Woodworking & Writing: Learning Values that Last a Lifetime

WoodworkingLast year I finished a room in my basement. Starting from the bare bones, I added heating, electrical, drywall, wainscot, trim, and carpet. I also built a dresser, bookshelf, window seat, a bed, and picture frames over the course of the year. The journey alternated between frustrating, tedious, inspiring, tiring, and sheer joy in seeing the completed product. My neighbor, who is also finishing his basement, came by once to see it. His comment was, “Wow! That’s a lot of work!”

Some might question why I would take an already complicated task and further complicate it by adding so many other aspects. The answer is that I really enjoy building things. I love the challenge, the creativity, and the attention to detail it requires. On top of these, there is the unmatched joy of accomplishing something great, using only my skills and my mind. As such, I am always looking out for new ideas, regardless of if I have time available. Sometimes ideas come for things I need, like an entertainment center to replace the one that has barely survived my children’s tough love. Other times, I get ideas from pictures or furniture I see. Most often, my desire is

based on the price of a fantastic piece of furniture I find, because, to my wife’s dismay, I refuse to buy anything that I know I can build.

Reflecting on why I enjoy woodworking, I have realized that these reasons I love

it, namely the challenge, creativity, and attention to detail, are values that my parents strove to instill in me. These are principles that have been both explicitly and implicitly learned, verbally and visually. Working with wood has become a way to both express my values and create something lasting.

Woodworking—The ChallengeCrabtrees are known for their hard work. From an early age, my father helped me realize this with opportunities for chores, service, and sports. Weekends often began with a partially legible list on the kitchen counter detailing what work needed to be done, accompanied by a deadline for

By Todd Crabtree

Before and After: From the bare

bones to finished product.

its completion. I often tackled these tasks begrudgingly, but they were almost always

completed.

As I got older, I had the opportunity to work with my grandfather, building a home for my aunt and uncle. He would pick my brother and me up in the morning and drive us out to the jobsite, humming to himself the whole way while we jockeyed for position in the front seat of his truck. Once at the site, we were given tasks and expected to complete them quickly. Sometimes tasks were completed too quickly and walls would have to be removed and relocated to their proper place. This was my first real hands-on experience with building, teaching me skills that have translated to my current love of woodworking.

At my grandfather’s funeral, the program contained his favorite poem. It was a wonderful expression of who he was and what he stood for. Reading it becomes the verbal translation of the wonderful

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example he was to me. It is called “Stick to Your Task” by an anonymous author.

Stick to your task till it sticks to you;Beginners are many, but enders are few.Honor, power, place, and praiseWill come, in time, to the one who stays.

Stick to your task till it stick to you;Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it too;For out of the bend and the sweat and the smileWill come life’s victories, after awhile.

The challenge of woodworking is in getting the job done right, sticking to it until it becomes a part of me. The process starts with an idea, usually an image of what I want, and a rough plan on how to accomplish it. Transforming that vision into a dresser or bunk bed often requires long hours of sweat and frustration, often laden with trial and error. I have learned that the more trial and error I can mentally overcome, the better the project ran. This mental work was sometimes counter to the Crabtree way, plowing through the job until it is completed, but when I was in high school, my father taught me a another valuable lesson about improving the Crabtree way.

Discussing how he had been raised, my father said he had been taught to work hard, something he was grateful for. But he also realized that working the hardest was not always the best way. He emphasized that I would be much better off to learn to work harder and smarter. By thinking through the process, doing the difficult work mentally, I would be able to still work hard with less of the frustration of repeating tasks to get them right. By creating an environment that lessened frustration, I could concentrate more on my favorite part of the process: the creativity.

Woodworking—The CreativityCreating an entire room out of a mental picture of what the wainscot and window seat would look like required a great deal of problem solving. A picture does not detail the exact measurements needed to

I find that I enjoy woodworking projects most when there is little in the way of a set plan to follow. Checking tasks off a blueprint has never appealed to me. Being able to embellish and modify the overall plan in the heat of the moment refines and improves the result. It also keeps my mind engaged, constantly looking for ways to improve and learn, becoming more efficient through experience.

