Brentwood

I have had the distinct privilege of calling Larry a personal friend for the past several years since we have both live in Coos Bay, Oregon. I am on the board of the local Habitat for Humanity chapter that I believe he was instrumental in starting and have worked with him on occasion and have enjoyed dropping in on him at home over the years. For the past several months I have been offering to buy him coffee, breakfast or lunch. Between his finishing the last book and dealing with health issues, I'm sad to say that we were not able to coordinate that. I wanted one more chance to bask in his wisdom and knowledge. He was definitely a master of Zen carpentry. From Wikipedia: "Zen emphasizes experiential wisdom in the attainment of enlightenment. As such, it de-emphasizes theoretical knowledge in favor of direct self-realization through meditation and...practice." In Larry's case he surely had theoretical knowledge, but was also very strong in experiential Wisdom. The Wisdom part was what most impressed me about him.

After sawing wood and driving nails for 45 years I still have all my body parts intact. That doesn't mean that blades and fasteners haven't penetrated my flesh...just that no parts have been removed.
Several years ago while doing routine production work in a furniture shop I got bored and cut a nice little notch into the end of my thumb. Luckily, it didn't hit the bone. That was enough to wake me up to the fact that these machines can seriously change your life in an instant. I considered it a good reminder. A healthy "fear", or more accurately, respect for the tools we work with is a good thing. Another time I stapled two fingers to a board, but again it was only a flesh wound.
These injuries occurred while working with crews. In the past 25 years since I have been mostly working alone, I have had few. It is easier to make the work a meditation without the distractions of others.

Well, you've gone and dun it again, Larry: I am, again, inspired by your thoughtful words of wisdom!
You left one thing out when you talked about the Europeans thinking that they could own the earth and take what they wanted from the original native caretakers. I believe you said anybody could have the land, but I think that only applied to white males. That was the American policy of manifest destiny, which, I believe meant that it was God's will that they should take the land for their own purposes by any means necessary, including genocide and complete decimation of native culture. Sorry if this doesn't sound patriotic, but I think we, as Americans should be honest about our history.

Hello, my friend.
Loved your story and the words of great wisdom!
That doesn't sound too different than the way and place I grew up: on a ranch in southeastern Idaho. When my parents move to Teton Valley and bought the farm (no, they didn't die)in 1947, the year I was born, we live in a 100 year old two room log cabin the first year. Before we could move into it, the neighbor had used it for a grainery for several years. It had a wood cook stove and a cistern with a hand pump outside. When I was a year old, we moved a couple of miles to the mouth of the canyon into another, larger 4 room log house. This one still had a well with a hand pump and an outhouse out back. We all took our baths in a galvanized steel tub in the middle of the living room in front of the oil heater. We had it good. I went to school with kids who live in a one room log house with a dirt floor and a sod roof. I don't ever remember thinking that we were poor or didn't have enough. We always had plenty of food and the necessities. Most of the food we grew or hunted. Up there, in the Teton country, it got down to 40 below most winters. I, also, know about wind driven snow and hard ice on the inside of window glass.
As you know, Larry, I have been a general contractor and home inspector for many years here on the Oregon Coast. I often tell my clients buying their new 4000 sq. ft. home (for 2 people) that I don't have a washer & dryer and never have owned a dish washer, a garbage disposal or a garage door opener. They look at me in disbelief like I am from another planet. Then when I tell them I haven't flushed my toilet for the last 8 years they think I'm either joking or crazy. I have a composting toilet inside my 900 sq.ft. house...much nicer than the composting outhouse built from salvage material I used for several years before. Now I don't have to go outside in the rain. My little house is built almost entirely with framing materials from my property and reclaimed lumber. I think I am at about $25 per sq. ft. or less at this point...Of course, not counting all my labor.
You made some very valid points in your article. Most Americans are spoiled and think that modern conveniences, like electricity and a TV in every room, are necessities. I will admit, electricity is really nice.
Oh, by the way, I know the huge mansion up on the hill you spoke of. I think it is a second home for the couple who built it. How many homes would that build in Haiti?
Thank you again for your wise words!

I'm always amazed at how many people think because someone is a legal, licensed contractor that they know how to build.
In my state, like, many areas, you don't have to know the difference between a 2x4 and a 4x4 or a rafter and a joist, or have ever driven a nail in a piece of wood to be a contractor. The only requirement is to have the money to buy the license and the insurance, and you are a contractor. In many jurisdictions it only became required to have a license in recent years and, I think there are still places that still don't require licensing.

As a contractor and home inspector, whenever a client asks the question about some really stupid repair: "Why did they do that?" Most of the time, there really is no logical answer except "Because they could."

All A Board
A Cut Above
Chairman of the Board
Plum Board
A Boarding Blog
Plum Jamb
Plumb preserves
Cut to the chase
The Karpenter's Kerf
Knotty questions
Knotty musings
Hard Wood questions
Measured thoughts
Measured Musings
The plane truth
Blockheads
ReadWood chips
Chips off the old block
Nailed, screwed and glued

I can testify that Larry is not a gorilla. In fact, I worry every time we have a big norwester blow here on the coast that if he goes out he might just blow away or break in two.;~). Seriously, though, knowing Larry, I would certainly never consider going saw to saw or even head to head with him in any discussion about building or tools. There is a lot of experience, knowledge and wisdom in that tall lanky frame of his.
I think I was about 10 years old when I cut my first boards with a power saw, and it was my dad's old skil sidewinder. Naturally, when I got my first very own saw, it was also the old familiar sidewinder. Since I was still a teenager and considered a dollar an hour good money, it wasn't the best tool money could buy. My first paid carpentry job was when I was 18. From that time until I was 43 I used only a sidewinder and it served me well. I didn't even consider anything different until I moved to Coos Bay, Oregon in 1990 and got a job rebuilding an old house on the bay with a couple of guys who were definitely NOT "free from fixed minds". Since I was the new guy on the job, of course, I was the brunt of all the "fixed minded" commentary on the best ways of doing everything and the best tools to do it with. These guys made such a big deal over my obviously inferior sidewinder that after I left that job, the shame was still haunting me. I decided to consider the merit of their taunts. Shortly after, I bought a Skil 77, which is still going strong after cutting several hundred miles of boards. A couple of years ago it mysteriously started putting on weight and I noticed more than ever how difficult it was to do those overhead cuts or to hold it straight out to cut a rafter tail. Last year I reluctantly bought a Bosch 1677, because it is a couple of pounds lighter. Now I can hold my saw straight out again. I was amazed how much difference a pound or two makes in a tool. I still have, and will probably keep my old Skil 77, if for no other reason than the emotional attachment.
I think the most important point Larry made in this discussion is the “hope…that we could all be “suddenly free from fixed mind.” My 44 years in the building trades have taught me that there rarely only one way to do things, and when someone insists that their way is the only way, beware of the “Fixed mind”.
Brent Lerwill, Brentwood Home Inspections. Coos Bay, Or.