{"id":10194,"date":"2013-10-10T09:33:04","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T09:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/?p=10194"},"modified":"2022-12-01T16:52:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T16:52:27","slug":"shape-wood-wants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/2013\/10\/shape-wood-wants\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the shape the wood wants to be"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"photoBirch smells amazing while it’s still green.<\/p>\n

It is easier than I thought, shaping half a log into a bowl. It is harder than I thought possible to finish a simple curve with a straight blade.<\/p>\n

Countless generations have carved necessary items out of wood. It was the material to hand, and a few good blades with a couple flat stones could be found in even the poorest houses. There is a certain feeling of chicanery in making decorative objects out of waste wood. Is my use of spare time and making a hobby out of spoons a mockery of my ancestors\u2019 need?<\/p>\n

But I can think when my hands are busy. My fingers learn through the strokes and grips, and I can see the object in a block before picking up the axe.<\/p>\n

I say things like: \u201cThis is the shape the wood wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s foolishness, but I know what I meant. It\u2019s hard to express in words on a screen\u200a\u2014\u200amy non-hobby, necessary job\u200a\u2014\u200athe essence of something my eyes and hands have learned as my mouth and keyboard are silent.<\/p>\n

Pushing and pulling steel through bits of tree gives me space to think and just be still.<\/p>\n

This post originally appeared on medium.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Birch smells amazing while it’s still green. It is easier than I thought, shaping half a log into a bowl. It is harder than I thought possible to finish a simple curve with a straight blade. Countless generations have carved necessary items out of wood. It was the material to hand, and a few good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-just-type"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/1d721-0xfv8chd019mkneqz_wbdcz6.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12970,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10194\/revisions\/12970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}