CNC vs hand work

Re: CNC vs hand work

Mike Schwing from Md.

>Well I guess this'll be interesting.

For me: If I didn't need one for the amount of furniture I was making, I don't think that when the technology is available and affordable, I'll need one for turning either. However, I suppose that if I was supplying a bunch of low/mid end home decoration stores or something like that I would look very much forward to buying a CNC hollower.

We buy CNC things all of the time. I don't recall complaining about the metalwork in my new vehicle's engine, or half of the power tools I own.

Hand work will always be recognizable to the discerning collector/critic. Builders purposely put telltale signs of handwork in otherwise machine created furniture. I've "antiqued" brand new furniture, going so far as to shoot it with a 12 gauge full of number 9's. But there are also some people who don't want to see any trace of handwork in what they buy.

Their money is green, too. I wouldn't begrudge anyone seeking that path.

Re: CNC vs hand work

Andy in Raleigh

>I was thinking this over myself recently. I have been getting into other woodcrafts - scrolling, intarsia and a little carving. When we pulled out the Christmas decorations, among them are a number of wooden items that we picked up in years past. My wife is a savvy catalog shopper and gets a lot of stuff from ABC distributing for unbelievably cheap prices. I was looking at a carved Santa about 1' tall that cost about $6 and thinking there is no way I could carve all that detail and paint it that carefully without spending hours on it. Even if I got really good and fast at carving and painting, there is no way I would get it under an hour. For $6 ?!?! The quality of the piece is such that if I were to remove the "China" sticker from the bottom and sign it, it would probably impress people more than my own work.

I was in Target the other day and saw large walnut bowls for $20. Some of them looked quite nice. At the flea market near my house, one vendor sells hardwood mortar and pestal sets for $2. I picked up a couple and used them for small bowl blanks (screw the foot to a faceplate and you're in business).

Anyway, bottom line to this rant is that it has to be important to the person who buys/receives the piece that it is handmade for there to be any value in it. My daughter will hopefully treasure her imperfect scrolled bobcat and horse intasia long after I am gone because I made them, not because they are higher quality. Getting the general public to feel that way about something crafted by a stranger is another matter entirely.

-Andy

Re: CNC vs hand work

Arch

>Happy New Year John, This was considered in some depth on the ng forum and was fun, but of course, without consensus.

To be authenic 'Arch Art', I would need a very expensive CNC program for spiral catches, splintered edges, sanding scratches, tacky forms, and all the other 'embellishments' that make my wood art uniquely mine.:) Probably more cost effective to hire five hundred Chinese preteens and rent a sweatshop.

I can see my answer to CNC ART now, resplendent as it's displayed in all the best museums;

"OUT SOURCED ART by ARCH"

(butI still wonder what you smelled.'G')

Turn to Safety, Arch

Re: CNC vs hand work

Wood Spinner

>This is kind of what happened with the presents I buy for my wife. Years back I would buy her a nice diamond for all ocassions of the year, birthday etc. Then came the quality man made diamond that look like real diamond. I have not bought another diamond or diamond imitation since.

The day I have to compete with CNC is the day I will stop selling my work.

Thank goodness that CNC looks like CNC. When someone complains about my prices I tell them to go to Wal Mart and buy machine made.

Good turning and be safe

Bill in Casa Grande, AZ.

Re: CNC vs hand work, (correction)

Arch

>Maybe CNC brain control would help my little gray cells to keep crossed threads untangled. Twas Terry with the bashful smell, not John. Apologies to you both. A.

It's just another tool.

Ray Thompson - Middletown,IN

>The next step in the evolution of the tool. Spring pole lathe, treadle lathe, jack shaft powered, motor powered, CNC - just tools to be used and interpreted by the artist. Using it as a copycat tool is not any different than most of us who try to duplicate a Wally, Mark, Mike, Bill or others that we admire. Finding the artist who can use the new tool to create something unique is only in its infancy and next week, next year, or five years from now we will wonder - how did he/she do that. The tool will evolve - like it or not, and those with the vision and imagination to start now will be the next generation of artists that we admire.

Ray

Forgot the duplicator?

Fred in NC

>

Well said Ray

Dave Smith, Longview, WA

>

more like photo versus painting

Andy in Raleigh

>I have to respectfully disagree. It isn't just an evolution but a departure - a different way to achieve similar results. There's art, there's craft and there's manufacturing. The first two kind of blur together sometimes (that can be a real hot topic on scrolling and intarsia boards - if you use someone else's pattern, can you call it art?) but I think it is very clear that using a CNC to make finished goods is manufacturing. It isn't just another tool. It is a robot to use the tool.

Re: more like photo versus painting

bill Crommett in seneca

>As a tangent subject, how about the practice of putting all sorts of carved art into the catagory of "TURNING". Like the "turnings" of Lyle Jamesons nude torsos. or like the bead covered pots which could have been clay, concrete or wood, and caused my good wife to coment: "The American Association of Whatever". (there should be a question mark there somewhere: put it where you will)

Re: more like photo versus painting

Duane C.Leach

>I agree Andy. Someone once explained the difference between art and craft. Craft is made with plans. Thus repeatable. There is no plans for art.It's found only in someone's mind. A vision. And machines cant think. YET

Duane

Re: CNC vs hand work

john Lucas

>This was fun. I wish I had been able to read it all day. What got me thinking about it was a combination of how the prices of CNC routers have gone down and the photo of Michelle Holzapfel turning wood with a metal lathe. It's just a short hop from there to CNC wood lathe.

I look at it as just another tool. It could be used to make many duplicates of course but I would look at it more like an ornamental lathe with capabilities limited only by your imagination.

The problem with CNC

Ray Thompson - Middletown,IN

>is that very few people understand what CNC can really do. Most folks think that all CNC can do is duplicate, which it can do very well. But there is another side to the technology that very few have explored and that is the artistic expression side. The machines are expensive and the first time you tell management you are going to experiment you will probably find your job on the line. As more machines find their way into small shops and garages you will begin to see some of that expression.

Ray

Re: The problem with CNC

john Lucas

>Ray

I agree. I had to photograph a machine the other day that was about 1/2 million bucks. This machine had a robotic arm. It picks up and loads it's own tools. Then carves the piece. It can do just about anything. I watched it carve a really convoluted bumper for a truck. It had all sorts of curves, slots and flat surfaces. This machine did all that to Thousandths of an inch tolerance. Absolutely incredible. The operator told me if you can draw it on the computer this machine can make it.