"He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist." – Saint Francis of Assisi
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There was a time when all men were fully capable of solving problems and realizing dreams with their minds and their hands. I offer you this video series where a fine gentleman does just that. Enjoy.
TTG
“Shipwright Louis Sauzedde shows how to build a work skiff.“
Thanks TTG, for this. I was reminded of a film made by a journalist friend on the dying art of boat-making in Kerala, India.
https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/mending-boats-with-music/
Thanks. This guy is good. I’ve built a few wooden boats and look forward to watching the rest of the series.
Although I am not a shipwright by any stretch of the imagination, my son and I built “Clownfish” an i550 plywood sports boat a few years ago. We both had time on our hands and needed something to do together. There is something special about sailing a boat you built yourself.
Website of a similar i550 project.
http://albanyi550.blogspot.com.au
Thank you. I needed this!
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”
This is probably the best quotation I have read for a long time. I wasn’t aware of it. Should I better check?
Am enjoying the series a lot. The guy is not only a master craftsman, he is a born teacher. I could listen to him for hours. I had a shop teacher much like him who imparted a great love or working with fine woods, something I did for no few decades afterward.
Including a few rather nice gunstocks; one of bird’s eye maple. Note, you have to keep your drawknife very, very sharp.
Episode 5, doweling the two pieces of the transom, brought back memories, especially the point of drawing the two pieces together with clamps. I have done it in cabinet work many times, but not in a long time now, and seeing it come into perfect union is one of the most satisfying moments there is.
PA
I am not sure that TTG had begun doing intelligence work in 1975. I was doing that kind of work but do not recall anything exceptional happening around then. To what do you refer? pl
As someone who is married to a finish carpenter who is also a naturalist, photographer and author, I just want to say “AMEN!” Be able to work with your hands to craft beauty requires a mind attuned to nuance.
In other nautical news:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a24015/zumwalt-breakdown-panama-canal/
She may smoke but the Admiral Kuznetsov at least runs under her own propulsion.
LG,
Very interesting film. It’s a shame to see these old ways going. I think it was last year when I saw a documentary about a British ferry captain who spent time with the family of an Indian owner of a small boat similar to those in your friend’s film. He was using his boat as a river ferry running the dangers of the big boat/ship traffic on the river. The British ferry captain learned how to handle the Indian craft and engaged in the ferry business just to see if he could. It might have been on the internet rather than TV.
That i550 is quite a boat. It just smells of speed and state of the art design, but it’s wood. My first boat was a 13 foot canvas covered kayak built from plans in a Popular Mechanics magazine. A friend and I built two with scrounged scraps of plywood, ironwood saplings harvested from the woods, canvas “borrowed” from a factory store room and house paint found in the cellar. They were so much fun.
Pacifica Advocate,
In 1975, I knew nothing of intelligence. I was still a frat boy fueled by Molson’s Golden Ale. I didn’t enter the intel field until 1988. I have no intention of committing my life to a book. I have way too many skeletons that I want to stay in the closet. Not everything is subject to a statute of limitations. I am, however, interested in your observations about Asia, along with others living in that part of the world. Unless the Colonel beats me to it, I may write something about it. It will be more a series of questions since i am no expert on the region.
I am reminded of the words of Alex Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals. Years ago, in response to a question about a possible injury, he answered, “Russian machine never breaks.”
Pacifica Advocate
You did not tell us which “transcripts” you consulted to understand the Glaspie-Saddam interaction. Nor did you tell us what “re-organization” of the US IC took place in 1975. pl
“Nor did you tell us what “re-organization” of the US IC took place in 1975.”
Maybe he is talking about the Church Committee and its aftermath?
Building the boat is more interesting.
CWZ
The Church Committee? I do not remember a re-organization that resulted from that. What I remember is a number of restrictions put on the clandestine HUMINT people as to who they could NOT recruit as assets. pl
a bit late for the formal Thanksgiving but why not give thanks for the pleasure that craftsmen and their work give us? They have the skill. If we are lucky we have the appreciation. Not everyone has it.
After many years in woodworking and carpentry, the beauty of this guy for me is that he works so intuitively. He’s as good as he is because he works with the wood and the idea (and not a blueprint) and spontaneously discovers within the process innovations that continue to make him, and his creations better and better.
Although I’ve never built a boat, I had to watch the entire series after a taste of the first video.