Surprise! It’s Boring

When we finally take the wrapping off this AMAZEBALLS new chair design, you will literally crap your pants.

Whenever someone teases me that there’s “something big” that they’re working on. And that they can’t say much. But when you see it, you will be amazed. And what do you think it is? Here – let me show you a picture of some lint from my belly button. Guess what you think it is in the comments – wrong answers only!

I can guarantee you that – nine times out of 10 – this person is an empty place, where a seed shall find no purchase.

And yet, the teasing and sneaky-peeky continues out there, unabated. Because all they have is a muscle shirt, a big ole hairdo, a slat wall full of tools that are red in color and HD cameras.

So let’s forget those chumps. I honestly wish them well. Somebody has to consume the marketing budgets of the tool companies, and they make it look like fun.

Instead, I’d like to talk about the reticence of many committed, serious and talented woodworkers who refuse to talk about what they are working on.

Side note: I don’t give a flying f%$k at a rolling doughnut what secret project you are working on. Honestly. You could be working on Thomas Jefferson Boner Furniture, for all I care. This post is trying to help you – and the craft.

As an editor, I get to work with furniture makers who have devoted their lives to certain aspects of the craft. They seek to become Roy Underhill Famous, but they don’t want to show their cards until they are ready.

This was a common problem at Popular Woodworking Magazine. Editors and authors did not want to share what they were building or studying until the moment the magazine was released. Why? Because, I guess, then the world would stand up and notice the amazing dinguses (dingi?) they have constructed. And the future of woodworking will pivot that day on their great work.

Or, more likely, the world wouldn’t notice. Or perhaps it yawned in response.