All the apprentices cherished the privilege of handling newly-planed timber straight from the machines     except Llew of course     and we showed it. Taking care not to bruise it, occasionally sniffing at it and smoothing our hands over it, we'd carefully mark it with a knife or hard pencil for further machining, with best 'face' squiggles. Later, we'd clean up the rebates, until our work benches were piled high with long white silken folds of stripy curls.  A delight to see.

At every stage and operation we secretly competed with each other, always good naturedly, to finish our batches of work first. Cutting our scribes at shoulders, mortising, rebating, chamfering, assembling, and cramping-up with great care, using squaring-rods. Finishing, with wedging and cleaning-off, and then sanding. We used any time to spare to sharpen our tools, a few quick rubs on our oilstones to restore the cutting edges of our planes and chisels. And there was always such a pleasing aroma from the specialist timbers in their dedicated racks: Oaks, teaks, mahoganies and pines, which when combined with the pungent smells of our heated pots of bone glue, lead primer, knotting filler, and linseed oil on our wooden tools, made it our private world of indescribable joy.

- 42 -
 

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