I'm a Carpenter

My assignment Wednesday: Build 3 new tables.

The other day, I saw one of the teachers cutting a huge flat piece of wood into square-foot squares, but he was doing it by having 2 boys hold the piece of wood vertically while he cut straight down with a hand saw. This didn’t make sense to me. So I suggested laying the wood on two tables with enough space between them for the saw blade. It worked. He thought I was genius. To me it was common sense, but he thought the idea was so wonderful, I must have learned it somewhere, and he asked where I learned that. Where else would a girl learn something about saws? I told him I learned from my father. He responded with “Oh, your dad’s a carpenter? Does he have big muscles?” Not knowing how to say “He likes to build things as a hobby,” I just said yes. Therefore Dad, just so you know, the people in my school think of you as a muscular carpenter. J

The next day when they decided they needed new tables, who else to call on but the carpenter’s daughter! They showed me the materials, we measured the legs with a protractor (I hadn’t seen one of those in ages), and I had my assignment. I was accompanied by another volunteer, Francesca, from England, who is here for the week. Together, we giggled our way through sawing table legs that needed to be shortened. I now understand why lumberjacks have two handles on their saws and one person on each side. It’s much easier to pull than to push those saw teeth!