Branching off from another post here, a good question was brought up I thought. And that is, What is “Handmade” furniture in your opinion?
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I have heard a lot of opinions on this over the years, but for me it all boils down to something simple. First of all, the concept of "handmade" is not a black or white issue, not a yes or no. There is a continuum of degrees of handmade that you have to allow for, since there are so many processes in producing a piece of furniture, and each one can be more handmade or more mechanized. The measure for any stage in the process is how much it depends on the craftsman's skill. Or, to put it another way, how much is at risk at any given part of the process. This way of looking at it does not rule out machines at all. Rather it is an attempt to judge how much depends on the craftsman's hand, eye, etc. at every given moment. The totality of all those moments gives some measure of the degree of "handmade".
It is not as simplistic as some people would like, but I have never come across a more satisfying criteria.
DR
This way of looking at it does not rule out machines at all. Rather it is an attempt to judge how much depends on the craftsman's hand, eye, etc. at every given moment. The totality of all those moments gives some measure of the degree of "handmade".
WELL SAID!
I advertise my work as Handcrafted. The point that I am trying to get across to prospective customers is that they will not be getting factory made, or import junk. If you are producing your parts with a CNC, or worse, outsourcing everything and then assembling them, this is not handmade, and it would be deceitful to call it so. If you are producing everything in-house, whether you use modern equipment or not, then I believe you can label it handmade. In response to a couple of posts that have referred to handmade being an advertising gimmick meaning that the craftsman isn't skilled and defects are to be expected, this could be true for some but that is certainly not what I mean, and I don't think this is what customers expect either. This may be the difference between "handcrafted", and "handmade".
Branching off of your post what is Amish made? The Amish kitchen makers down the road buy all their drawers and doors from a factory in California, I know it is not Amish.
I saw your question and had to respond. I worked 5 years for a production "custom" furniture shop. Custom in that we would costomize off of our standard items, not much true custom work. Anyway, we sold to retailers only, never directly to the consumer. A few of our retail stores marketed our furniture as Amish furniture. Some even included it in their name, such as, "Real Amish Furniture." Always quite the joke on the shop floor needless to say, what with the cars in the parking lot, the radio blareing, and sanding buffers everywhere.
Eric"When it comes time to die, make sure all you have to do is die." -Jim ElliotEdited 5/27/2005 8:28 am ET by ECBNTMKR
Edited 5/27/2005 8:32 am ET by ECBNTMKR
Many might think that if they assembled it out of the box from Ikea it's hand made :-)
"Hand Made" may be a "red herring." I'll try to be more specific.
Does this do a better job of sorting?
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
View ImageA
pq,
A good place to start is to read David Pye's book, "The Nature and Art of Worknamship".
Did you cut those dovetails by hand? No, I used a saw, and chisel.
Is ANYTHING truly made by hand? Maybe some clay pots, or grass baskets. Most everything else requires the use of tools of some kind. My fingernails aren't strong enough, no matter how sharp I get 'em!
If you are going to admit the use of a tool into your definition of "Hand-made", does it have to be a hand pushed tool? Does a skilsaw fit your parameters?
How about a tool where the wood is pushed across the tool? Like a cooper's long jointer. Whoops, how is it different from a power jointer, or a table saw, for that matter?
No power from outside sources? Then the wood that was worked by water powered up and down sawmills from the 18th century wasn't handmade either was it? Turnings from waterpowered lathes are out too I suppose.
Handmade is sort of like what the judge said about pornography, I know it when I see it. Everyone has their own idea of what it means, but its tricky to pin down. Me, I don't even have a pornograph...
Regards,
Ray
"Did you cut those dovetails by hand? No, I used a saw, and chisel."
LOL. I like that a lot. Good point.
Mikeplease excuse my spelling.
I'm sure then that there is no such thing as a handmade glass item!!The Undisciplined Life Is Not Worth Examining.
dlb,
OUCHIE!! that was HOT, wasn't it? NO, it just don't take me long to make a vase with my bare hands...! Ha, ha,
Ray
I'm sure then that there is no such thing as a handmade glass item!!..
Not true! My Mom did that in her basement! She was something.. Just small stuff.. Made glass in colors/patterns for replacing broken panels in old Church stained glass windows..
She just charged what she 'thought' the electric bill for the kiln would be..
Very true Will George. LOL
I mostly post over on the Fine Homebuilding board as I am a professional tradesman .but an amateur woodworker.
