Week One (5-10 to 5-16)

 Weekly Reflection 

This week has been super cool. I started off really nervous, you know what they say about mixing family and work (don’t.) but working with my dad has been awesome so far and I can tell that he is pumped that I’m interested in his work which is really sweet.The first day i was lost and had no idea what I was doing or but jumped right in hand planing things, it was tricky at first and I kind of hated it but I have actually grown to really like block planes, they’re pretty neat. Once we got the horizontal pieces on the frames I was hesitant once again about steaming the ribs, I was sure that something would go wrong and I might have to restart; I was already stressed about the timeframe. However, (!) everything went super smoothly and I was able to start tying lashings way sooner than I had been expecting. It was really exciting to be able to bring some of my Ocean Classroom knot tying knowledge into it and even teach my dad a little something. The lashings took ages even with some temporary help from The Boys™ and I’m still not quite done.Tying the lashings may have been tedious, boring, and monotonous; but after a while you get into a rhythm and start to almost, dare I say, like it? Anyways, I’m now at the point where all of the ribs are tied in along with the intermediate ribs. I do still have to do the fore and aft partial ribs and three intermediates due to the frame being in the way, but my canoe is now off of the frames so I’m basically done (jokes!) I’ve learned about a lot of tools and techniques in woodworking this week that I’m really glad to have learned. Not only is this a really cool project, but I think that the time I’m spending with my dad is really awesome along with the skills that will most certainly help in the long run in my pursuit of a career in backstage theatre. All in all, this week has been super cool and full of me learning things, it has been fast paced and stressful at times but absolutely worth it, I’m really excited to finish eventually and have such a neat product to show for the time and energy that I have been, and will continue, to putting in. (P.S. check out my dad’s work @birdseyewoodwork on instagram and facebook)