System Architect - Ch 114

Finding someone to teach me how to fight turned out to be more difficult than I had initially thought—and I had thought it wouldn’t be too easy. The simple fact was that eastern martial arts—typically hand-to-hand—was most prevalent. Finding someone who practiced weapon arts was like finding a needle in a haystack. There were clubs for people who already knew the basics, but nowhere near me had anyone that taught lessons. The only thing I could do was expand my reach farther in the hopes that I could attract someone to come by and teach me.

Another issue was that I wanted someone who knew several weapons well enough to teach. Them knowing one wasn’t good enough since I didn’t know which would suit me best. On top of it all, I was going to have them sign a System Contract just in case. They might well connect the dots between what I was preparing for and the apocalypse when it eventually arrived. I’d be paying them to teach me and giving them a leg up on the insanity to come even if they could tell no one about it.

After a week of extensive searches, I found a small number of people who would be good teachers. Well, I didn’t know how good they were at teaching, but they had the skills at the very least. I sent emails to each of them requesting they come and teach me somewhere nearby over the next five years. I was unsure of the exact cutoff for Grandpa Joe, so I wanted leeway in case he lasted longer than I expected.

Most of the people I contacted either declined or did not respond at all. Of the two remaining options, I could pick between a man from across the ocean who spoke broken English or someone from the other side of the country who might not be quite as skilled in the traditional methods as the first. The price was about the same for both. I ended up selecting the person I would be able to understand. Even if he wasn’t as skilled, I would be able to learn faster with him, I felt.

It would have been a lot of money to spend if I wasn’t stupidly wealthy. That said, money bought what I needed most: time. I could learn slowly by watching tutorials on the internet and going to a club and getting my ass kicked until it all made sense… or I could spend money and learn the right way from the get go. It was the best way to use what time I had left before kicking it off.

The man I’d contacted—Gregory—wouldn’t be in the area until the start of the next month due to having to move for the gig. I paid him an advance that covered that move and then some extra. A down payment on the tutoring I expected over the next few years. Since there was going to be a wait until he was in town and ready to teach, I focused on the woodworking class in the mean time.

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When I went to the next woodworking class, the teacher instructed each of us to get the pieces of wood we’d worked with the previous week. Once we were all settled at a workbench, he started explaining what we were to do during the class.

“Now that you have two pieces of wood of roughly the same size with a hole through the middle, it’s time to move on to the next step. I want you to turn those rectangles into circles with the hole at the center—yes?”

“Why didn’t we mark the circles first before drilling the hole?” asked one of the students who had raised his hand. “Doesn’t that just make it harder?”

“You are correct!” the teacher answered. “It is harder. Normally, you’d do it the other way around. I did this to teach you an easier cut and drill before trying to make a circle or two. I also wanted you to experience it being harder when you do something in the wrong order. Now you will think before you start, right?”

The student nodded.

“So now you’re probably wondering how to make a circle. It’s time to talk about how to mark and measure in more detail.”

The teacher went on to explain the various methods of marking lines on wood. Rulers, compasses, marking tools, and many other tools were explained. This time, I would be using  a compass—something I’d never messed with before.

“One last thing,” the teacher said. “Try to make both of the circles as close to the same size as you can.”

I took that to heart. When I got my compass, I looked at it. It had a sharp end and an end with a pencil. In the middle was a screw that let me lock the compass’ legs so they wouldn’t move while I did the marking. I chose a distance that would make the circles about half as wide as the rectangles I was cutting them from. The sharp end of the compass went into the hole I had drilled. I kept the point held up against the inside edge of the hole as I want around creating a circular marking on the wood. I did the same for the other piece of wood.

When it came time to make the cuts, I remembered what the teacher said last time. I put the wood into the vice to that it was on edge with the circular marking facing me. I started by cutting a diagonal that left a small space between the cut and the line. The teacher had said to do that and clean it up later. That was my plan.

Once I had all four corners cut diagonally, I did the same for the new corners I’d created. I kept going until sawing felt like a harder proposition that using some other tool. I did the same for the second piece of wood. The two were now roughly circular in shape but with many flat sides that would need to be smoothed out. I raised my hand.

