What ‘wood’ be…

As I am working on Christina’s cabinets for her tribal house I am reminded of the convenience we have back in Canada.  Building a house or cabinets here involves a lot more work than 'back home’.  It’s not just a matter of running to the Home Depot and picking up some nice, kiln dried lumber to work with.  Just ask my Dad from his time here with us. Let me enlighten you a bit. 

The lumber, after it is cut down in the forest, gets dragged by carabao (water buffalo) through the mud into the village.  Then it is sliced with the chain saw into the required sizes… well sort of.  (I asked for some 2 x 3’s for example, and the final rough sizes ranged from 1 1/2 x 4 to 3 x 3.) 

Of course the lumber is not ready yet for construction.  We scrape off the most of the muck (mud and other ‘dirt’) and try to stack it in a relatively neat pile so it can dry out a little.  ‘Dry’ is a relative term here, so we can’t leave it for long as I’d be waiting for a really long time.  And of course, the longer it is left to dry, the more inviting it becomes for mould to grow on it, termites and ‘bukbuk’ to eat it, and ants, scorpions, snakes and other various critters to make it their home instead of mine.

When I’m ready to use it, the wood has to be moved to the work site (wet, tropical wood is not generally light, just ask Dad) and prepared to use.  The rest of the muck, which is hopefully dry be now, needs to be brushed off with a wire brush so it doesn’t destroy the planer blades.  Then, it needs to be straightened out initially by chalking a line on it and ripping it with the circular saw.  The hand planer gets rid of the bigger lumps left from the chain saw and cleans the piece up more to prep it for the thickness planer.  We have been blessed greatly (thanks to a local church there in North America) by having this machine, and when it breaks down, which it has, the process becomes a much harder. 

After getting it to the right thickness, the wood can then be straightened out more with the circular saw and/or hand planer, and ripped to size with our table saw (another blessing from one of our churches ‘back home’).

The trick in milling down the wood to be used is working it when it’s not too wet, but not so dry that it’s too hard for the machines.  Also, it needs to be used shortly after it’s been milled before it dries out more and shrinks, twists, cracks or warps beyond use. 

Having said all this, for those of you who know me, I am thoroughly enjoying being able to use my practical talents like this.  It’s a lot of work, and some days it feels like the building process will never get done.  But in the Lord’s timing it will, so we can move in with the Ga’dang people, learn their language, and be able to share the Gospel message with them.  The Lord reminds me that we’re in the relationship building stage as well right now.  Pray for us as we seek to build a good foundation in relationships with these tribal people.  Just ask DAD.

by Chuck.