Last week I got hung up on a video about Bench Hooks. Every time I pressed record, I couldn’t stop stumbling over my words.
As I looked over my notes I realized that I just hadn’t thought about them enough.
Bench hooks are a simple thing. I use them several times a week. But I don’t think about them. My brain already knows to reach for them whenever I need to accomplish a certain task.
But my goal with this project is to go beyond simply telling you how I use the things I use. I want to have a discussion about why this is the tool I choose. And also, why it's made the way it is.
So I sat down at the bench and started asking questions about Bench Hooks…
How do I use them now?
Why do I reach for this tool to do those jobs?
Is there a better way to accomplish this task?
Are there other uses for this tool that I’ve overlooked?
What details are imortant to make them work, and what‘s just being picky?
What are the best materials to use?
Could I add features without adding complexity?
How would I make them with only the Foundational tools?
Is this process more complicated than it needs to be?
Thinking about these questions brought a lot of clarity. And building a set, without the camera rolling, let me test the method. Later, when little light on the front of my camera was flashing again, I knew what I wanted to say.
And now, as I write this, I’m realizing that these are the questions I need to ask of myself before I record all my videos.
All of this is just to say “Thank you”. Whether you realize it or not, you are holding me to a standard that requires more than the same old thoughtless explanations.
Technical Difficulties
Last week I wrote to you about the “State of the Effort” instead of a blog post. This note was meant for members only, so I didn’t post it to the blog.
About half of those messages bounced back. And it took the week for my site provider to address the issue.
They assure me the problem has been fixed. So after I post this message I‘ll start the process of sorting the bounced addresses from those that got delivered. Once that’s done, I‘ll make sure all of you are up to date on the current “State of the Effort” and what to expect going forward.
Meredith Hart on the MWA Podcast
Kyle and Sean interviewed Meredith Hart. I missed the taping of this one, so this episode is in my podcasts queue. It should be a good listen.
See you soon. And have a great week in the shop!
Mark
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