"Can't Have a Masterpiece Overnight"

One of my hobbies is woodworking.  I love the smell of sawdust.  I can tell the difference between the smell of pine and red oak, between cherry and Ipe (Brazilian hardwood), and maple and poplar.  The different smells remind me of different times in my life.

Pine rosin dripping from pulpwood reminds me of early mornings in the woods with a stick of pulpwood on my shoulder stumbling toward the truck to load the wood.  I can tell when a pulpwood truck passes the office.  It is an unforgettable aroma.

The smell of fir studs, braces, and headers being cut in the building of a house reminds me of all those homes I helped Mr. Bill Langston build.  Floor joists, ceiling joists, and plywood, being sawed emits another aroma that you know when you smell it that something new is being constructed and family begins life there in excitement.

The smell of a cabinet shop is unique.  I spent many hours building captain beds, baby cradles, cabinets, rocking horses, and dozens of other wooden creations for family and friends.  With every finished product came the want, they tried convince me the need, from friend and stranger to build them something.  They would brag and woo of my beautiful works of art.  Philip Gulley in his book Front Porch Tales says, “A man has to be careful not to let his hobby become his business.”

During an extended layoff from the cement plant, I had to build things to support my income.  In fact, my family peddled my crafts and bartered them at flea markets.  They did well until the economy turned bad. After that, I gave most of my handicrafts to folks as gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, or Christmas presents.

Woodworking is slow and tedious work.  You have to measure twice and cut once.  For a polished finish, there is much sanding and buffing.  You cannot hurry it or flaws will show and your work will be for nothing.  Woodworking is a good way to learn that doing something worthwhile takes longer.  That is something that a hurry up and want it now society cannot appreciate.  When you take the time to do it right, you have something to pass down to your grandchildren.

For some people it is hard for them to see the finished product.  My sister wanted me to build her a home entertainment center.  I went to her mobile home, this is important, to get the dimensions where she wanted it and how she wanted it to look.  My brother sells hardwood.  In fact, I had to call his office to see how to spell Ipe.  I got him to get the wood for our sister.  He gave it to her. 

I spent several days working on this beautiful piece of furniture.  I sawed, assembled, and sanded trying to get the perfect look.  My sister and husband stopped to see the piece.  It was nowhere near completion.  When my brother-in-law saw it, he said, “I don’t want that piece of junk in my house” (mobile home).

I admit I was hurt, just as a mother who has just been told that her baby is ugly is hurt.  I finally realized that my brother-in-law did not see the finished product.  I decided to finish the piece.  I continued to sand, stain, and polyurethane.  I stained it dark walnut and put three coats of Sears’ best semi-gloss polyurethane and it.  It was gorgeous.  I loaded it and carried it down to my sister’s house.  I’m sorry I mean mobile home.  We put it in. My sister did not know what to say.  I told here that I did it for her as a gift.  She did not owe me anything except for the materials.

My brother-in-law could not believe it when he saw it.  His family marveled at the workmanship and the beauty of the piece. He never said anything to me except how people bragged on his home entertainment center.  By the way, it covered a whole wall in his living room.  I never said it to him but my workmanship increased the value of his mobile home when he sold it.

Today’s craftsmanship is sometimes slapped together with people expecting it to last a lifetime.  I do not think that I have ever finished anything I ever built.  I say that because when I finished, I thought it could use a little more sanding here and little more polyurethane there.  I continue to rub stain, lemon oil, or Old English on pieces that I have finished from years ago.

The woodworking principle is true about life.  As Gulley says, “Folks get discouraged because they cannot become saints overnight.”  God has to do a lot of smoothing and a lot of finishing making us His masterpiece.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10 KJV).

Like the old songs goes, “He’s still working on me. . .”