The Restory Retreat Centre

Foto deur Matilda Angus ‘n Bakkie wat ek onlangs uit American Elm gedraai het. Ek leer aanhoudend nuwe name terwyl ek met hout werk. Die Engelse name van hout en bome is oor die algemeen meer bekend. Telkens weet ek nie wat dit in Afrikaans is nie en moet dit gaan opsoek. Dis woorde wat vir my mooi op die tong lê. American Elm is Amerikaanse iep of olm. Hickory is Amerikaanse okkerneuthout, Maple – esdoring, Yew - taksusboom, Ash – essehout, Holly – huls, Birch - berkeboom, Larch – lorkeboom, Spruce – denneboom (kan jy glo!), Beech – beukehout en ook boekenhout. Daar is egter ook name van Suid-Afrikaanse houtsoorte wat net nie hul lê in Engels kan kry nie – ysterhout, olienhout, hardepeer, stinkhout, kiaat (wat nie dieselfde as teak is nie), blinkblaar wag-'n-bietjie. Om nie eens van Afrika-, Asiatiese en Australiese houtsoorte te praat nie – Karri, Tatajuba, Panga-Panga, Masuranduba, Merbau, Jarrah, Cocobolo. Buitestaanders sien die stukke vorm aanneem op die draaibank....

All the beauty that's been lost before wants to find us again.                                                                                                         U2, Ordinary Love  Our landlord Johan and his wife Debbie are destined to become our direct neighbours in a few months’ time. They are moving into the house of his late father close by which will make it easier for him to tend to the cattle side of their farming activities. At this stage the old house is being renovated.  By mere coincidence Debbie recently got an old table back that has been in the family for generations and was given to friends years ago. The size of the table (2.75 m x 1.14 m) provided an ideal surface to work on in the ch...

Photograph by George Angus With the shaper running and me busy making a set of blades for a silage cutter, the rhythm of the workshop sets in. Somebody coming in from outside might think I'm running a veterinary field hospital with dogs strewn all over the floor. Jasper the Border Collie close to the small welding machine, Roxy the Labrador with her cheek against the shaper. Healthy and happy. We're just working. God’s in His heaven - All’s right with the world! George

Photograph by George Angus The following usually serves one, but more can be nourished by it as well. Ingredients: * A workshop * A lathe (other machinery will do as well, but I find the rhythm and sound of the lathe to be soothing) * A job (not job as in “At least I have a job”. In the workshop we use it more in the sense of “Can you do this job for me, or do you have another one in the lathe?”). What works well is something repetitive, without being too complicated. Otherwise you have to concentrate too hard. A fairly big diameter or reasonable length is also an advantage. It ensures a nice long travel for the tool. *All the paraphernalia that goes with working on the lathe: enough soluble oil in the sump to keep the job lubricated, the necessary drills and tooltips, the wire hook that you use to remove the shavings from the bed, the splash plate to prevent the soluble oil from being flung in a fine spray all over the floor by the fast turning chuck, the peg spanner to fasten t...

Drawing by Ron Leishman When last did you whistle while working? When last did you hear someone else whistle while working? Somehow it bothers me that whistling has become an almost absent element in our work. The sound of a person whistling a tune while busy somewhere in the house or out in the workshop conveys something of an underlying happiness, satisfaction and contentment. An enjoyment of the work itself. The tune need not be flawless. Applying more air than sound won’t lead to disqualification, as long as the intention is there. Whistling can even be replaced by singing in all that I’ve said up to now. The same principles apply. The absence of any of these two activities bothers me because it says something about us doing the work and the type of work that we do. Can it be that our type of labour in this 21 st century is not conducive to either whistling or singing? What type of work is that then – draining, stressful, pressured? Or are our conclusions ...

A few weeks ago I got the middle finger of my right hand onto the grinding wheel of the pedestal grinder. I was busy grinding spring steel pins on the side of the wheel for a crimping roller I was making. The next moment the pin slipped over the edge and my finger followed. Now I must confess that my immediate steps after the accident were quite extraordinary taking my history into account. Usually, whenever I get hurt badly in the workshop, the first thing I do is to carefully take off my glasses and put it somewhere safe. I have a tendency to faint. This time around I quickly switched off the grinder and went to the cupboard where we keep plasters for emergencies in the workshop. At that stage I acted quite calmly because I realised I had to stop the bleeding. Blood was by now dripping onto the ground. It helped to a degree but I knew I had to get to the house where my dad could help me to first clean the finger somehow, determine the damage and cover it properly. ...