Passion, Age & Identity

"Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?"
— Friedrich Nietzsche

Passion is the mirror of identity and identity the mirror of passion.

Many people define themselves by what they do or how they relate to others - a mom, an attorney, a racer, a biker, a web designer, an executive, a husband, or an artist. And I would guess, that even those that might deny it most likely do so. This "self-identity" often contains more than one definition. Someone might see themselves as a racer and a dad, or an attorney and a biker or even an artist, a mom, and a biker. Actually, having many passions is healthy. (Too many might be a problem - gee never been there....) Intellectual pursuits, the pursuits of family, and physical pursuits, all in sync, are the mark of a balanced life and most likely a balanced person. Often these self-identities happen to also be our passions. Joesph Campbell in "The Power of Myth" called this following your bliss.

People are fulfilled and happiest when their passion is also what they do - be it a job or some athletic pursuit, hobby, or other things they spend their time on. Certainly, the pursuit of our passions fills us with deep satisfaction.

Sometimes age overcomes our passions - we change. Lost passion isn't necessarily a bad thing - sometimes we just move on. The difficultly comes in the letting go and not loosing our identities. I once defined myself as a climber - it was truly a passion. I still love it, but now it doesn't dominate my life. I've simply have other passions now, but I still am that climber and all that I learned is still with me. (see Recreating Ones' Self) Some people get lost when passion fades, and it does so naturally, just as it should. When this happens they suddenly don't know what they are, where they're going, and what to do. There is most likely some of this in a mid-life crisis. I would go so far as to say each new decade brings new passions - I guess the trick is learning to move on to new things while still keeping our personal perspective in place. That sense of who we are and where we're going is very central to everyday life.

It is also important that our passions define us in a healthy way. For example, some might define themselves by their beauty and as they grow old the vain attempt not to loose that identity presents the world with a sad picture indeed. I think it goes without saying that our passions need to be healthy. I'm really not discussing unhealthy pursuits - that's another topic altogether.

"One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested."
— E. M. Forster

"With out passion you don't have energy, with out energy you have nothing."
— Donald Trump

Painting by Tammi Brazee, Seeing Red 2006 (kind-of reminded me of many passions)

Night stand (final post)

Here's the final set -

Wikinomics

In the traditional business model a company dreams up a product, builds the prototype, develops the product through testing, accomplishes quality control and then brings the product to market. That paradigm is ending, or at least changing. This isn't just some new business theory - it a fundamental change in the way things are getting done. In the last few years, traditional collaboration—in a meeting room, a conference call, even a convention center—has been superseded by collaborations on an astronomical scale. Wikinomics is mainly about innovation and how web-based collaboration is driving it. Also, the book speaks to organizational dynamics and how the web is eating away at traditional hierarchies.

In the book, Wikinomics the , the authors document a new trend, a new way of getting things done that is changing traditional model in major ways. The word "wiki" means "quick" in Hawaiian, and here author and think tank CEO Tapscott (The Naked Corporation), along with research director Williams, paint in vibrant colors the quickly changing world of Internet togetherness, also known as mass or global collaboration, and what those changes mean for business and technology.



























In Google News I ran across a story about a new product Adobe is putting out called Photshop Lightroom 1.0. The software was freely available as a beta version for just over a year during which Adobe used its market; the professional photographer, to develop the final version. They called it a massive collaborative effort. While launching the new digital photography software, John Loiacono, senior vice president, Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe, has said, “It’s an unlikely scenario that professional photographers would moonlight as software developers,” adding further that “Fortunately for us, they were willing to give it a shot. Everything, from image viewing and evaluation tools to time saving editing features, was developed with the help of photographers. This was truly a collaborative effort and we extend our thanks to everyone who provided invaluable feedback to help us deliver a powerhouse professional photography tool.”

Wow, how's that for a new way to do business - allow the users to develop the product. The company saves most of the R&D cost, creates a better product, perhaps a cheaper product, and it's exactly what the end user wants. The beta version expires at the end of this month and the new version is available now.

This is an interesting trend and I recommend the book. Now only do you begin to see a new business model, but a new societal shift. (Witness Adobe in the news just today) For those who loved The World is Flat, but got lost in the global scope, Wikinomics focuses on our real-time world. Wikinomics focuses on the impact of recent technologies, and on the way business must conduct themselves for the future, if they want to thrive.

If you study this graphic a bit you can begin to see the power of global mind - wasn't there an old Star Trak about a race who existed in one body - a giant mind? I digress - here it is...

