Poetics of Planing

As Tony concludes his transformation of our homegrown cedar into finish grade planks for the privacy fence enclosure I pause to ponder the poetics of planing.

Almost 3-1/2 months ago, the notion appeared as part of a poem.

Come and chant with me,
a poetics of planing —
unroughing, smoothing
truing, straightening —

for patient makers
alchemizing plants in-
to ingredients in-
to functional art.

(Source: Lumbering Home)

At the time my mind was mulling much on the weeks, indeed the months, that Tony had invested in re-planing the upcycled garapa removed from Rosslyn’s rebuilt deck and repurposed into paneling inside the icehouse bathroom. It had been a monumental undertaking, and Tony had excelled in part because he intuitively, passionately embraced the process. He labored intensely and patiently, but he also cultivated an appreciation, a sort of intimately aesthetic relationship with the garapa.

After the garapa, Tony repeated the planing journey with stacks upon stacks of ash and elm. I’ve chronicled elsewhere the remarkable alchemy — rough lumber refinished as character-rich flooring that now helps define the unique splendor of Rosslyn’s icehouse — that once again challenged Tony with discovering and liberating elegant beauty concealed in rough, unremarkable materials.

Now, with the cedar Tony has once again paired his discipline with his artistic sensibility. Once again his focus and fervor fueled the task of transformation. More than anyone else in the last couple of years it is Tony who has demonstrated a passion for wood and a capacity to reveal the wood’s true nature and beauty.

I suppose that just about anyone could learn to plane boards smooth, but elevating this critical carpentry skill to an art is considerably less common.

In the early days that I was getting to know Tony, he was working with a subcontractor tasked with refinishing kitchen cabinets for the ADK Oasis Lakeside renovation. He articulated a respect and sensitivity for the oak comprising the cabinetry that struck me. Soon we enlisted him to bring the same level of attention to detail and wonder to hand finishing oak floors with Rubio Monocoat, a naturally pigmented linseed oil floor finish.

That was the spring of 2021. Almost 3 years later Tony’s affinity for woodwork along with his wonder and respect for wood species, grain, and character burns brighter than ever. His keen understanding of how a wood slab’s intrinsic elements combine to ensure endurance and longevity while maximizing the innate beauty and character of the natural resource is a daily reminder that tapping and encouraging a person’s passion is among the highest rewards of collaboration.

Toward a Poetics of Planing

Assessing each rough slab anew — with wonder and a desire to respectfully reveal the timber’s unique appeal — is the starting point. Studying the grain, the rise and fall of a tree’s memorialized musculature, discovering the energy embodied in a tree’s testament to time, these take humility and patience. When at last the slab is fed through the blurring blades of a planer, a commitment founded on curiosity and reverence, the woodworker knows what he is asking of the tree. What emerges on the other side is what the tree is asking of the woodworker. Together, woodworker and tree, a conversation ensues, an inquiry, a dance, a communion. Flattening, yes, but liberating too. From artifact, art.

This reflection is still germinal, maturing slowly. With fortune and perseverance it may eventually say what it needs to say…