Excellent post . . . very Krenovian. In fact, I think it addresses the
question that floated around the newsgroup several weeks ago regarding
Krenov. Many here seemed hung up on the particular esthetic that Krenov
builds and missed the key point about Krenov that Tom so eloquently
presents . . . "no bull****!"

Thanks for the post.
Rick
http://www.thunderworksinc.com

Tom Watson wrote:
On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 08:18:33 -0500, "Swingman" wrote:


(BTW ... nice troll, Tom. You definitely have a genius for On Topic trolls,
and illuminating the failings of an educational system, with just few
strokes on the keyboard. g)


Hell, Swing - I don't think of them so much as 'trolls' as much as the
kind of interrogatory mischief that the old Gadfly, Socrates busied
hisself with in the Agora, about 2500 years ago.

'Trolls', properly executed, seek to draw the general populace into an
unending and ultimately meaningless series of posts in response to a
bull**** question.

My post was an invitation to think about 'Bull****' - and how it
relates to WoodDorking.

And 'Bull****' is a serious thing.

A Bull****ter lets himself get sloppy in his stock prep and joinery,
and seeks to make the whole thing look good on the outside.

A Mechanic understands that stock prep is the foundation of joinery;
that joinery is the foundation of the piece, and that what shows, even
if it is bright and shiny today, will not be that way for long if they
have Bull****ted their way through the underpinnings.

You build houses and you know that this extends to that area, too.

I don't care if you are slab on grade or working up a full foundation
- if the slab or top course is left a little bit out of bubble, you
are going to chase that error all the way through the building.

Sure, there are ways of compensating, and every carpenter has to know
them but - there is no framing adjustment that can take the place of a
good foundation.

CharlieB, who is a good and thoughtful man, put up a picture on ABPW
of a corner joint. I took issue with it because the back side of the
intersecting members did not meet up right.

There would have been no net negative result in how the piece looked
from the outside. It would have looked fine. It would not have
suffered in any structural way from how the joint was executed. My
point was that the lack of attention to this detail reflected a lack
of attention to detail that is destructive to the kind of habit of
mind that I feel that you must have in order to do really good work.

Longfellow's paean to the workers of old is not without merit.

The argument that was made that many antiques show rough surfaces in
those areas that can not easily be seen, is a good point. I've taken
apart and repaired some pretty nice pieces that had some rough work
that was hidden from view.

I've also been to the conservator's shops at Winterthur and The
Philadelphia Museum Of Art, where you can really get up close and
personal with the innards of the hallmark instances of great
furniture.

The underpinnings of these pieces are immaculate.

There is no cheating.

There is no Bull****.


I'm not saying that they brought the back surfaces to the same
condition as the wrought surfaces but, when a corner met, it was met
with equal sections. There were no 'off the saw' surfaces left in the
hidden areas. They had all seen a visit from the plane or scraper.
When you turned a drawer upside down, the bottom was not left rough,
nor was the bevel uneven.


These really magnificent, 'No Bull****' pieces showed a habit of mind
that would not allow even a hidden surface to pass by without
attention.


The point, to me, about 'Bull****', is that we must not let 'Bull****'
enter our making of fine objects. 'Bull****' is a habit of mind, or a
relaxing of standards, that informs our work, and ultimately makes the
work less than what it could be.

I truly believe that good habits of mind are critical to the
production of good work. We must execute the fundamentals well and
with a serious purpose.

You may recall the days when a carpenter was interviewed for hiring
and was asked to show his toolbox. If his tools were neatly arrayed
and looked well cared for and sharp - it was an indication to the
prospective employer that this man had the proper 'habit of mind' to
do good work - that he was not a Bull****ter.

Now we have schmucks who drag their tools around in drywall buckets.

What sort of 'habits of mind' does this indicate.


OK - my rant is pretty much done - but I would leave you with the
final thought that 'habits of mind' direct our endeavors, and that we
must cultivate our habits in this regard - if we are to have any
chance at the occasional transcending greatness.


And that ain't no bull****.




Tom Watson - WoodDorker
tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website)