Night Stand (post ten)

Well, the night stands are done. I spent about two weeks finishing the pair. Here's the process in thumbnail - first, I mixed a aniline dye and thoroughly covered the entire piece, inside and out. After some sanding (because the water raised the grain) I coated the pair in a coat of varnish thinned with mineral spirits. This sealed the dye and allowed me to then rub in gel stain. I used a mahogany gel stain which colored the deep grain of the oak in an even, dark color matching the aged appearance of the original pieces I attempted to match. After this was thoroughly rubbed in I then put on 3 coats of poly. I put a few more coats on the top sanding between coats to level the surface.

After this was all complete I installed the hardware.

Night Stand (post nine)

The last remaining items to build are the drawers. Drawers require a quite a bit of material and thus a quite a bit of milling. For the sides, I took a large board of Alder and cut it into 1/2" thick sections to produce the sides and back. I used Poplar for the bottom. These had to be glued up because of the 16" depth. All this milling and gluing took quite some time.
I planned out how I wanted the dovetails to look and then cut each part just a bit larger than needed to fit in the drawer holes. Going back and forth between the stand and the work bench and using various hand planes produced pieces that fit exactly into each space. The drawers will have no modern slides so they must fit very precisely in order to work and not bind.

Once this was complete the dovetails were cut using a dovetail jig and a router.
















The end result looks like this.

















After all of the pieces are milled and fit and dovetailed the drawers were assembled. As usual, the bottoms of the drawers float as a panel and are not glued. Once glued, the drawers are final fit into each drawer slot until they slide nicely.

Next, to finish.

Night Stand (post eight)

It has been a few days since my last post, but I had some redundant work to do - gluing up the second stand. After I removed the clamps from the second stand I finished the tops routing a 5/8 radius on the underside and hand cutting a radius on the front corners. I then attached them to the stands. Next, I milled a some small blocks that attach to the top and fit into the dado milled into the sub-top.










They are shown above and loosely fit into the groove. These blocks will be screwed from the bottom to secure the top. The top then fits tightly, but can move without either splitting and cracking or tearing apart the joints below.

Next, the four doors. These are similar in construction to the rest of the stand - mortise and tenon construction with a floating panel; however, I used a thicker piece of wood and raised the panel putting the raised section toward the inside.






















The center stiles are half-lapped with a beaded edge run down the center. The center of the doors are cut at 2 degrees off of 90 so the doors don't bind when shutting. This all was done on the table saw and the router table. You might notice I have drawn exactly what I need to do the end of the center stile so it can't get screwed-up. After many steps it really sucks to mess up and have to go all the way back through to recreate the piece.





After gluing up the doors they are fit into each opening. There are a couple of things I can point out with the proportions of the doors. (you may have to click on the picture to see this) Notice that the bottom rail is the widest. Although, you may not realize it, a door with all of the rails and stiles the same width looks odd. Also notice that the center stiles are each much smaller, but together make up about the width of a regular stile. Next, I start the drawers.

Night Stand - glue up (post seven)

I had a list of about half-a-dozen items to finish before I was ready for a dry run for glue-up, one of which was to put a small bevel in the front legs. Both of the pieces I'm matching have such a bevel; although both are a little stronger than what I want to make. This is accomplished on the table saw with a small jig I threw together from scraps. After beveling the leg the cut is cleaned up with a hand plane.












With all of the pieces cut and all of the miscellaneous items complete I'm finally ready for the dry run. This is the fun part as I now get to see what everything will look like and how all my joints fit. One of the important elements of the dry run is making sure that I can fit, glue, and clamp everything in the order I anticipate. This is something that can get screwed up during the glue-up, so everything has to be just right. Here's the final stack. What's missing are all the drawer and door parts.


















Many of the parts are numbered and identified either one or two (I'm making two), but not all; so as I fit each piece I will note inside/down, etc... so I don't have any unexpected problems and so any defects in the wood face in. Glue-up needs to go as quickly as possible. It took about 45 minutes to get to this. Now to take it back apart and glue it up.























Here's what it looks like all clamped.























Now, the only thing that remains during this phase is attaching the sub-top. It gets screwed onto the end of each leg. I don't have to worry about wood movement so screws work well. These four screws will be the only fasteners in the stand (except for the hinges). Tammi and the kids are coming back tonight so I will go much slower now. Next, is to glue up the other stand and start and the doors. I also need to buy the hinges so I can make sure, as I make the doors, that everything will work.

Night stand - the details (post six)

The first chore for today was to remove the clamps from last nights glue-ups and clean them up. The wood seldom, despite your best efforts, matches up flush, so a hand plane cleans up the joint. Notice in the picture you can see where the boards joined at the edge, but not in the middle. That's the goal - here's the picture.







