Something God Knows

By Bobby Neal Winters

My formal education is in the topology of 3-manifolds. You don’t need to know what any of that is, but let’s just say that I spent a lot of my time seeing things in my head and a lot more time trying to explain those things to other people like myself without using pictures because the pictures can’t really be drawn. I did research in that area.  I learned things that only God knew before I did.

I am older now, and the topology of 3-manifolds is a part of my past--that was hard to write--but I find myself in a similar position.  I “see” things, but I need to try to explain them to someone. I don’t even know who.  If you are my audience, maybe you can tell me what I am trying to get at, but if you aren’t you might enjoy it or learn something.

Here we go.

I own some Narex Richter Chisels.  A couple of them.  This won’t mean much to most of you, but they are quickly becoming some of my prized possessions.  

I use them in cutting dovetails.  

Cutting dovetails is a process.  And it’s more than just cutting the dovetails. “Cutting Dovetails” is like “Doing Dishes.” You don’t just do the dishes. You have to clean the countertop, wipe down the stove, clean out the sink, put the clean dishes out of the dishwasher, put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. 

And more. My wife will tell you I know most of this by observation from a distance, and that’s fair.

A chisel is a piece of sharp metal with a bit of wood on the end.  It is a knife you can use a hammer on. If someone didn’t know about chisels and woodwork, they might well take a chisel and use it as a sinker on a trotline. (Shudder.)

There was a song I remember hearing when I was small.  It had a religious tone to it.  Folks in the Northeast would say that it’s schmaltzy, but we’d have to say it’s corny, because we don’t know what schmaltz is.  

Anyway, the song is called, “Touch of the Master’s Hand.”  It was about an old violin going up for auction.  It was not attracting many bids until an old guy from the audience came up, tuned it a little, and then brought a beautiful song from it.  No one recognized its value until “the touch of the master’s hand.”

I learned what chisels are good for from an old guy named Paul Sellers who teaches woodworking on YouTube.

As with everything, there are schools of thought in cutting dovetails.  Some use a router to do it.  They do a good job of it too, probably better than me.

I belong to the hand tool school. But even in the hand tool school there are divisions. How do you make your marks? Do you use a jig or a t-bevel?  What do you mark with? Do you use a pencil, a pen, or a marking knife? What kind of a saw do you make your cuts with? A gent’s saw or a Japanese pull saw?

What do you do when it comes time to cut your waste off? Do you use a coping saw or a chisel?

While there are many who use a coping saw, I use a chisel.  A Narex Richter Chisel and a wooden mallet. In this, I follow the master Paul Sellers who I mentioned above.

So, while a chisel could be used by a toothless Redneck as a sinker for a trotline, there is this whole realm of human activity that makes it something more.

I am in the process of making a box at the behest of a girl I knew in school.  We are having our school reunion this summer; she’s seen my boxes on Facebook; she wants a couple for the silent auction.  

I am delighted to be able to do it.

She has asked in particular that I carve an oil derrick on one. This is not a political statement.  We were the McLish Oilers.  The oil derrick is the symbol of our school. 

I am in the process of making one right now.  The glue is dry as I write.  I need to sand it, shellac it, cut off the top, and then put on a hinge. The top and bottom are made from some leftover piece of pine pickets that I used to fix my wife’s porch swing.  The sides are made from some very nice wood that my father-in-law left when he died.  I don’t know what kind of wood it is, but I cut my best ever dovetails from it.

I am now in a place where I see things in my head, but I can make some of those things exist in the real world.  I can talk about them to a less select audience than I did when I was doing research in 3-manifolds.  When I do make the things I see in my head, I can share them with friends.  I can give them away. 

I can give my thoughts away.  I can give pieces of myself away. Giving things away to people who enjoy those things has always made me the happiest.

I guess that’s one of the most important things I’ve learned in my life. God knew that before I did.  I think some of you know that too.

Bobby Winters, a native of Harden City, Oklahoma, blogs at redneckmath.blogspot.com and okieinexile.blogspot.com. He invites you to “like” the National Association of Lawn Mowers on Facebook. Search for him by name on YouTube.