My Journey in Writing, Ranting, and Woodworking

I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

      -Alfred Lord Tennyson’s

Some have attributed this to his poem In Memoriam: 27, from 1850, while others believe it was in response to his buddy Benny Smyth Esq., who had just asked him, after several pints at the local house of spirits, “AL, I need a good slogan to drum up some business for my law practice.”

To which Alfred responded, “Buy me a Guinness and I will write you some copy.  Any particular market you want to tap?” 

“I think the divorce business seems lucrative.”

“Consider it done!”

I am curious how much time A.L.T spent considering the words he had written.   Did anyone ask him for the specifics about ‘what’ was being lost?  Does it apply if she takes all your favorite toys?  Would it be the same if it meant you were going to be living in a van down by the river?  Would he still recommend the this ‘love stuff’, if he knew that his own library would end up being sold off by the bitter ex at a garage sale attended by all his neighbors?

If Alfred had thought it through, perhaps he would have written, “Tis better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all, unless of course, you lose the house, your truck, the bass boat, most of your self-respect.  Then I say, that love is over rated, and perhaps you should have considered a prenuptial?”

The point that I am trying to make is that you can’t trust everything you read.  For instance, had you read the blog from yesterday, you might be expecting some precise drawing of my plans for the new three in one jig, as that is exactly what I said I was going to work on.

Much like Bill Clinton, in a pack of free range interns with questionable judgment, I can’t be trusted.  I had every intention of doing some planning, but alas all I did was to pave the road to hell.  Instead I grabbed some wood and started cutting and drilling stuff until I liked it.  This is no way to approach woodworking.

I am disgusted with myself.  I am ashamed.  I am progressing nicely on the project and would say I am well ahead of schedule.  There was a piece of scrap left over from the router table project, so I used the wonderful drilling jig, which I now have, thanks to my neighbor.

I often digress, and this is one of those times where it seems appropriate.  I may have mentioned that I purchased 5 threaded guides from Rockler, for creating jigs to help drill straight holes.  Many of you will remember the router table leg hole drilling fiasco of a few months ago, and these seemed like the perfect solution.  When they arrived, with the Rockler catalog, which I talked about in a previous post, I excitedly showed them to Brian, my neighbor.  Brian is a much more experienced woodworker, than me, and he thought they looked pretty cool.  He then got out some space age measuring device, likely attained from aliens, and proceeded to explain that they needed something or other diameter, fine thread.

I didn’t know what he was talking about and assumed he was reciting something from the alien technology.  The next day he presented me with a cold rolled steel block with two perfectly threaded holes in it.  It has a weight to it that is very manly.  The inserts threaded into it perfectly and there is enough space to easily clamp that puppy onto chunks of wood.

So I used it last night as I needed two holes, ¼ inch, in my 36” piece of hard maple.   I measured carefully, as they needed to be exactly the same distance from the edge.  This piece is intended to be the guide for the rip sawing functionality of my jig.  So I measured each of the holes, carefully placed the jig, clamped it down and drilled.  I then repeated the process with the second hole and finally did a third hole that was more accurate than the 2^nd hole.  In the end, it works just fine.

After I finished the guide I threw myself into the router base plate guides, getting a fairly uneven set, which will need to be cleaned up a bit.  I am going to draw up some designs for the feet tonight.  Wait a minute; did I say that last night?  I may have.  I hope you have learned that whatever you read, especially from me, needs to be taken with a grain of NaCl.  Now back to work, or to snack.