IN LOVE WITH CARPENTERS

I’ve spent a bunch of time with carpenters this week and I’m like a schoolgirl in love. The wood, the hammers, the ex nihilo building up: really, I’ve got a thing.

First I spent time talking with Eric Petry, one of the kitchen conspirators, whose page can be found here. He’s got a total of 5 small silver hoop earrings, listens to NPR and Democracy Now! and waxes eloquent about the science of carpentry. Then there was hour after hour hanging around as Dick Baldwin rebuilt the front porch on our small rental property (ah, the life of a writer!). There was wood laid out on the sidewalk, fabulous power tools & small pails of whatnots & tubes of construction glue & the all-important levels & pencil passed back and forth between Dick and Chuck (a.k.a. “The Critter Gitter“), the guy assisting him.

Lessons learned this week about carpentry and life in general (don’t mind me if I’m gushing):

1. Everybody’s got a story. Eric came to wood via a music major in college and management of a 350-seat restaurant. Dick played professional baseball for a spell and was an ironworker, often on hazardous terrain, before carpentry called. He’s built stuff on an island off Georgia(?) as well as in the Caribbean. Within 10 minutes of meeting me, and despite the fact that he calls himself a hillbilly, Dick had some not-so-kind words for our ex-President. Folks, you just never know who you’re dealing with.

2. Carpentry is full-body work: it takes physical strength and stamina. Watching Dick Baldwin was like watching an entire hive of worker bees (on caffeine) at once.  Three months ago, he had hernia surgery and 2 days ago he was hauling lumber around. Carpentry is full-mind work: it takes critical thinking and tenacity of spirit. The hand must move in concert with logic.

3. Sawdust smells really good. It is the smell of purpose and creation.

4. Level, plumb, and square — so much of carpentry is about making things come together right: straight, sturdy, accurate. Dick didn’t go more than 10 minutes without picking up a level in order to track where each piece of wood was going in relation to the last piece.

5. As in mathematics, the carpenter is going for elegant: a minimum of tricks or unnecessary complexity. And like mathematics, this is problem solving at a high level. It just can’t look that way and therein lies its beauty.

6. Also as in mathematics, a pencil comes in very handy.

7. Carpenters are people people. They might spend most of their day working with inanimate wood & all the accoutrements, but holy mackerel! They gotta deal with customers who may or may not know what they want. They have to explain what they’re doing to folks who may not know a thing about level, plumb, square. (For the record, Eric is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met & Dick is one of the most entertaining.)

8.  Wood doesn’t lie. A lousy job will rat you out every time. So will a good one.

What a fabulous week this has been! All that sweet-smelling wood and fabulous conversation. It doesn’t get much better than that.

And p.s. — Eric works for Golden Hands Construction, but Dick is a free agent and available. I’m happy to make a match if you’re looking for a carpenter.