On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 10:02:16 GMT, "George" wrote:


"Prometheus" wrote in message
.. .
Now granted, they're still doing that with cabinet saws- but there are
plenty of hobbists that can't afford a Unisaw (or a Oneway, as this
*is* the turning forum) that might be able to scrape up the money for
something on the order of a "benchtop" saw with cast iron trunnions
and handwheels (to say nothing of a decent fence!) or a Midi lathe
with a heavier base and stainless handles instead of cheap plastic
ones.

Good enough engineering is the difference. If the fools wouldn't abuse the
tools, it'd be good enough.

Many things are not good enough. They're banking on the fact that
most people won't know or care enough to know the difference.

Obvious when you read other contributions to the forum, consisting largely
of "can I get this cheaper" or is "Harbor Freight a good place to get a
blurfl" that expensive tooling is not what the majority wants or cares
about.

That's true enough, and might be the thing that makes it an
unrealistic business model for a large company. But around here,
tradesmen usually exchange knowledge and products amongst each other,
and when a guy makes something that is worth having, there is
generally enough demand to keep him busy every weekend making one for
each of the people who *do* care about quality. Doesn't translate
into millions of dollars a year, but you meet some interesting people
that way, and get a little extra cash in your pocket. And you might
get a discount on that driveway you need poured, or that topsoil you
need graded, to boot.

At this point, I'm tired of worrying about whether something is
expensive or cheap. I just want things that come from real people who
care about what they do, and try to avoid buying yachts and golf trips
for the people who are stealing benefits and pay increases from guys
like me to raise their stock value by a quarter percent. I'm not a
power investor in the stock market, nor am I rapidly climbing the
corporate ladder. But I do have the means of production in my hands,
and that's what makes the world go round at the end of the day.

So, the guys in the white shirts and power ties can say whatever they
like, and anyone is free to buy into it or not. I'm not particularly
against them, I just don't need them. If Ed the mechanic gets
together with Bob the machinist, Larry the farmer, Joe the carpenter
and George the excavator, more often than not, each of them ends up
with a good running car, cheap replacement parts, clean meat and
veggies and a nice home with a well-landscaped yard at a price that
they can handle without paying 18% interest for the rest of their
natural lives. Microeconomics often result in higher quality goods
and services at a fraction of the cost, at least as far as I've seen.
It's hard to make a billion dollars by screwing each person out of
fifty cents if you're only making twenty of a thing. In fact, it's
usually easy enough to make it better, because it only costs you $10
out of pocket, and the goodwill that results is worth many times that.

I know I bang my drum on this subject a lot, but I'm convinced it is
far more important than a lot of people realise. History shows us
again and again that when too much power rests in too few hands, the
greater mass of humanity suffers terribly. We are under a huge load
of propiganda that sells us the idea that we must have everything, we
must have it now, and we must have it cheap- and the only ones
equipped to provide that for us are huge corporate entities that care
little for any one person. They get the customers, end up being the
main employers, and are free to lower the pay scale so that they can
provide the customers cheap goods- which are all they can then afford,
owing to that same lowered pay scale. A neat trick, that- and many of
us are now nearly at the place where we now owe our souls to the
company store.

Getting riled up and looting the Wal-Mart isn't what will solve the
situation- but buying local goods and supporting local trades and arts
is a good start. It goes in one ear and out the other with most
people, but that is no reason to stop saying or thinking these things.
A lot of good things wither and die for lack of adequate expression.

In the US, we come from people who would not meekly accept the lot
handed them- the people who settled the land came from all over the
world, and built the most powerful engine of wealth the world has ever
seen in a period of time that is a blink of history's eye. One city
and village at a time- from scratch. It's a lot to live up to when
you think about it, but it's something *worth* living up to. Each and
every person has something to contribute right near home- put all
those skills and all that knowledge together, and you have a nice
community where you don't need to worry about Delta/Porter-Cable/Black
and Decker/AOL/Time-warner/Phillip Morris's agenda anymore. There's a
critical mass there, and it's high time we all reach for it again.

But before any of that happens, some people need to start making these
things happen individually, with the aim of making a better life- and
not just accumulating a million bucks in the bank and a house full of
junk. Could be me, and it probably should be. After all, if I don't
stand up and try, who else is going to? Someone always has to be
first. Could be you in your neck of the woods- I see no reason why it
isn't possible.

My saw has cast trunnions and a good fence, but it's not powerful or
expensive enough for the tool snobs or cheap enough for the penny-pinchers.
Also, regrettably, no longer made in USA. Guess everybody doesn't like
something ....

If you value it, others do as well. Don't listen to shills- they're
not looking out for you best interests. If you want it and can make
it, make it- if you can't make it, find a real person who can, and
offer them your best in return, whatever your best may be. It's the
only proper way to answer tool snobs and penny-pinchers. If you
meekly turn away and say it can't be helped, it will only get worse.