Pathfinding & Breadcrumbs
Christopher Schwarz
Nov. 29, 2024
Step No. 1 when teaching a woodworking apprentice: The teacher must accept they are inadequate for the task. The craft is too vast. Their experience in it (no matter how much they have) is too small. As a result, apprentices need more than one teacher. About a dozen are required – at least.
One of the benefits and distractions of working here is the revolving cast of woodworkers who come to visit, teach classes and show their work. In 2024, that was Chris Williams, Roy Underhill, Whitney Miller, Matt Cianci, Peter Follansbee, Jögge Sundqvist and Rudy Everts.
As I write this Rudy is out in the bench room building a vernacular stick chair using greenwood, a hatchet and a drawknife. Kale and I have been filming the process for a forthcoming video, and it’s clear that Kale is smitten with the kind of work that Rudy does.
On Monday we cut down a tree and Rudy split out the parts on our shop’s front steps (the neighbors were amused). Kale has lots of questions, but mostly has been observing the process through the lens of a video camera, close-up.
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