“Do you need help?” the teacher asked when he came over to me.

“I have them down as far as I feel comfortable sawing. I wanted to ask if I should use a rasp or sandpaper.”

“Looking at how much you’ve got left, I’d say rough sandpaper should do well enough for you. You’ll want to make sure it’s round and the edge is as square as you can get it.”

The teacher then told the class the same thing he’d told me.

I took the roughest sandpaper there—220 grit—and began to smooth the edges of the circles until they were mostly round. It was imperfect—there were still some smaller flat spots I couldn’t quite get out—but they rolled well enough. I showed the teacher and he told me they were fine and to put them in my cubby on the way out as they would be used in the next few weeks.

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I saw Jack every week in between the woodworking class and future training days. He was happy to see that I wasn’t having as many nightmares as before. They weren’t gone completely—instead of daily, they were weekly—but it was a dig improvement. We both hoped that more therapy would help reduce them farther, but that would take time.

I met with Gregory briefly to iron out the details of the studio where he would teach me. I ensured he signed the System Contract NDA. It was as weird for him as it had been for Jack, but he signed it nonetheless. With two weeks to wait until Gregory would be ready to teach me, focused on my woodworking class.

When I walked into my next class, I was a few minutes late. The teacher gave me a look, but didn’t say anything about it. Maybe he understood that I didn’t have control over when I showed up since I wasn’t the one driving. He hadn’t began to give instructions yet, so I quickly picked up the two wooden circles and found an open spot at one of the workbenches.

“Today,” he said, “you will make two more circles. This time, I want you to put thought into it before you do anything. Remember what I taught you last time about measuring—and how you should always think the problem through before you begin. I’ll hand out more wood to everyone in a moment. When you have yours, you can begin.”

I patiently waited for the wood while I thought about how to make the circles. Then it hit me. The easiest way to make two more was to just copy the ones I already had! Once the teacher gave me the wood, I clamped one of the circles—my best attempt—to the wood. Using a pencil, I traced both the outside of the circle as well as the drilled out hole. That was more difficult, but found a workaround by using a punch to scribe the circle before filling it in with pencil after the pieces of wood were no longer clamped together.

I repeated the process again on the same piece of wood. There was no reason why I needed to cut the wood in half when I could place them close together and cut them apart in one operation! I left the cutting for second and instead drilled the holes first. There was more wood to work with if I left the block of wood as once piece, which made drilling far easier.

Once the two holes were drilled, I went about cutting the two circles free with the saw. When they were roughly shaped, I sanded them down until they were as smooth as I could get them with my skill. As usual, I called the teacher over when I was done and showed him what I had done.

“How did you do it?” he asked.

“I copied them from one of the ones I’d already made,” I explained.

“Good idea. It works because having all four the same size will be a smart choice. That said, if they needed to be different, how would you have done it?”

“Probably make a set of intersecting lines then use those lines as the center of the circles that would get traced out by a compass. From there, the process of drilling, cutting, and smoothing would be the same.”

“Good,” he nodded, patting me on the back. “Since you’re done, you can put those two away in your cubby. I’ll see you next week.”

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When the next week came, I took out the four circles from my cubby and placed them on the workbench in front of me. When class began, the teacher finally revealed what we were making.

“The next step will be for you to cut a piece of wood in half lengthwise and drill two holes from side to side. This will form the body of the car you are making. The four wheels you made over the last three weeks will be attached by axles through the holes you drill. Since the holes in the wheels are just big enough to cram the axle in there, you’ll want to drill the holes through the car body a bit wider so they can roll. Not too wide, but a single bit size larger should do.”

“Do we need to make the axles?” one of the students asked.

“I’ll provide those to you. You’ll cut them to length and glue the wheels to them.”

With another piece of wood, I cut it down so that it was about twice as long as it was wide. I drilled two holes—one at either end—through the piece of wood so that the axles would go through the long way. This would make the car body flat rather than standing upright.

The teacher passed out the axles—a length of wooden dowel—that I cut to size before gluing the wheels to the axles. The axles went through the holes in the body, making a functional toy car. Well, it would be functional as soon as the glue dried!