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Scratching an Itch Part 3: The Final Product

So here's how the shelf turned out. I wish I had access to more power tools! I would have done a little more joinery...

Scratching an Itch Part 2: The Finishing

Muwahahahaha! I deliberately made the title of this post sound like a cheap horror movie. "The Finishing." But I digress. Here are a couple of up-close pics that I took during the finishing process. Rough sawn cedar tends to have really cool knots like these. I'm currently on my second coat of linseed oil... that might be enough... I hit the shelf with 220 grit, and since linseed oil's not water based (if it was, the grain would get all splotchy with black marks!), the grain hasn't risen at all. Two coats should be enough!

Scratching an Itch

I haven't made a piece of furniture, even a crude piece, since I was in college. I started to get antsy for some "lung fiber," as the boys at Hill Country like to say (that's just another way of saying "saw dust from sanding so much"), and decided to start making a rough sawn cedar shelf for zazen in the washitsu (tatami room). Here are the pieces post-sanding, pre-finish. I'll include other pics later from the various finishing and assembly stages.

Injury

It's been a while since I last updated this blog. I've been feeling kind of guilty about it to tell the truth. Most of my blogging friends update almost everyday, but I somehow manage to get in two or three posts a month if I'm lucky.

I haven't been blogging recently because...well... there's nothing to blog about. In mid January, I injured my knee, which has kept me away from aikido since then. Well, it didn't seem like an injury, even though it is. I'm underweight, I stretch like a madman, and according to the MRI and X-rays I had taken at the hospital two weeks ago, I have very healthy bones and ligaments. So what did I manage to injure, you ask? My meniscus. I slightly bumped it, which cased the front of the plate to swell slightly and crack.

There's no pain, which is the odd part. Most people I talk to say, "Do A,B,C for the pain." That's nice advice, but I don't HAVE any pain. Just water on the knee that won't go away. My doctor looked over my MRI three times before he found the cloudy patch at the front of my meniscus that should have otherwise been solid. That little puffy place is generating all this fluid? The fluid's unwillingness to be absorbed back into my body is the odd part. Anyway, I go back on the 28th for some drainage and a steroid shot. Next week I'm joining a gym so that I can swim and strengthen the joint.

No aikido produces symptoms akin to cabin fever. I'm going nutso. All I can really do in terms of training is iaido, standing kata only. I've basically just been teaching beginners this whole time, which is trying my patience. It's surprising how much people suck (or as the bucho like's to put it, "It's NOT surprising how much they suck. Think about it. Average is a 'C.' Do you think a 'C,' which, again, is considered average, is smart?" Good point. Bush was a 'C' student, come to think of it...)

In the past month, I've had about a half dozen people repeatedly (NOT an isolated incident) put their left foot forward when I tell them to put their right foot forward. Despite sitting next to them, showing them what to do as I explain it, they somehow manage to do the exact opposite thing. I've taught the same people two or three times a week for the past month, and they still don't understand that the cutting edge of the sword is supposed to be facing their right legs when they sit in seiza. I think I say "Turn your sword over!" in my sleep at this point. Ahh well... I really don't care. Whoever wants to seriously train, I'll teach them as much as I am able, but everyone else... They'll either get it, or they won't. Right now, most of them won't as far as I can tell.

I am back sitting zazen though. That's been very helpful!