I have enjoyed the 2 discussions over here on " High End Work" and " Handmade"
It reminds me of something my dad told me long ago
"don't tell me how tough you are-----when you are really tough we will all know it and you won't have to tell us"
Perhaps " High End" and " Handmade" are similar? when we achieve it we won't have to tell anybody---- it will be obvious to them?
Best wishes, Stephen
"don't tell me how tough you are-----when you are really tough we will all know it and you won't have to tell us"
Stephen is my step dads name.. He is really a cool guy...
My grandpa said ya tough when you can haul coal to the home bin from the chain driven truck and come out not sweatin'... ???
I don't think the term "hand made" applies too much anymore. My preference is to call it home made or custom made.
I'm not a lawyer so I'd just as soon keep making stuff and let someone else worry about the terminology. In the end, the only thing that matters is the final product, not the method used to get there.
Edited 5/27/2005 10:43 pm ET by wooden splinter
I read handmade as a short-hand for "made with hand tools" as opposed to power tools.
In order to address the "Ikea" mode of hand-made, I would assume that the starting point are boards of varying sizes. While the boards were produced by powertools, I still think that boards are a fair starting point for hand-made products.
I think that even if something is hand-made, there are almost always machines involved...How many craftsmen use a hand saw to dimention boards?
Many of these people may use a hand plane to remove the warp, or even to thickness or smooth, or joint the wood, but I would suspect that except for that zany guy on The Woodwright's Shop on PBS, everyone uses a table saw, or a bandsaw in the building of any hand-made piece...
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think that the use of machinery diminishes the hand-madeness of a piece...the difference is in the details. I cannot carve a ball and claw foot by machine, but at the same time, I don't want to waste the hours cutting the mortises by hand, or cutting the curves on the shape of the leg with a bow saw.
I believe that if the technology is there, then why not take advantage of it? If the old-world carftsmen had the use of epoxy and plywood and power sanders, you can bet that they would have used them...but their pieces would still havebeen made by hand.Peter
jpswoodworking.com
"Handmade" in my mind is a term used the way realtors use phrases like "dream home" or "cozy".
It is rarely if ever accurate, and is really an adjective used to sell a product.
Here are a few of my thoughts on "hand made" and the like:
The Amish are just catching on to the marketability of their lifestyle. The fact that the American public has them totally confused with the Shakers matters little to the marketing efforts. Damn the truth, full speed ahead.
One group of German Baptists (another obscure religious group to which skill is attributed by virtue of membership in the group) woodworkers actually said they never met a staple they didn't like - the bigger, the better. They made some terribly bad "Hope Chests" and knew it. The shop joke joke was they all hoped the chests didn't fall apart before they got out the door.
How about the term "Hand selected Hardwoods" or even "hand machined"? These pass for information on hang tags and websites yet denote bulls**t as the norm. The problem then becomes how one can differentiate between bulls**t and accurate descriptions.
Perhaps hand made (or is it handmade) should mean something about one individual involved from the conception to execution, and all the surfaces graced by hand work. This definition would retain the individuality inherent in hand made, that is, not of an assembly line, and incorporate the whole process as well as the final product. The fact that hands were used to grace the final surfaces means that the maker did what makers have done for millennia - given the piece a final touch and tactile inspection.
It is notable that my friend in the Peace Corps in Zambia lives where almost everything is handmade, and the few machine made things are prized - sheets of tin, plastic and glass jars, plastic sheeting. There are also no "dumps" or landfills since everything is recycled or completely worn out.
Dave S
PQ--
I am stuck here scratching my head trying to understand why you care what hand made means to other people. IS it not more important what you think and beleive in?
Help me understand
what you are trying to gain by getting other inividual's opinion?
Thank you,
The Great Marko
Don't we hope to gain knowledge from other peoples opinions?
I asked this question mostly to understand what is out there, what others think. I was taught young to cherish that.You ask what is there to gain? In my opinion, a wealth of information. I AM interested in what others say and think. No matter how individualistic I want to think I am, my experiences (what I think and believe) are influenced by my relationship with others.Life is relationship.Thanks for your post,
pk
Marko.. Geeeee.. Just a question I think!
Relax!.. LOL
Saws are tools with a thin metal strip with teeth on one edge or a thin metal disk with teeth on the periphery. In 1777, Samuel Miller invented the circular saw in England, the round metal disk type of saw that cuts by spinning and is used hand-held or table-mounted. Large circular saws are found in saw mills and are used to produce lumber. In 1813, Shaker-Sister, Tabitha Babbitt (1784-1854) invented the first circular saw used in a saw mill. Babbitt was working in the spinning house at the Harvard Shaker community in Massachusetts, when she decided to invent an improvement to the two-man pit saws that were being used for lumber production.
