Uncharted Thoughts.

AI FREE ZONE

With the stress of everyday life, I have taken to the oldest and most pure type of work imaginable… woodcarving.

All my life I have been running towards a ‘proper’ job, something that wouldn’t break my back and would see me in some place of stature. I left the life of a tradesman behind when I was 20, and looked for something more ‘white collar’.

I was a bricklayer when I was 17-20. Completing the abysmal English apprenticeship scheme with the ability to make a garden wall and mix cement. A qualified bricklayer, who was unable to build anything over a meter tall, and had the skill of a drunken labourer. Shocking to imagine, but that’s the truth of it.

Now, at 31, with life pulling me in strange and unwelcomed directions, I decided to work with wood. I picked up a branch in my fathers garden and wondered what I would make from it?

Suddenly my mind was opened to countless ideas. A door had opened and my brain was itching to get at it.

So I decided to work on making a tobacco pipe for my soon-to-be father-in-law and fiancé. Neither of them smoke tobacco, but they do partake in other smokable herbs…

I thought it would be a nice gift to arrive in Canada with, something practical as well as creative and artistic. So I got to work, and although I am still in the process of making the prototype, I can honestly say it is unbelievably fun.

It is sad to think I never really considered trade as a job worthy of my time. I never look down upon a job, I’ve worked some of the worst believe me. Yet, I was somewhat pressured into reaching for something via academia.

The boat has never sailed, until it has, but at 31, with little experience with wood and on sites, I struggle to imagine this is a pathway I would be able to get into anymore.

I move soon to Canada, to the land of wood and maple syrup, and I wonder if there is still time for me to work on these ideas? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Anyway, no matter the situation over there, I think I have found a hobby that may last a lifetime.

As you can see in the picture above, I have chosen a branch, cut off the unnecessary attachments and removed the bark. I’ve measured out a rough outline of the drilling process and drilled the tobacco hole to the correct depth.

Next, I need to drill the smoke hole, extend the tobacco hole into a bowl shape with witling tools that I have yet to get hold of, sand and shape the pipe itself and varnish.

This is the prototype, and I have a few more attempts to make before completing the finished versions, but fingers crossed it all works out well.