Licorice on the saw

Jessica Helfand at DesignObserver posted today about thinking through making.

I know from my own experience that when I'm tired of fitting ideas together in my head, fitting them together in the wood shop works. The sight of tissue-thin plumes of Sycamore, Cherry and Oak curling upward from a perfectly tuned hand plane is simultaneously physically calming and mentally engaging. The ideas usually spill out, and yet I rarely feel hurried like I can when the mind, uncoupled from the hands, races ahead seeking something firm to rally around.

Though I don't draw or model before I build, woodworking has its own sense-making experience akin to the drawing Jessica mentions. Thinking through making is just right sometimes.

Did you know that aged and reclaimed Oak has a spicy aroma when it's reworked? Or that green Cherry smells like licorice on the saw?

Wayne