Samuel Miller invented the circular saw in England
We here in the USA say it was the American AMISH! LOL
Babbitt was working in the spinning house at the Harvard Shaker community in Massachusetts And came up with Babbitt bearings for LARGE shafts...
As in USA.. I think Massachusetts out East someplace!
"handmade" is a marketing term that indicates that the builder is not skilled so you have to deal with all the little defects.
The term means that the origin of a piece can be traced to a specific individual or perhaps a team of individuals. If I had CNC machinery in my one-man shop the work I produced would still be "handmade" by me because my name goes on it as the designer/artisan/clean-up boy.Jeff
I guess it's only fair that I include my opinion:
As the term suggests, made by hand, not by machine. Then there is the question of to what degree? And this seems to be as varied as there are people. This day and age where do we get products that aren't "touched" by machines at some point? My pieces are rough cut and squared by machine. I do the rest by hand, (with tools of course) is this handmade? I consider it to be. But I will say when describing to a customer that machines were used and where.
The term also suggests of "superior quality", whether this is true or not is another matter.
Thank you all for your comments, I think we are all fortunate to have a resource like this so accessable.
pk
Like many others in this forum, I use lumber that's cut by machines.I use jointers and power saws, a lathe and hand tools to make things.I consider them "hand made" because I take the time to assemble them and finish them, mostly by hand.Consider that the Shakers invented the circular saw blade. Prior to this, sawmills used reciprocating saws to cut logs into lumber. The Shakers were the techno-freaks of their age -- they worked as efficiently as they could.Today a Shaker piece, lumber cut with machines, turned on powered lathes, commands top prices at auction."Hand made" to me means the craftsman did the best he/she could to make the best piece possible, whether machinery was used extensively or minimally in the production.Rob Millard uses machinery to produce portions of his pieces, but I don't think anyone here would dispute his craftsmanship.Regards,Leon Jester
Well said, Leon. It's my understanding the Shakers did everything in the most effective way possible. I think they would use many of the modern technologies if they had been available.
I suppose since you and I first caused this dialog, that I chime in with my ideas.
To ME Handmade has some grey areas, but in general if an item is made in a factory ( that is another fun definition) and assembly line assembled - all by machine - That is not handmade, even if they have an "Inspector" certifying the final piece.
If I design a piece of furniture, make it using power tools, some stock items such as factory made corbels, and when completed inspect it for the quality I want - That is handmade.
Woodworkers have always made use of what tools would best accomplish a task in the shortest amount of time. A new combination plane, water powered equipment to saw, power a lathe, drill or whatever. The craftsman of the 18th Century would have jumped full on the use of power tools as we know them.
Many people today tend to equate "Handmade" with quality, but you can have crap work done by hand and yet if set up right with the proper checks by trained people, you can have excellent quality factory made furniture. It all depends on the person in charge and their commitment to a quality product.
I know some people that use hand tools almost exclusively to make their products - just because they like the feel of the tools, the look of the finish and the lack of noise from power tools
Handmade is nice nice Marketing Term - As craftsman we need to be more concerned with the quality of our work and not what tools were or were not used to make them.
1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Handmade is whatever you put your hand to.
Over the centuries we have progressed in our ability to make life easier.
There are some who would have you beleive that if any electricity was used in the creation of your project that it was not handmade.
The reality of life today is that we have X number of hours to accomplish anything.Those that came before us worked out ways of doing things quicker ,just as we work out ways of doing things quicker for those after us.
Do you really want to make something "Hand Made"?? Go and cut down the tree,cut it into usable boards,let it sit for 3-6 years,face it joint it square it up.......by hand...............then cut it into the pieces you need for your project............let it sit for a while ....after it moves start again.............................................now start cutting your dovetails,mortices,or even square butt joints by hand.
There are A VERY FEW PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT CAN ACTUALLY DO THIS.For the rest of us..................Handmade is whatever we can accomplish ,with a material that moves,shifted and twisted when and if it gets the mood.
I guess I've been rambling.............but I for one am very happy for the assistance that those who came before us gave us in starting with square stock.Cutting a joint with saw,chisel or plane, really isn't a problem when you start with a piece of wood that has been squared up with the assistance of a bit of electricity.
Brent
Edited 5/27/2005 9:58 pm ET by brent
Edited 5/27/2005 10:05 pm ET by brent
You value the different interpretations of others on this question but show disdain for philosophers when they assign differing significance to a term/word. In the latter case you judge them as having little or no relevance.
