workshop · 01 · plane · beech · in use 1864–
beech with a hornbeam sole, the blade set so fine it lifts a curl thinner than a thumbnail. push it the length of the board and a shaving rises by itself, the way a thought rises out of speech without being summoned.
the last man to true a board with it was a joiner who lived three streets away. you can still find his nicks along the floorboards at the south end of the hall — places he gave up flattening because the threshold already wanted to be lower than it was.
field-note · the shaving smells of cut grass and old butter when you snap it in half.
chisel · workbench · stone · spokeshave