Clamps, Time, and Pressure
Like a Fine Wine
Time plus pressure is part of the equation for the creation of most things: put carbon under pressure for long enough and you get a diamond; squeeze grapes and let the juice ferment and you make wine; apply glue to wood and apply pressure with clamps and let it dry overnight and the glue will adhere stronger than the wood itself.
Clamping
Pretty much everything we do at The Olde Mill is done by hand. We miter the sides of our hollow ceiling beams into interlocking male and female joints, apply glue, and clamp them together.
Make Haste Slowly
Like most things worth doing (woodwork, making wine, waiting for diamonds to form), our beams take time (and pressure, and possibly some heat). Thinking about it takes me back to high school Latin, and the phrase "festina lente", or "make haste slowly". Not a bad motto to reflect on during your day; it makes me think about the steady, but not rushed, approach it takes to work in a wood shop. If you rush things, you will make critical mistakes that add up to a poor creation; you take too long and you'll produce so slowly that you won't make a profit. I've been guilty of both: like most things it takes a tenuous balancing act.
Y'all have a good week. Make haste slowly.
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