Interesting approach from one who professes to value effective communications.
Doug
My wood products are marked with a seal that says "Hand Crafted By.......". I think hand crafted and hand made are one and the same. What that means seems to be different to different people.. This is roughly my view.
Hand Made means that the object was produced by a craftsman who personally invested his/her skills of craftsmanship into the product.
Non-Hand Made products are produced in a setting where the builders are more like machine operators than craftsman. The operator's skills are tool/equipment related, not product or material related.
How does your seal - "hand crafted by ...", differ from a seal - "crafted by ..."?I have problems with phrases like "hand made", "hand crafted", and "custom made". Every solo roofer could use those phrases. The fellow who who repairs my cars could use them. If I built a house without assistance, I could use those phrases.Somehow those phrases convey a bit of snobbery on the part of the workman.It is especially snobbish to produce a "hand made" product that has the fit and finish of a high end production shop product.I build boats and furniture to order. I use methods that get the work done. I don't see my methods being any better than methods others use. I only see them as being cost effective for me.
George,
this is a little off-topic
but,
I am primarily a " solo roofer" myself-----and 'though I don't use those exact terms in my marketing----you can darn well bet I use that ATTITUDE in my marketing.
almost always a small ( solo) roofer who has been around for a long time with an excellent reputation is going to deliver a far superior product ( roof and all the related custom made flashings, sheet metal, spouting and carpentry)
than a large outfit of say 10-12 hourly employees who slam out " a roof a day"
the small guys' name is on the finished product---it's his families good reputation and their livlihood-----I find customers will pay a premium for that kind of work. conversley size and speed does NOT earn a premium---in fact it exerts a DOWNWARD pressure on pricing and on profitability.( Is the BUSINESS of woodworking all that different?
In fact maybe I SHOULD start using the "hand crafted" angle------I personally Know a local competitor who does very well selling his roofs as " Hand Nailed"
Very best wishes to you,
Stephen
ATTITUDE in my marketing. ??? I Thought THAT WAS Marketing...
Hello Pqken,
This can be a difficult question.I have been doing an expo over the last two days with my products, and was often asked "these dove tails are thy hand made?"-depending on the person asking I may say "yes, my hand" or "yes and no- I did not use one of those jigs, but used chisels , back saw,bandsaw and router".
Or "did you plane this by hand?"- I have said "yes, but after machining planing for straightness and thickness"
I would say that electricity power has got something to do with it, but then there is the machine that is powered by the woodworker himself- by machine I mean one with moving parts and not a tool- so then there is the treadle lathe- this is foot-powered, so is the item made by hand or foot??.
Handmade is not particularly made through bare hands. Just like cleaning or any other natural craft, there are still equipments or tools that are being used.
michigan windshield replacement
Well, this one has certainly brought a number of folk out of the....er .... woodwork. The fellows hoping that the forum will die because it is coloured different now will be terribly-awfully disappointed. :-)
But this to the side.
The question is a bit of a red herring really, as Ray has naughtily pointed out. It's rare for human-made things not to involve hands. Even factory men fill feed hoppers, press green buttons and so forth.
Perhaps the important differentiation is between:
-- those things that are made by automated batch processes, as David Pye describes - processes in which the risk has been dealt with during initial design/machine-commision but now have no risk (and identical resultant products)
and
-- items that are individually made, usually by one person or integrated team, where there is a "risk" for each one made that numerous qualities will vary; grain pattern/colour, minor blemishes, small variations in thickness, lengths, proportions, diameters, surface-finish and so forth.
When processes are automated any inherently risky processes are often designed out, resulting in one of those undesirable machine-made attributes - a certain bland, unvarying and uninteresting shape and surface. No individuality.
As David Pye mentions, such objects are "unnatural" in the sense that real-world objects made by natural processes are generally easy to differentiate, even within the same species, because each one is made "riskily", one by one, by Mother Nature. Natural objects look similar but not identical.
******
So, humans do have a liking for individually made (identifiable as such) objects because they appear more natural.
But in this modern world we have also developed an aesthetic that appreciates the uniformity and perfection of objects made by unvarying automated processes. Who want their iPod to look "handmade"; or for the music they play on it to sound different from the tune we heard and bought?
Only old-fashioned folk who like to hear live performances, which may be better or worse (certainly different) from that of the previous evening.
Lataxe
Note the dates on the previous posts.
