All the
apprentices cherished the privilege of handling newly-planed timber straight
from the machines 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.
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