thanks, Tom, excellent post...as a carpenter lurching and stumbling down
that same path I can relate, especially to the part of wanting whatever
tool/skill/knowledge will produce a better result in (hopefully)less
time and with more fun...
david
Tom Watson wrote:
On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 14:45:57 -0500, Silvan
wrote:
(The following is freely snipped)
Flipping channels for SWMBO, came across a woodworking show on PBS. Ah,
there's Nahmie.
I was surprised he used his TS and dado stack for all the tenons, and the
T&G rails and stiles. Hell, why didn't he just whip out his rail and stile
set for his 5 HP shaper? He pulled out everything else.
That ain't woodworking, Nahmie, that just ain't woodworking. It's
manufacturing.
I've always enjoyed watching Norm.
One of the reasons is that his growth and development has paralleled
my own.
Norm started out as a carpenter and then gravitated towards doing the
fussier stuff. He was already pretty good at trim work when I first
started watching him - back in the days of Bob.
The first natural step away from doing rough and finish carpentry is
towards built-ins. You can spend a whole career on built-in work,
learning more about design and construction as you go.
There is a crossover phase between building built-ins like a carpenter
and starting to build them more like a furniture maker. Your design
sense gets better, particularly if you are fortunate enough to work
with good designers and architects. Your work eventually becomes less
carpenterish.
Some fellas, and I believe Norm to be one of them, keep on following
this path until it leads them to freestanding work, or what might
properly be called furniture.
When I started out as a carpenter, which was pretty much the same time
as Norm did, carpenters still made a lot of built-in work. The
kitchens were often done onsite and things like bookcases, fireplace
surrounds, wainscot and window seats were done there too. The joinery
was what you could do with the tools available to you in the field.
You wanted more tools so that you could rip a nicer line than you
could with the circular saw, make a nicer door than a slab and batten,
cobble up a better drawer than a butted glue and nail.
Most of the guys that I have known, who were any good at carpentry,
wanted those tools so that they could do nicer work in an efficient
enough fashion to satisfy themselves and the requirements of the
marketplace. You wanted to follow your star but you had to deal with
that old Nemesis - The Marketplace.
Even at the level of built-ins there is a bit of snobbery involved.
The guys who grew up in the shop look down on the converted
carpenters, even though you could probably follow their lineage back
to a carpenter somewheres in the woodpile.
Breaking into freestanding work is another major leap. On a skill
level, you are going to have to make your own mistakes and learn from
them the best you can. On the business level - that is a tough
market, with many niche markets, where the margins are tight and the
money is dumbed down by the number of people who are willing to do it
on a subsistence level - there's your artist, used to living in a
culture that does not reward the artist, so much as the sellers and
collectors of art. Most places that show and sell mark up one hundred
percent, getting more than you did for creating the piece.
I'll bet Norm feels fortunate to have found a path that lets him grow
and explore. I've not seen many things that he has designed himself -
but he's still a young fella and that may come along.
Certainly he has to show the wares of his Patron, and this is no
different from those who have created under the banner of patrons of
the arts since time out of mind. Our patrons these days are corporate
and Delta is the current Medici of American WoodDorking - Gosh Bless
Them.
Norm is slowly knocking the carpenter out of himself. It's fun to
watch him do it.
Most of the guys who bitch about Norm here on the Wreck aren't worthy
to carry the man's tools.
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)