Charles Krug wrote:

Guy there at the "craft fair" was selling "hardwood jewelery boxes" . .
. . "handcrafted"

1. Minwax light-oak stain does not convert pine into "hardwood"

2. Hardwood drawers are not made of spruce.

3. Handsawing does not leave circular saw marks.

4. A drawer lock router bit is not my definition of "hand work."

5. Neither is a drawer pull shaper profile.

6. Nor a 1/8" roundover.

They were "nice" but in my estimation worth about a quarter of the
price, even taking into account the natural Craft Fair Yahoo Factor
where you can resell 10c shaker pegs for a buck a piece.

"Craft Fair Yahoo Factor". Heh, I love that, and it really hits
home. :-) I live in a small town near the Hill Country in Texas, and
we have a monthly "market day", where you see some "interesting" things.
About half of the stuff looks like someone cleaned out grandma's attic
and put a pricetag on the stuff, assuming if it's old then it's an
"antique". The prices are unbelievable (and don't get me started on
what they want for old rusty handtools), but evidently the stuff sells.
(I guess we could call that the "Craft Fair Yahoo Anteek Factor".)

Then there's the "handcrafted" stuff. A lot of it is pine that
looks like it's been left sitting in a pile on the ground for a year or
three, and then dragged around the farm behind a tractor. This is then
called "barnwood", cut to roughly equal lengths, and nailed together in
various shapes sometimes resembling squares or rectangles. It is
automatically worth more than the finest Chippendale. (I guess we could
call this the "Craft Fair Yahoo Distressed Factor".)

You also get the "nick-knacks" intended to decorate your home in the
finest "country" style. (Of course any real "country" person would
rather have their cows make a "deposit" on the living room floor than
have this stuff in their homes.) These are the various little placards
and such with "cute" sayings (e.g., "If You're Smokin', You Better Be On
Fire") on them that have been scrollsawn from cheap hardwoods and
painted in festive colors. The really fancy ones have dowel or two so
that they can double as coat hanger. (I guess we could call this the
"Craft Fair Yahoo Kuntry Kitchen Factor".)

I have yet to see anything nearly as "finely-crafted" as what you
describe in your post. Although there was one guy who had some unique
cutting boards. They were made from strips of oak, maple, purplehart,
mahogany, etc. laminated together ... and cut into the shape of the
state of Texas. (I guess we could call this the "Craft Fair Yahoo Texas
Factor".)


Chuck Vance