Jackfruit wood dining table

New Year of 2017 started with a yellow-orange piece of wood. It was Jackfruit wood. I was given the wood which was already being worked upon by my co-apprentice. She had to leave for home in between. A lot had not been done to the wood before I took over. This wood was a gift. It was beautiful in all manners. I started planing the wood with my Kanna (Japanese Plane). It was hard. I was gentle on it. I tried to understand the grains which were wildly flowing like the tresses of a woman. I had the job of combing them. Any intimate moment I shared with wood cannot be described in words. Its love! It’s in the moment! How can it be described! (Everyday work in progress pictures along with descriptions are posted on my Instagram account- wood.would) However, I would try to describe one affair. When I was working with my Kanna on a portion of this wood, I got lost in it. I went inside the wood or the wood came out of its form, I couldn’t distinguish. It was a moment of no difference. Time did not exist then. It was only wood and me. I was formless and the wood was formless. Yellow-orange grains of wood came alive all around me. I could not see anything else. 

Kenji San, through this work, showed me the magic hidden in the wood.

I am not perfect, I accept it now. I do make mistakes. I made many mistakes while working on this piece of wood which was going to become a round dining table. He allowed me to make as many mistakes. I am not so afraid of making mistakes now. It’s my learning process.

The legs of the dining table are made in Japanese style. Kenji San had beautifully designed it. I discovered some Japanese joinery. It was fun to work on them. Unlike my master, I preferred paring them with chisels over cutting with machines. That’s how my style is. I love chisels. I love working with my hands. That’s how my journey of woodwork began- my desire to work with hands. Kenji San one day remarked, “Your chisel work is better than mine.” I do not know about that, though!

There were a lot of repairs to be made in wood. Filling up the cracks with epoxy and replacing some portions of wood with matching pieces. We accept the wood as it is in nature, but to be able to make it into furniture; we have to make important little changes.

One day, while working on this table, I did not give my best. Kenji San called me and asked me if I really loved working with wood. I answered, “Yes”. I have doubted this enough many times myself. This has happened in all other aspects of life with me. I have doubted myself in everything and everyone I loved. So, if I do not love wood, then I do not know what love is!

I learnt a lot of things myself while working on this project. For many other things, I approached my master. Once he told me, “I can tell you how to do this but it does not become your knowledge. Your knowledge comes from within you.”

This was my last project for Kenji Matsumoto. I am happy that I had an elder master with me. He has taught me many things. The most valuable thing he has taught is that my knowledge comes from within me… that I am my own master.  

Thank you!