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The Memories of Centuries Ago

Solar activity does more than steer climate cycles on earth – it alters the very make-up of the atmosphere. Solar storms, and the resulting cosmic radiation that strikes our planet, changes the ratio of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere. These specific isotopes are absorbed and locked away within the growth ring formed the year that a major storm took place. These carbon “markers” exist in other organic materials as well, and early artifacts – basketry, papyrus – that demonstrate the presence of these isotopes can now be dated precisely, all because of the exacting timescale laid down in ancient tree rings. Trees are the scribes of nature, “remembering” events in the physical sense: A tree takes again the effect of...

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A New Book About Ancient (and Awesome) Paint

Back in 2022, Michiel Brouns stopped by the M&T shop for a visit. Based in the U.K., Brouns is the proprieter of Brouns & Co, manufacturer of traditional linseed oil paint. And when Joshua and I met him, he gave us an education. Most modern paints are basically designed to encapsulate wood – to wrap it and seal it in a layer of petrochemical plastic. While giving the appearance of protection, like a leaky raincoat it creates more issues than it solves when things get damp. Now the moisture is trapped inside, in the wood, and rot is the inevitable result. Brouns has a distinguished background in historic building conservation, and he found himself aghast as he discovered, time and...

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A Closer Bond with Tools and Materials

I, too, have felt the need to question the direction that technology is taking us – to take a stand against the ever-increasing use of machines (especially of robotics) that are designed to remove humans from creative and productive work. I am “off the grid” in my shop and could, with enough solar panels and batteries, have all the power tools that most grid-tied shops enjoy. However, I feel strongly that without a change from our present growth-above-all mandate, we cannot reach a sustainable balance on earth, no matter how many wind generators or photovoltaic cells are employed. As right as it seems to embrace “green energy,” a field of solar panels is not as beautiful as a field of...

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The Risk is to the Object Itself

As he explains, the phrase “workmanship of risk” refers to any operation that does not rely on controls such as fences or depth stops to prevent the very real possibility of spoiling the job from cutting too far or incorrectly. This can easily happen with unguided tools when the maker lacks skill, his or her attention drifts, or unanticipated variables (such as sudden grain change) arise. The “risk” Pye refers to, then, is not risk of physical injury from using dangerous tools – the risk is to the object itself.          This mode of work is contrasted with the workmanship of certainty, which is “always to be found in quantity production, and found in its pure state...

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