Woodworking—Attention to DetailWhile creativity may be the most important aspect of a project, attention to detail, if done right, will often go unnoticed. This

behind-the-scenes work is frequently tedious but critical. Much like poor proportions can ruin the overall project, poor finish work will outshine any amount of hard work or creativity I could have put into a piece of furniture. In woodworking, this

part can drag on, adding hours, days, and even weeks to the project. I spent so many hours applying caulk to every single seam in the room to ensure that cracks or holes would not detract from its beauty.

cut a board to length or the spacing of the rails. The translation process entails a mental agility, a freedom to explore, weighing the pros and cons of the best functional size of a dresser drawer with the visual presentation that size will offer the casual viewer: do the proportions blend cohesively or highlight the battle for prominence between the drawer and its frame? Do they match the wainscot? This creative process is what will make or break the overall job. If I cannot interpret my vision into a unified form, my project will be a failure.

The ability to infer a balance between shape and form, color and size was inherited from my mother. She has always had an eye for what looks right together. Spending time as a young man watching, and sometimes getting dragged into, her projects, I was able to practice and build upon that gift. It might not have been the coolest thing for a teenage boy to participate in, but I am very grateful for it now.

INSET: The wainscot that started it all. BELOW: The dresser drawers take their design cue from the wainscot, matching the pattern’s idea without competing for prominence.

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I learned an attention to detail from both of my parents. I have relied on my father to give me an honest appraisal of my work. This helpful critique lifts my efforts to a higher plain. My mother’s example is more visual. I can recall countless times seeing her pour over a project, checking every detail, long after I would have given up. Their examples have helped me to understand the importance of sticking to a task to the end, until it has stuck to me, become a part of me, and I am no longer satisfied with anything less than my best effort.

Woodworking—The Completed ProductSheer joy. That is the best way to describe my feelings when the room was finally done. To see how a picture in my head had become a physical, permanent testament to the many hours required to bring my creative vision to life made the journey well worth it. This room has become my favorite in the house, a place I go to study and read. But often I find myself just looking at the cohesion of the wainscot, the bed it inspired, and how the pictures complement the room perfectly.

WritingAs I have arrived at the end of my experience at BYU-Idaho, I have reflected on my growth while here. As I have pondered my development as a writer, the correlation between the processes of writing and woodworking have helped me better understand what I have learned about writing

and how I approach the writing process. Taking an idea and working to create the physical manifestation of it is the same in both processes.

Writing—The ChallengeThe challenge in writing is in getting the idea from my head to the paper in a way that effectively explains my thoughts to the reader. Ann Berthoff taught, “We

know reality in terms of our idea of reality” (44). Effective writing requires that we translate our reality into a form that coincides with another’s reality but still remains

our own ideas. In woodworking, that idea is translated in creating something that will be accepted as useful and beautiful. In writing, that translation is in using the right genre to explain a topic effectively to a real or imagined audience.

This translation using the correct genre requires practice, trial and error, and critical feedback. Donald Murray, writing for College Composition and Communication, noted that map-reading is a complex cognitive task that can only be learned in the field (141). Like map-reading, writing is best learned in the field, through the practice of trial and error. Feedback gives a writer an idea of what is working and what needs improvement. Experience is often our greatest teacher.

James Moffett, also in College Composition and Communication, taught that it is through trial and error that we best develop

the judgment and taste n e c e s s a r y

to have the power that can come from using your personal voice in writing. This growth through experience helps the writing process to become what Murray calls “…a practiced, learned act made spontaneous by experience” (248). As I discover my own voice, practice is required to bring it out in an intelligent, understandable fashion.

As I have progressed, I have learned that hard work is vital—start early and revise often. Each revision adds experience and confidence. I have seen this transition in my woodworking projects also. As I gain experience, I find that I tackle increasingly more complex projects with confidence. In writing, as in building, I know I will make mistakes but I also know that I will become more skilled in the process.

Writing—The CreativityIn writing, as in woodworking, my favorite part is the creative process, building something lasting out of an idea I feel passionately about. And much like my woodworking style, my writing starts with a rough outline and is developed and refined in the process until it appears, closely resembling the idea from my mind. I have learned this freedom to explore is critical for my voice to come through. Following a set pattern always provides predictable results.

Sheer joy. That is the best

way to describe my feelings when the

room was finally done.

Attention to Detail: The finished wainscot, with matching picture frames. Art by Laurie Maitland.

