Interesting account. Top level athletes say they prepare extensively and intensively but when game time comes, they let it fly (or flow, I guess).

Tico,

Oh, I believe you, and I understand, believe me!

Larry,

Thanks for the kind words.

Ethan,

I agree. And it’s so easy for a finish to trash an otherwise nice project.

Thanks, all, for reading.

Rob

I try and think about what kind of finish I want before I even pick out wood, when I have the opportunity. Often times, though, the wood is selected by the client, so it is up to me to figure out what finish will be best for the design and wood being used.

As you referred to, it’s a known phenomenon called ‘Flow’. It applies to any craft, or process of performing a task. I’ve been programming computers for 15 years and have only experienced flow when solving my own problems, writing code for myself instead of somebody else.

It happens for me when I’ve solved all the problems in my head before even starting to work on it – I’ve worked it over a million times, seen where the problems will be, solved them, envisaged interactions with other components, and effectively written the entire program already. When it’s time to write the code on a computer, my body is merely a conduit for getting what’s in my head into the computer’s memory. There’s no feeling like it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

George.