Live Wood

There's a thing woodworkers say about live wood and dead wood — wood that still has moisture and responds versus wood that's fully seasoned and stable. The terms are more poetic than accurate but they've stuck.

What I mean when I say a piece of wood feels alive is this: it resists the plane differently. It pushes back. You feel it in your hands before you see it in the surface. Dead wood accepts the tool without argument, which sounds easier, and in some ways it is, but there's something missing in the result. The grain tells a different story.

I've been doing this twenty-two years. I still notice the difference every time. I can't tell you exactly what it is. I can show you.

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