What are our goals as woodworkers?

Re: I wonder if Fred's great grandfather was a cra

Gary B.

Re: Krenov

Gary B.

As a career woodworker, I would agree with Krenov's statement. The truth and simple truth is that VERY few professional woodworkers get to work on such advanced projects. They are the elite studio furniture makers. Most studio furniture makers are starving artists. Some of the best "industrial" woodworking in my opinion is in very very high end corporate furniture. I've worked for a few companies whose niche was very custom boardroom tables for banks, lawyers and other high profile companies. These tables could get up to $300,000 a piece. With that much money, a business can afford the top notch veneers and other materials, as well as the time it takes to do an exceptional job.

After 15 years in this trade, I've realized that I'm better off doing what is profitable at work, and doing what I want to do in my own shop at home.

Re: Krenov

TomD

I spent my working life in boardrooms at the highest domestic level, and most of the tables were pretty unimpressive. But the clients did have money, what they probably didn't have was taste, at least in the direction of wood. The missing part in most of these things is clients, not the woodworkers. There are a number of areas I am familiar with where there is high end woodworking being done, that are not really considered. Bows, arrows, aircraft, boats, bamboo rods (even if bamboo is a grass), guns, musical instruments. Aircraft might be the only variety where the wood is not prized that highly for itself, though that could be wrong, certainly when working at that level, I am in serious love with the material, but I don't know if that applies generally. The other uses are areas where there is an uninterrupted love affair between users and the object itself. They all have some high tech side option, but there remains a more traditional user segment as well. And that group can't live without the beauty of wood in these objects.

Re: What are our goals as woodworkers?

Joseph Mulherin, sr

My thoughts exactly, Jack. I am trying to make the best rocking chair I can ....considering my limited capabilities. Am making the Sam Maloof rocking chairs designed by Hal Taylor at www.rockingchairuniversity.com. I have made 4 so far, but need to make 8 more for family members.

The sanding takes so much long time to get the perfect look of these chairs.

Re: Why did I ask this question?

Brian Holcombe

Interesting topic;

I began woodworking out of need, I needed a side table and was very dissatisfied with what was available commercially at a reasonable price. What was available was disappointing in terms of quality and I did not have a sense of furniture design at the time.

I set forward with an intuitively designed shaker table made of spare woods from knife-making (a hobby in my teenage years) so I built a shaker side table with a drawer utilizing the tools and woods I had available to me, so I built it with basically nothing but sliding dovetail joinery and a combination of ebony and rosewood. Pretty obnoxious, but it got me started.

Fast-forward 6-7 years and I'm still at it, mostly building tables, casegoods and architectural elements because my goal is to build them very well. I have not moved on for that exact reason, I want to take the skills developed in one project and roll it into a similar project. I've taken that time to run side by side an apprenticeship (autodidact style) on design.

I'm not interested in collecting a woodshop, I'm interested in training a craftsman. However, one important thing I have come to terms with is that my projects are a window into a time period of my abilities. I do occasionally revisit a project to improve something that was lacking, but generally they are left alone.

My interest in doing similar things well has taken me to hand tools, and from there my abilities as a craftsman have improved, my understanding of how the tools function has improved and my trust in my abilities has improved.

I took on a project for a friend of building frames for his art. I did not expect to make so many, but so far I've gotten to the point where I've made about 75 of these box frames. They have basically taught me how to saw, as I've made 300 miters by hand (600 cuts) and 300 Half-laps. I went from being a terrible sawyer to one where I can actually rely upon my own work. The miters i finish by plane, but the half laps I glue right off the saw.