I have not read all the posts, and am not going to. But I will share what a dear friend who taught sewing said one time. She was a beautiful craftswoman, and she said, "you want your work to look "handmade" not "homemade".
Gretch,
Homemade not good? Dang! I makes all my (handmade) thangs at home in the shed!! Must I move the shed next door?
Lataxe, chopping your logic.
Lax:
Permission to stay in your shed.
Perhaps the determinant might be the amount of practice/training needed to complete the work? I wouldn't equate someone pushing wood into an automated sawing operation with someone who chooses blades, changes blades, adjusts a fence, and cuts boards one at a time. The former sounds very much like a machine operator, the latter is investing more knowledge and skill to get admittedly similar results.
Not an immaterial question for those of us struggling to earn a living as self-employed . , .
Don,
The knowledge and skill of a craftsman seems to be fundamental if that craftsman is to complete the work to a competant or better standard. Your comparison between a mere operative and someone who masters a machine's workings is a good one because it says something about the nature of the knowledge and skills needed.
In today's world knowledge is usually equated with theoretical and wholly cerebral knowledge, the kind taught almost exclusively now in schools. This knowledge is usually differentiated from skill, which is seen as a mere operative's set of abilities that (the assumption goes) can be taught parrot-fashion and are therefore less valuable than school larnin'.
In reality the opposite is true.
Theoretical knowledge is often static, moribund even. It is easily ossified into a set of useless dogmas, as in many modern management theories, political viewpoints and other "systems of ideas" which are self-supporting, self-referential and isolated from the real events of the world. In today's schools it is these dogma-sets which are taught, very uncritically, and examined via the parroting of their content onto an exam paper rather than by any practical application.
The skill of a craftsman includes not just an ever-accumulating knowledge but also a resilience that comes from being grounded in genuine experiences with the physical world. One certainly starts with a good push from a theoretical canon of good woodworking practices (themselves gathered over sometimes centuries of tradition and practice). But it is everyday experience in making things that provides a craftsman's true knowledge, which is intimately bound up with his or her ability to apply it (the skill).
There are further advantages in the knowledge/skill of craft.
Long familiarity with designs, materials and tools allows a craftsman to "play" - to explore the boundaries of traditional design, material-use and tool-use. Unlike various academic traditions, which can become solidified into meaningless sophisms and discussions about "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin", craft knowledge evolves under the pressures and opportunities of a real world ecology - workshops, businesses, toolmaker's sheds and many other environments. Bad practice tends to die out. Innovation is rife. The long-experienced craftman who persists may become sage-like in his or her understanding of and abilities with the materials, tools and their product.
In the factory, automation can freeze a design (shape, material and production-method) so there is little or no innovation.
******
And yet consider the high pace of innovation (born of great practical knowledge and skill in setting up machinery to make novel designs) of the highly automated production lines in the electronics and microprocessor industries................
Lataxe, who plays out in the shed and elsewhere as much as he can. (Not yet sage-like, though but).
Being married to a scientist, I tell you this, Lataxe. You're confused about the state of theoretical knowledge.
It occurs to me that perhaps you were thinking about theoCRATIC knowledge. :)
Jammer,
A scientist, eh? Does she measure you a lot or just when a new theory requires some data? :-)
You have a point: I don't mean to dismiss all and any theoretical thinking and associated product out of hand. Science is a fine example of a tradition in which theory is dominant yet grounded in reality via the scientific method, which demands experiencial proof for the theory and will revise or even kill the theory should there be but one instance of real world evidence that gainsays it's proposals.
There are other disciplines in which theory and practice are mutually supporting (engineering, farming, etc.).
However, many organisations have become theocratic but without the deity. They still generate and cling to dogmas and catechisms which no amount of evidence will move them from. Postmodernism has brought this kind of disconnected theorising to the fore. Any mad theory may be proposed, with the world described in concepts that form data to fit the theory rather than vice-versa.
We happy woodworkers and other practical fellows may avoid that sad condition by making real things and suffering the consequences of incorrect theories. We learn from our mistakes.
Managers, politicians and all sorts of other modern fellows prefer to stay away from reality on the ground, hiding in their various enclaves and applying their various theories remotely, which remote control neglects to implement the feeback concerning any success, failure or unintended consequences of their tinkering. Thus they speak in terms that the rest of us find irrelevant not to say obscure. They know not the nature of cheese nor how to make it, although they have data about the cheese market and its profit or loss.
Lataxe, who has slipped from Pure Reason into various traditional and pragmatic modes, since they usually work as intended.
She never measures me. She shakes her head, rolls her eyes, and says I'm something called an "outlier", whatever that is.
