Judy P's Tickle Trunk

….or I Did the Math. But that was yesterday so I need to do the math again. Sigh.

   How can you not love a fresh wood shaving. They are mysterious, fun, and most useful. They remind me of every version of Pinocchio I ever read. But mostly they remind me of my father. When I was a kid I would watch with wonder as Dad faired off the edge of a plank, amazed at how that wood cut away so effortlessly and slid through the tiny gap and, most marvelous, came out curly. I would scoop up a handful as quickly as I could before I was shooed away ( “Git outta ‘dat!”) and wind them around my fingers marveling at just how thin a piece of wood could be. I hung them over a doll’s head to give her luxurious blond curls, all to the music of the plane sliding swoop, scritch, swoop in steady rhythm as regular as breathing.

I spent yesterday planing down the sheer clamps in preparation for adding the decks. This was not the next step in the book but I wanted a day without epoxy so stepped ahead to the woodworking. I am certain that it took me a lot longer than the average boatbuilder but I enjoyed every second, planing and checking and planing and checking all the while listening to an audio recording of The Da Vinci Code and occasionally stopping to rest my arm and admire the river.

Yesterday’s view of the Mersey from the blue room.

It made me realize that the woodworking is the fun part of boatbuilding but, like any project, there are many parts to make the whole and not all are equal in enjoyment. It amazes me that when I look a the boat I can hardly see any difference after two hours of work but there are tons and tons of shavings as evidence. Did I really say tons? Maybe only a half a ton.

And what is useful about shavings? They make great tinder. I have already gathered a basketful and put them by the fire. The evenings are getting cold enough now that I will be wanting a nice fire on the hearth.

By the way, I started off by counting days in which I was actually working on the boat but somewhere along the line switched to counting the days the project has been in the works. I trust I won’t have to switch to months.

© Judy Parsons 2014