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Will O'Connor
will@makegoodwood.com

This past May, as a gift to each other for our ten year anniversary, my wife and I returned to Bermuda for a week-long visit, revisiting the destination where we spent our honeymoon.

On the island, in St. George’s Town, there is a small historical chapel called St. Peter’s Church. Reportedly, it is the oldest surviving Anglican Church in continuous use outside the British Isles. The oldest parts of the structure date to 1620, and with centuries of repairs, renovations, and expansions to the structure, there’s lots inside to capture the interest of a woodworker. We had visited on our honeymoon and found ourselves walking up the steps to its entrance again.

What caught me on both visits was the doors. They’re not fancy. They seem to be made of Bermudian cedar, and they’re covered with a thick varnish. But what they have is something that caught my eye immediately… you can see into the joints.

The wide-spaced tenons revealed on these doors.
On other similar doors, the wall of the mortise was still in place.

The door was assembled originally with pegged mortise and tenon joinery (more on that later). But, over the years, it seems that some vigorous surfacing has worn all the way through the side wall of the mortises, revealing the tenons hiding inside. There’s a filler that needed to be tucked in to fill the void at the bottom of the mortise, but essentially, you get a clear view into the structure of the doors.

I want to come back to the joinery briefly as well... I found it  fascinating to see the choice made for two, wide spaced tenons in every joint. Sure, that’s not unique, but the benefit you get in resisting racking forces was surely on the mind of the craftsman, and of course, it's not long before I’m thinking about my own projects and where that might be helpful… like Alice, down the rabbit hole I go.

My wife notices me with my camera out, taking detail photos of the door. There’s a gentle eye-roll and I try to take her through the discovery. Later, she's tugging at my elbow in an effort to rescue the elderly woman docent from my “woodsplaining,” a term my wife has coined for this activity. We take leave and make our way towards the spot where we’re planning to get our lunch, a Bermudian fried fish sandwich on raisin bread. (Trust me, it’s delicious.)

Caught in the act of woodsplaining to an unsuspecting (but patient) victim.

When we were in Mexico City last year, we visited the Casa Azul, the home of Frida Kahlo and now a museum dedicated to her life and work. I took five photos on the day we were there, and four of them are woodworking related. Two of these—yes, two(!)—are not of any exhibit piece. They are of a little stool, there for the guard to rest their legs after long hours of standing. It wasn’t even that beautiful a piece… I loved the angle of the legs, the weight of it, the simplicity. You may have already heard me go on about how I love furniture that doesn't draw too much attention, that hides, and when that quiet piece is noticed, it reveals how well it's made or how functional its design is. This little stool had it all.

The little stool at the Casa Azul in Mexico City. So simple I couldn't ignore it.

More broadly though, woodworking, or craft generally, never stops when you put down the tools. I carry my thoughts around my work everywhere. But even more deeply, I think engaging in craft can unlock some key part of us, so that when we step away from our workbench, we can have a deeper view into our world, and most valuably, reveal the story of how it came to be the way that it is. 

And for me, standing and staring into the uncovered mortises on the doors of St. Peter's Church, "Their Majesties Chappell", I found a story compelling enough to share. 

Or, woodsplain, as my wife would describe it. 

–Will

Joe Samalin
info@nihonsantools.com

Hey folks! For those of you who can join us Thursday this week from 6-8 pm you will get to see a slew of new tools we have available at Nihonsan. We have collaborated with a new vendor to offer higher quality chisels, saws, and more. These include hardwood specific kataba, ryouba, and dozuki, different size saws, chu-tataki chisels (larger beefier chisels for heavy duty work like timber framing, etc.), blue steel chisels, scraper bars, and more. Come check them out!

New stuff!