The reason I make chairs is because I like to do it, therefore if I can do more of it I have more pleasure. I sell some chairs by word of mouth recommendation, by repeats or to friends or existing customers. In the last four or five years I have sold every chair I made. There are times when I could have sold more. Sometimes I don’t work as hard as I should. I still have no money, I’m always waiting for the next cheque, and I suspect I always will be, but I don’t worry. The difference between starvation and plenty is one chair.
— John Brown, Issue 28 of Good Woodworking magazine
A man happy in his work is a man happy in his life! What a great outlook!
The wheel never stops turnin’.
That photo reminds me of my childhood. When I was about 5 my grandmother died and to pay for her final medical care and funeral, my grandfather had some of the farm’s woods logged by pros. They set up a wooden road back into the woods (think a large set of pallets in the ground. The logs were pulled out by mules to the on-site sawmill. To this day, my mind merges the smell of mule manure with rotting sawdust. And they set aside the slabs in a large pile. For the next few years, my father and I would pull the hay wagon back into the woods and pull out a load of slabs. From there our tractor was hooked up to a 30″ unguarded circular saw powered by a large flat belt run off the tractor. My job was to hold the cutoffs as my dad tilted the table into the saw. I guess I never realized the danger at the time. The cutoffs were used to supplement the coal in the furnace that heated the house. A dozen years after I moved away, my dad finally bought a chain saw and spent time cutting trees felled by a tornado that went through my uncle’s neighboring property. By that time we had natural gas heat but a woodburning add-on furnace. During that time, he also worked as township maintenance and people would call him to come remove troublesome or fallen trees and haul away the wood. Great memories.
That’s a great story. Thanks for sharing!
I remember this piece by JB very well from the first time I read it, the way describes his life as a chairmaker in such a straight forward and unpretentious manner. At the same time one can derive a great deal of passion from it, as he keeps on doing it because he plainly likes it, even though it seems to be a hard life economically. This made a large impression on me and inspired me a great deal.
Thanks for sharing these articles. John Brown was my all time favorite. If my people followed his example the world would be a better place.
Living life on the edge of uncertainty keeps you in the moment and very creative.
I can’t wait for all of these articles to be re-published by you guys. Something so lovely and simple about his writing. And his name is John Brown which makes it all more comforting and digestible.