J,
Watch the following.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJcR11rUpdY&feature=rec-r2-2r-1-HM
Was that machine made or hand made?
If a hand controls a machine, isn't it hand made?
Let's go a bit further. Suppose my mind designs an object, and my mind creates a computer program which my hands type into a CNC machine which creates a masterpiece, was it not "hand made"?
Our hands are merely tools of our minds.
It is really our minds that are in control.
Do we need to carve the wood with our fingernails, or can we use gouges for something to be hand made?
If we can use gouges, can we not use a Dremel tool, and still consider it handmade?
If I automate the motions of the Dremel tool by attaching it to a CNC machine, but generate the program myself, is it not hand made?
If I carve a Santa, and put the carved Santa into a "Carvewright", and make a hundred copies, are they not all "handmade"?
If a hand is a tool of the mind, and the "tool" a "tool of the hand", is not the "tool of the hand" also a "tool of the mind"?
It seems to me that the term "handmade" is not terribly useful. I like the term "mind made" better, because the mind controls the hand.
Buy one might go even farther and believe that fate controls the mind, and thus the mind does not have free will, then everything is "fate made". That would make me the Karma Chameleon. Yuk yuk yuk.
You see, it is WORDS that get us in trouble, but the words are selected by the MIND. So maybe it is the mind that gets us in trouble. But if FATE controls the mind, then it wasn't my fault. THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT.
Life is hard, then we die. So lets have some fun while we are here. Philosophy is fun, isn't it.
Enjoy,
Glad I was able to help (if you can call it that).
Mel
I think David Ring has hit the nail on the head. I used a conbination of machines and hand tools to make the little stands shown in my post picture. I did everything but process the lumber from the log. That was done at a small lumber mill with a motorized band saw, electric kiln, gas lifts, and so on. My point is, if you selected the lumber, processed the rough lumber with machines or hand tools, fit all of the joinery and applied the finish, I think you are well within your right to call your work handmade. Lets not over think this sort of thing.
I like this.
Since it's
I like this.
Since it's clearly a matter of degree, I can get away with calling anything handmade! :)
Does the use of the term "handcrafted" instead of "handmade" modify the issue?
Frosty,
The problem is that words such as "handmade" and "handcrafted" are ill-defined. In fact, their definition varies wildly (as we can see from this thread) across the woodworking world. They have become post-modernist words - make them mean what you like today, another meaning tomorrow and nivver mind what anyone else means by them.
Happily these woolly definitions give us enormous scope to woffle on and on about the meaning of, well, everthing! It gives me the scope, anyway. :-)
Lataxe, swimming in a semantic soup (burp).
previously quoted,"David Pye's book, "The Nature and Art of Worknamship".isp hc 0521060168 sc 0521293561 if you can still get it. he wrote a book on the subject and basically defines it under "the workmanship of risk" and "the workmanship of certainty". I am not excited by quoting books or articles, this shortens up on the words
the workmanship of risk is the motions of man cutting, measuring and fitting most of it by himself (exceptions as no man can do it all himself-you can try. there are times one may need a carver or turner or whatever). one does use machinery to do the bull work, understandable, but it is you that really handles it all. there is that risk at every movement.
the workmanship of certainty is the process of the machine doing it all. man does not have to handle it anymore. the machine cuts(prepares) the wood, measures it, cuts it to it's defined measurements, joins it fits it and can even assemble it without man's intervention. everything is the same; everything is certain, therefore the workmanship of certainty. for an example and I have seen the name used here a few times, the certainty of Ikea products.
this is a conversation that has gone on for decades and will continue even though technology tightens up on the certainty.
you know what you make and if you are honest with yourself, you should know how to represent it. that honest with oneself can be quite a stumbling block for many
ron
Today, I was at a regional park, itself dedicated to preserving the historic 20th century of our area. I was there, because my woodworking buddy is taking lessons from the park's blacksmith.
The take away is the psychedelic "Yellow Submarine" yammering of what constitutes hand made woodworking becomes pinched, twisted, worked over and quenched when laid onto the anvil of the village blacksmith, who will gladly forge you a definition of what constitutes 'hand made'.
It took my buddy about an hour to teach his hands how to beat a 4 sided taper into a length of 3/4" round bar, then use a finish hammer to make the taper rounded. At the end of this exercise was...a 100% hand made punch.
Now that he knows how to hand make it, next time he'll use the mechanical hammer, because an hour is simply too much time needed to produce a pointy piece of hand made metal.
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