I started on something called a nose-block. This is a bit of wood shaped into something like a nose that will, one day, be the first bit of the boat that cuts through lake, reservoir and sea. There is something Jewey in the nose I have made, not only in shape and prominence, but also in the deliberate way I imagine it leading the assault, making the landing... the way marines or maccabees do. It occurs to me, I find my own way through everyday life, nose-first.
Ben helped me on the nose bit, and so did my friend, Bob Haney. Ben enjoys dangerous machines and wearing accessories and outfits designed to protect. He likes wearing the respirator and operating the chop saw in the same way he dons his hemipterous armor for lacrosse and American football.
Bob Haney knows more about how things work than anyone I know. When I cut a 3 inch slice into the wrong side of nose-block #1, like that bit in Chinatown when Jack Nicholson’s nose gets sliced, Bob said this happens all the time. He then gave me some very wise advice and a number of large and serious tools, one of which (a thickness planer) reminds me of the wood composting machine in Fargo.
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