A shaping bay that stopped shaping
What was made here, what we kept, and why the evening still starts when the light goes rather than when a clock says so.
What stayed and what went
The racks stayed, with blanks still in them. The planes, the surform blades and two hand-shaped templates stayed on the wall. The bench vices stayed, bolted where they were, and people put drinks on them.
What went was the dust. Three weeks of it, out of the rafters, out of the ducting, out of every gap in the floorboards, and we are still finding it in corners two years on.
The lighting is the old extraction ducting with lamps hung through it. It throws light straight down onto felt, which is exactly what a card table wants and pure luck on our part.
Four on the crew
Door, pass, bar and floor, doubling up all night.
Forty people
Full is forty. After that nobody can hear anything.
Five tables
On the old shaping stands, at shaping-stand spacing.
Things people ask on the way in
Are the boards for sale?
No. They are the shaper's, on loan, and one of them is unfinished on purpose.
Is it loud?
Until about nine, yes. After that the room drops to a hum and stays there.
Can I bring a board in?
Lean it in the rack by the door and nobody will touch it.
Do you do private hire?
The whole bay, on a Monday, for adults, with a fortnight's notice.