As an adult, I eventually acquired an obsolete vertical milling machine and an engine lathe. Having mostly learned metal work by the seat of my pants, I find immensely more satisfaction working with metal than wood. Starting with raw stock, measuring tools and selected fasteners, taps and dies, I can with methodical and careful technique construct an object which has precision and solidity.

Photography and metal work are very technical operations and I am attracted to both for that quality. The precision nature of machine tools is the same as precision made photographic equipment. And of course machine tools were used to manufacture photographic equipment. Working with machine tools offers the possibility of perfection which is very much like the possibility of perfection that can be had in a well made photograph.

Working with lathes and milling machines is very clean and dust free. The metal shavings are never airborne. Some dust is raised when finishing metal on the sanding machine, but far less than a wood shop. The worst effect might be the whiff of burning cutter lubricant. My first milling machine was right behind the sofa in my loft- occasionally aluminum chips might be found on my socks, but by and large the living area of the home was unaffected by the work.

Working mostly in aluminum, a favorite finish of mine is anodizing which is done at the few remaining factories still found on the outskirts of New York City. When the parts come back and are assembled I have the satisfaction of having made my own “factory made” lamp or piece of furniture. More often than not, my machines are idle, but whenever some camera or enlarger needs modification or some metal object needs repair, its very easy just to alter or make a part. And quite often it would be difficult to find someone to affordably make what I had in mind.

I am often bored by photography and as such, I am driven to working with my hands. I think that the latent perfectionism or a sense of the capturing of the untouched that often pervades the act of photographing is a difficult barrier to becoming a poor artist in other mediums–the only way that one can actually begin to learn those skills and crafts that do not come naturally or easily.

I recently starting working with large pieces of driftwood and stained glass to fashion hang-able lamp-like lighting constructions. Glass and the idea of creating something which illuminates from its interior is something which continues to bring me wonder and a sense of mystery.

I think the best way to begin working with wood on your own is to restore a piece of elegant furniture that has seen better days, an old wooden view camera that needs lots of love, or something else made of really beautiful wood that almost begs for the redemptive act of restoring something to its beauty again. You can teach yourself and it does not require the arduous training of learning to build.

Sanding older wood that has lost its characteristics of beauty in an aged finish—wearing away all the nicks and scratches (or letting them stand to preserve marks of the piece’s own history) treating it with care, gentleness, and love, is a great act of patience, but one whose value and joy is yours, and the process of recovery, your own.

There is a sense in which much of photography does not elicit that sense of ownership that working and fashioning something directly with your hands does (perhaps work dealing with constructions like Demand’s, Letinsky’s, etc. is able to offer this). However, this lacking, of course, adds a peculiar grace to the practice of the medium, which in many ways allows the discovery of a compelling photograph as a surprising gift.

Sanding wood, rubbing oil into it, and sealing it with beeswax seems an unbelievable prescription for the renewing of a nuanced attention and discovery of the fecund world around you, but for myself, I believe.

http://vimeo.com/8292733

— Steve

my favourite wood-widdler…..i hope you know his work…enjoy ))

a hero of mine…the incomparable Martin Puryear

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&cp=10&gs_id=12&xhr=t&q=martin+puryear&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1920&bih=1018&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=n5QIT7mHDeLj0gHE4OXLAg

It was my grandpa who bought some wooden boards, nails and saw to make a nice birdhouse…

Alec, always a pleasure to be here.

My girlfriend and I need some new book shelves for our ever growing photo-book collection. Fancy knocking some up for us?

Jason