Crafting

A few weeks back I was extremely bored and I felt like a fat pig (just an expression of words) spending a lot of time in front of my laptop. I went out doing some stuff with an old golok (machete) and somehow it dawned upon me to do something. Blade smiting. Yes, which means I have to learn a lot about woodcraft, metallurgy, metal smiting, chemistry and so on. Within in a few days I had data overload in my brain. Thus, I decided to work it out.

Since I have a few goloks that needed some repair and even “cloths” (sheath), I decided to start it off with woodwork. For my first sheath, I think it’s not bad. I’ll try to put in a lot of effort and some time after coming back from work even when I’m dead tired. Normally I would only have 2-3 hours to work on it before it’s dark at night. On weekends, I’ll work on it full day. It takes a lot for me to work it out. I’ll have to do a lot of thinking, planning, and solving problems when I’m sleeping at night. Sometimes I even dream about it. Then I’ll work on it the following day, with everything in my head. Yes, sometimes working on this takes a lot of my energy. Sometimes my Dad will ask me, “Who’s paying you overtime for this?” or sometimes he gives me a hint “If you can do this, then all the blade smiths around here with be dying of hunger” sarcastically. Well, it’s not my intention to “starve” anybody to death for that matter. But I did managed to pull it off although it wasn’t perfect. Although it is not as nice as what other professionals can do, it’s still special to me. Because I made it myself. Hehe…

I’m having a few other projects coming on the way. I’m buying a few more tools and a homemade furnace is on the way. I think this is going to be next hobby. (A hobby that I think very few people of my generation would share) As far as my experience on wood crafting is concern, all I can say is that one would need a lot of patience and care to work on something small, tiny and detail. This is what I’ve learned. When I try to work fast, I realised that I make lots of mistake and end up damaging or splitting up my wood. Patience is something that nobody can just learn it, but going through it only will one understand it.

“Let patience be your teacher, and let practice be your textbook”

Then I understood what it also meant “fearfully and wonderfully made” from Psalms. God created us with so much care to make sure that what He has made is wonderful. Even when we see how imperfect, ugly and defected we could be, there is more than what the eyes could see because God knows how special we are in each and everyone of us.

Psalms 139:13-17