Later post tonight because at the end of the day, I felt like all of my blood had migrated to my quads and ankles. I've never loved my yoga inversions so much. Everything feels much less awkwardly engorged now.

Sharpening might be the most important thing we'll learn, the foundation for all woodworking to come, but I like the making things part more.

I'm really excited now that I'm building the planes themselves.

I still think whoever set up the machine room is a secret bandsaw hoarder, but the bandsaws do cut ridiculously well: tiny kerf, minimal saw marks off the blade.

That being said, hand planing maple end-grain is still a bitch. I honed by low-angle block plane iron twice today. (That's after doing it yesterday.)

We used a horizontal hole-boring machine to drill the pins to help align during glue up, and also the pin to hold the iron and wedge in place. I like the technique a lot better than the drill press. I can actually set what's going on from above (but only when I use the shorter one).

As promised, I did try the hand-crank grinding wheel today. As expected, I butchered the factory hollow-grind. Jim helped me get the fix started. I'll admit it's a lot less intimidating than the grinding wheels I've used in the past.

My favorite part of today, though, was shop clean up. I don't know why I find the act of sweeping out the shavings (and taking out the trash to a dumpster that tried to kill me via head trauma) so soothing. It reminds me of the summer my parents made me go to school in Taiwan. (Yes, during my summer vacation.) The students cleaned the school every Saturday. The concept of a janitor didn't apply. It was your space, and with a sense of ownership and gratitude, you keep it clean. It's a nice way to wind down.

jess ouyang

day 2