Replies

1. 
   curmudgeon | May 05, 2021 05:41pm | #1

   I wonder if their intent is to recycle/regrind the chipboard?

   I feel the pain tho’ Lataxe. As the father of two millennials and two Gen Xers, I’m slowly but surely working on their, (and spouses’) thoughts on furniture. In my mind, the issue rests with their desire to stay hip, keep their costs down, and not wanting to be tied to a style or fashion in the future. Who knows what evil lurks...

   That said, I did send all 4 out into the world capable (and with the tools) to do the basic assembly of such rubbish and make “adjustments” when necessary. They seem to derive pleasure in doing that, for which I’m grateful.

   Surprisingly, the girls seem to handle the assembly tasks better than the boys. I book that to their being more willing to learn and be inquisitive than the the guys were about such things when they were growing up. I imagine someone more knowledgeable about such things would lay it off to some parental shortcoming on my part, however. But, the boys are better at turning wrenches than I’ll ever be.

   So, for now, I try to be “dad” and produce one piece a year for each of them with the admonition that they should a) NEVER paint it to obscure the beautiful wood, b) burn it in the trash, c) pitch it, d) and make provisions in their wills to insure it ultimately ends up in the hands of at least a great- great grand child’s hand a gazillion years from now. (ha... I’ll never see those things all happen.)

   Let’s hope that our work not only holds up for decades, but that someone, somewhere will appreciate it... Except for those pieces we should have banished to scrap as soon as we finished it or before.

   And, I try to remember mostly the joy the work and the giving bring to me.

   ‘Nuf said, and now y’all know why I remain,

   Curmudgeon

1. 
   lat_axe | May 06, 2021 03:29am | #2

   C,

   As we know from our own behaviors and natures, the male yoof is not inclined to RTFM but would rather assume he is able to wield the spanner and Allen key correctly solely from his pure in-built superior abilities. Only when the rushing hormones fade a bit, in later life, do we realize how daft we've been with the sweating and cursing that results, along with the often damaged chipboard article. :-)

   And yes, the daughters have been far more practical in their approach than were our own youthful male selves .... and not just with the chipboard furniture assembling!

   **********

   As to our beautiful hand-made furniture items that we have perhaps foolishly pushed into a cruel world of fashion manias and the associated landfills, well ..... we must learn that when we give a thing it has been gaved and is thus no longer ours to dictate its fate. I try to forget these items as soon as they go out of the shed door.

   The alternative would probably be a mental state of angst and anger, as we hear of our babies being hacked limb from limb or burnt on bonfire night to the hiss and bang of cheap fireworks and dafties going, "Ooooooh".

   Lataxe

1. 
   rob_ss | May 06, 2021 04:21am | #3

   C and L,
   Don't forget to make them sign that contract in blood!

   I too wonder if one day my woodwork will be on 'the repair shop' of the future. "oh - look at those amazing hand cut dovetails. You can hardly see that they are filled with epoxy..." "I am sure that joint was tighter when the piece was made and has just moved with time" they will say!

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Repair_Shop

1. 
   lat_axe | May 06, 2021 04:55am | #4

   Ha ha - The Repair Shop .... I hereby confess to being addicted to this tele programme, despite the often maudlin sequences of owners shedding tears about "How much this article means to me" despite it lying broken in their dank garage or dust-ridden loft for 45 years.

   The antics of the wooden-thing mender (Will) in particular are fascinating. He has many & varied skills, large & small .... but also performs mends that are basically "clag-in lots of glue and hope for the best". I also enjoy learning how he manages to refinish a thing whilst retaining the dings, splotches and other marks of its history.

   The general theme of rescuing stuff from the lip of the landfill cliff is quite heartwarming (in a way that the seemingly scripted gasps of wonder and nostalgia-tears, at the reveal of the mended thing, are not). I don't know about you but I often feel a yen to try a bit of horology or leather work when the programme reveals what can be done.

   And all those tools used to do it. :-)

   In truth I'd prefer to see more of the mending and far less of the weepy-gaspy owners doing what often looks like faux-emoting. But it is worth a watch, unlike 99.9999% of other tele MacInfo junk mind-fud.

   Lataxe