On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 15:59:01 -0700, "George M. Kazaka"
wrote:

Well charlie Thats about it in a nutshell except you forgot one,
A hobbyist will use hand tools and cut hand dovetails etc,
A pro will say are you outa your feakin mind ??? and throw the switch on a
machine that does the same thing G


On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 07:43:12 -0500, "George"
wrote:

Yep. Sizzle versus steak.

Proving once again that a fool and his money....


T'aint necessarily so, Georges.

The higher end of the market includes a higher percentage of more
sophisticated buyers, some of whom are as interested in the 'who' and
the 'how' of things as they are in the 'what.'

I've had them quote Pye's stuff about 'the workmanship of risk' at me
while they were telling me that they wanted me to build something for
them, not because I was cheaper (I wasn't), not because I'd get it
done faster (I wouldn't), but simply because I would be the one doing
the entire thing, from design through finishing and I would be using
techniques and equipment that didn't remind them too much of the
factory versions of same.

The term, 'hand made' takes a pretty good beating in the custom
furnishings business. If a carving is roughed out by a CNC machine
but every exposed surface is worked by hand with carving tools, is it
'hand made' or machine made?

There's a very tiny market for purely neander made stuff. However,
there is a substantially bigger market for furnishings that are not
strictly 'hand made' but are certainly not mass produced.

Is the hand cut dovetail any stronger than a well executed machine
made dovetail? I don't think so and, with some of the skinny little
pins I see out there, many of them are less strong.

That hand cut dovetail is an 'homage' to the traditions of the craft
and is something that a customer will pull open to show a visitor to
their home and say, "Those dovetails were cut by hand, can you believe
it?"

And they are willing to pay for that pleasure.

God Bless their pea-pickin' hearts..(tef...rip)





Regards, Tom
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker
Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania
http://users.snip.net/~tjwatson