Get Yourself an Archnemesis

At the Lie-Nielsen Open House in 2017, Peter Galbert and I were talking amongst a bunch of woodworkers when the topic of his “archnemesis” came up.

“Oh yeah,” Peter said, casually. “Everyone needs an archnemesis. You should get one.”

I couldn’t tell if Peter was joking. I laughed and waited to see if someone would make it clear that this was an inside joke among his friends (which I think it is). But it was too late. The idea had infected my head meat. Weeks after Peter’s offhand remark, I found myself saying, “Yes, I do need an archnemesis.”

So, I went and got one. This is the story of how it went.

Now before I tell the story, I ask that you don’t guess who it was. First off, that’s unkind, and you could hurt someone’s feeling. Second, no one will ever see your comment because I’ll squash that sucker flat.

Finding an archnemesis was difficult becaus…