06 June 2015

Tool-making

I was never good in shop class (sløyd på norsk) in high school, but one of my friends who was told me something that I have never forgotten, and which at the time was pretty mind-blowing for me. We were standing in the workshop area, amid fearsome looking table-saws (the one that would remove a couple of Denny Sapp's fingers a few months later) and a couple of friendlier looking machines like a drill-press. My friend told me that the first thing you have to do is make your tools. Hmm. Aren't these machines the tools? No.

The first part of the job is to make the tools. Same with living a vision-driven life. Learning how to make tools based on design will also presuppose that you are able to discard things that are not effective tools. There is wisdom and good help around every corner now, and if you read something that lives in you in a positive and intriguing way, it is good to have some principles about what to do with it.  If these short bursts of wisdom are in accordance with your core visions and values, then do by all means appropriate this for use. You may just hang on to that tool until you pass it along to someone else who needs it later.

You may want to have a template for making tools, which should come from your vision-statement. For me a tool has to be


  1. Functional to its application.
  2. Simple.
  3. Fun to use.
  4. Imparts wisdom as well as functionality. 
Acquiring the tools you need while on your way is a great thing. Saves time, and the tools made from the things you encounter are made for you at the moment you need them.  

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