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Mike Rose, in a study titled “Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans and the Stifling of Writing, said, “The students that offer the least precise rules and plans have the least trouble composing” (qtd. in Britton 64). For me, this process is aided by relatively late foray into writing. I am

an accounting student who wanted to learn how to write better. Any of the rigid rules I learned long ago in my early composition classes have fled my mind. I use writing as a form of self-discovery and expression, aided by feedback from prior attempts.

I used to view writing as an art, an innate knack for putting words on paper with rhetorical flourish. While there are those with a talent for writing, it can also be a learned behavior, a talent I can develop. Aristotle argued that writing is an art because it can be taught by artists who know the theory and understand the causes for themselves (qtd. in Young 179).

In woodworking, I have found that more than a talent for the act itself, I can use logical reasoning to find deduce how to create the vision I have. So it is the same in writing; I use what I know about the logical progression of an argument, coupled with what I have learned, to transfer what roams my mind to a concrete structure on paper, static and permanent.

Writing—Attention to DetailIn Less Than Words Can Say, Richard Mitchell says that the only way we can judge a writer is by the words they leave on paper. His point is that attention to detail, or the lack thereof, indicates the writer’s level of precision. Correctness

and precision are learned traits. The only excuse for not c o n f o r m i n g to them is not being interested in learning them (Ch. 6).

My editing training has had a profound effect on my writing. I have learned that, like a finished piece of furniture, if proper respect is paid to the details, they will go unnoticed at first glance. The reader, or admirer, will be focused more on the message than the inaccuracy of the presentation. This process often entails sticking to it through countless revision, until the product is parallel to my perfecting standards.

Writing—The Completed ProductA completed work brings another form of joy, usually preceded by relief. Constant revision requires much of the writer because effective writing is a powerful form of self-expression. How can I prune and eliminate the physical form of my experiences? They are all important to me and have made me who I am. Revision requires an objectivity that I lack; hence, my papers inevitably become lengthy.

TOP: From an idea to an entire coordinated room. The custom-built bed matches the wainscot pattern. BELOW: The idea continues into the window seat, using the wall color to frame the window opening.

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ConclusionThe correlation between woodworking and writing has helped me understand that both are processes to help me become a better man, the embodiment of values that my family holds as important. The process of working hard to creatively meet challenges, in the most accurate manner possible, is helping me develop the qualities to be an “ender” and not just a “beginner.” I have learned that it is the little steps that accomplish great things, life’s victories, after consistent effort. This is what is most important to me, more than the “honor, power, place, and praise.”

These are patterns for growth that I can continue throughout my life. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Man’s mind, once stretched by new ideas, never regains its original dimension.” Every time I embark on a paper or a new project, I come out the other side with a sense of pride in the accomplishment and the expansion of my experience and knowledge. This is what will be of the most benefit to my family and me. Being challenged, stretched, has taken on a new meaning, one of opportunity that I can use to bless others for the rest of my life. For that reason, I am eternally grateful for the lessons I have learned at home and in school. I look forward to many more.

Works CitedBerthoff, Ann E. “A Curious Triangle and the Double-Entry Notebook; or, How Theory Can Help Us Teach Reading and Writing.” Composition in Four Keys: Inquiring Into the Field (1996): 40-44. Print.

Britton, James. “Shaping at the Point of Utterance.” Composition in Four Keys: Inquiring Into the Field (1996): 29-33. Print.

Holmes, Jr., Oliver Wendell. ThinkExist.com: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Quotes. 2009: n.pag. Web. 17 July 2009.

Koestler, Arthur. Wisdom Quotes: Creativity. 2009: n. pag. Web. 17 July 2009.

Mitchell, Richard. Less Than Words Can Say. Little, Brown & Company, 1979. Print.

Moffett, James. “I, You, and It.” College Composition and Communication 16.5 (December 1965): 243-248. Print.

Murray, Donald M. “Teaching the Other Self: The Writer’s First Reader.” College Composition and Communication 33.2 (May 1982): 140-147. Print. Young, Richard E. “Concepts of Art and Teaching of Writing.” The Rhetorical Tradition and Modern Writing (1982): 130-141. Print.

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the pupil are located in the same individual. ~Arthur Koestler

Woodworking and writing have helped me understand what being an “ender” is all about.

In both, hard work, creativity, and attention to detail are non-negotiables. The culmination of thousands of little steps lead to a finished product I can be proud to attach my name to.

~KTC

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