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  • The jig drawer

    P. Sandhu · 1,900 words

    New
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    J. Wold · 3,100 words

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    M. Kerr · 800 words

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Submission 041

The jig drawer

Priya Sandhu · submitted 4 March · 1,900 words

Every workshop has a drawer nobody photographs. It holds the jigs — the small wooden and steel things made to hold one part at one angle for one job that happened once.

They are the most specific objects in the building. A jig is a frozen decision. It says: this is exactly how far, this is exactly how square, and we are not going to relitigate it.

I asked eleven makers to open theirs. Nobody refused, and everybody apologised for the mess.