was holding two little communion wafers between my lips. I have the upper body strength of a jellyfish. I got chicken pox twice. In other words, Natural Selection has been trying to weed me out of the garden for a long time, and it has only been through the grace of technology that I am still here and able to work wood.
So anytime I start thinking about how cool it would be to live in the time of Duncan Phyfe, I think how cool it is to be breathing right now.
Our new book “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” paints a rather rosy picture of an apprentice’s life in a shop, and co-author Joel Moskowitz has tried to balance it with accounts of how horrible some apprenticeships were.
And I have tried to balance the narrative by remaining alive, even though by the 19th-century perspective, I should be dead or – even worse – the village idiot.
— Christopher Schwarz
Chris,
All I can say is it is a good thing we are not from the same village as there is only room for one village idiot so one of us would have to go!
Mike
I’m right there with ya Chris. Philosophically I would love to have lived in the 18th or 19th century but truthfully I wouldn’t have made it past age five due to eyesight, genetics, etc.
Natural selection can be so cruel . . . . 😉
Hey Chris;
Being legally blind as well, I have found that it has its good points and bad.
On the down side, the worst of it is depth perception, a lack of which forces me to clamp stops along a cut line to ensure I hit it with the business end of a chisel.
At the top of the list of good points, though, is that I discovered a correlation between my eyesight and the number of beautiful women I see on my walks around town. As the former goes down, the later goes up.
Like everything else in life, it all balances out in the end.
Peace
Not to scare you, Chris, but I had chicken pox when I was eight and then got Shingles when I was 28. Having the former doesn’t necessarily exclude you from the possibility of having the latter. So, given your prior medical history, if you ever notice a rash start on your left side that quickly spreads to your stomach and your spine, you should get to a doctor within 24 hours. Just something to be aware of…
That said, I’m quite pleased you’ve been able to stare Darwin down thus far. You do good things, Chris, if not for the world then at least for the world of woodworking.
Looking back at that time, we might think it was bad. But look at it from their point of view. The scientific method was well underway, there were very enlightened people publishing good works of literature. But most important, they could see how much their lives had improved over the previous centuries.
Looking forward to buying the book in October; purchased your handplane book and have already learned much and not even through reading it.
Regarding past historical periods. History is one of my hobbies and I have often thought of which aspect of each period I would like to be true today; age of square rigged ships is my favorite and has lots of woodworking. I invariably conclude with St. Paul that no matter what faith, hope, and love (love as in the latin caritas) is the best for any period and further that we keep a ‘sense of wonder’. The ‘sense of wonder’ drives us to discover and to create.
Thanks
Chris,
The perspective you offer in this post is especially timely with the news that James Krenov has just passed away.
Indeed, we stand on the shoulders of those who’ve gone before us.
Rick
Mike, great point!
John
Sometimes I think how great it would be to be a woodworker in the 18th century. And then I remember that they probably didn’t allow chicks in the shop. Ah well.
I have just read Rick’s comment on James Krenov death. I am unable to get any information using any search engine. There is nothing on jameskrenov.com. Can someone verify this information.
I am finally fully recovering from months of suffering a debilitating condition. I lost so much weight and I am only recently being able to walk, run and play with my kids.
We should all be grateful to be allowed to live our modern lives which greatly enhances our chances of survival.
Yes, James Krenov is rumored to have passed away yesterday.
This news is going to shake the woodworking world to its core. Farewell, James.
http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/handtools.pl?read=140270
James Krenov did indeed pass away on Wednesday night, 09/09/2009. He too, towards the end, was legally blind. He was grateful to discover how well he could work by touch, and he created many of his planes in this manner. He worked up until a few months ago. He was 88.
Dear Tina,
We all owe so much to your father. It is impossible to express the inspiration and passion he has spread to so many generations, myself included. His legacy will live on.
My condolences to you and your family. Thank you for sharing.