Next, the panel is trimmed to size and a tongue was milled into each side. This will become a floating panel - similar to a door or the sides. I used the tablesaw.


















In the following pictures you can see the panel as it fits into the bottom stretcher (it has the tenon on the end) and in the second picture the way the tenon fits into the same groove or dado that the panel fits into. I won't glue these up until I assemble the entire stand.















I also need to put the half-round profile on the under-top glued up yesterday. This is done on the router table. It is very simple - insert the bit, make a couple of passes and the job is complete.


















Here's what it will look like.


















Now, for some hand work. The bottom shelve will fit into a recess in the back legs. This is done by hand - well mostly, I did waste part of the cut with a drill bit. The square is marked out, the center is wasted with a forstner bit and the remainder is chiseled out. The shelve will fit into the hole.










This is part of the "stack" - I'll soon be ready to assemble! I won't make the drawer or the doors until the stand is assembled so I can fit the pieces. I have the rough sizes cut, but before I do the dovetails I need the drawer front to be the exact final size.

Night stand - parts and pieces (post five)

I cut a lot of various parts today and used mortise and tenons joints, but you've seen that so I'll skip the boring details. However, I did stray from traditional joinery this afternoon so I'll introduce that technique.

The furniture I'm patterning my design from both have an "under-top". It isn't a full piece of wood like the top is; it is just a frame that appears to be a base for the top. I milled the pieces for this "skirt". It is pictured to the right. This goes just under the top surface of the night stand, but it is slightly smaller.

Wood can be glued edge to edge and "top" to "top", but it can not be glued on the end grain so I have to fasten the pieces together using some mechanical method. More on that later, but now notice the groove or dado on the inside. I will use this dado to attach the top allowing for the top to move. I will show this when I get to it, but for now remember the groove.

A biscuit is a handy European invention that is now widely used to fasten this kind of butt joint. You can see it to the left along with the biscuits. These are small pressed pieces of wood in the shape of football. They come in various sizes for different applications. I am using the largest size. The idea is simple - a small blade cuts half-a football shaped groove in the end of the wood. Insert the biscuit and join a matching piece of wood; cut the same way in just the right spot, both up and down and left to right, to the first piece of wood. The biscuits expand, the glue drys and you have a very strong and simple joint.



Here is a biscuit in a joint. You can also see where I stopped the dado so as to not interfere with the butt joint. I wasn't precise with this cut and just make a rough mark. By the way, this dado is done on the table saw with a very wide blade that is adjustable in width. It is called a dado stack. I could have also accomplished it with a router, but it is harder to set up - the table saw is quick and easy.




























Here is the assembled piece. I will glue this overnight and use a router tomorrow to profile the edge. This actually is the first piece I have glued. I still am not going to assemble the entire stand,but I will start with some of the parts - I have to - there are almost 50 pieces stacked and taking up room!


















I also glued up some panels for the bottom, or "floor" of the stand. These boards are simply glued together on each edge after being joined on the joiner. A glued joint like this will crack and split the wood before it will break. This is in contrast to the end grain I just wrote about.

The Snow Storm

Well, here's the final damage. It may be hard to get an idea of exactly how deep. The largest piles are just slightly taller than I am. On the level the snow is just about waist high. We were spared from the last final one to two foot. The forecasters were calling for a second storm followed closely on the heals of the first. I'm not sure what happened, but it never materialized.

Night stand - the carcass comes together (post four)

The next items to make are the stretchers for the front. These separate the two drawers and the area with the doors. In modern furniture it is typical to have one at the top too, but the Victorian pieces have no top stretcher so I will not use one either. Mortises are first cut into each leg. This is accomplished on, of all things, a mortiser. Basically, this is a drill that cuts a square hold. Set-up takes a while, but once you get it going the holes go quickly. The depth of each mortise should be slightly deeper than the tenon. If you call it too close the shoulder won't sit tight against other member. This also leaves a small space of the extra glue that will be pushed in at assembly.






























Once the square mortises are cut they are then cleaned with a sharp chisel in preparation to receive the tenons. Next, I mill up the stretchers and cut the tenons on each end. The bottom stretcher is larger as a design element. This gives the base a sturdy feel and supports the wood on the bottom.
Although, it may look like I use only machines every piece get tuned by some quick hand work. These pictures show trimming the tenon so that it is just the right size and flushing the shoulder so it sets perfectly flush. I set the plane blade to remove .002 with each pass. Obviously, it is better to make the parts slightly oversize and then fit them. It is kind of hard to add once cut!






































WOOPS! I'm always ripping myself up with the hand tools!

















Now to check it out. This is the basic carcass hastily assembled without glue. That will be later.