Uncle Howard's April 28th

My uncle has lived for thirty years at the log cabin he built near a fishing lake. It is quite a magical little place and very rustic. We skidded out logs for an addition he'll be working on in the fall. As can be imagined I feel bad for the trees that were cut, the animal lives and homes interrupted, and the vegetation hurt in the process. I felt better in knowing he had grown these pines with the purpose of using them as building material. He had cared for them and protected them from disease and blight. The usefulness in my mind outweighed the loss. As is obvious I feel I have to rationalize the destruction and motivation for what we did.
I did resolve to make some tools that might come in handy for me someday, or for my Uncle Howard to use in the upcoming fall when he plans on scraping the bark off all the logs. Howard had shown me the simple draw-knife and how it was used (and also the price tag of about $65 dollars!) I just finished a book by an excellent author and expert of self sufficiency; John Seymour. He has many books and the one I read showed all about the tools and methods of different traditional skills now almost lost to society. The draw-knife is shown as needed in many of the trades and I plan on making one with two purposes. One: to know how to make the tools effectively, and two: to practice with the tools. I suppose a third reason is because I am a cheapy and don't want to pay for something I can hopefully fabricate!