A few years ago I ran across this painting, _The Young Sabot Maker_ by Henry Owassa Turner, in an exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I spent a good half an hour studying it, weaving in and out of other people’s way, not just because I love Turner’s work (I do) but trying to suss out the tools and techniques of historical wooden shoe-making. Why? Well, because I am a nerd. But also because, as long as people are determined to build robots, you never know when you might need some wooden shoes. And I’d like to be ready.
