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Walter Mitty woodworker's

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Walter Mitty woodworker's

#1

Maurice

When you start a traditional apprenticeship you need to develop a tough skin pretty quick if your going to make the cut.
But on woodworking forums toughness and resilience is replaced by overly sensitive, easily offended Puritans who would never make it on the shop floor. They have their opinions and that's okay. But heaven forbid a seasoned old hand should beg to differ.
This is why forum's die. The vibrant banter is suffocated by PC woke warrior's who get off on ad hominim attacks with impunity while the old hands and real deal craftsmen are bulldozed out with the usual lame excuses.
Moderators who use excuses like respecting others. Translation : you are not allowed a difference of opinion that offends the weekend Walter warrior's and undermines their credibility with common sense.
Freedom of speech is the corner stone of a healthy society but not on forum's.
Those mysterious mods and their sycophantic allies get off on gang stalking and loaded comments. They can snear and accuse knowing that if you dare to counter them they have an excuse to ban you. Then gloat about it.
They have a free pass to abuse their position and stifle lively honest debate. 
Good men know when it's time to quit and move on. You can't reason with ego driven people. Their cup is already full. 

This phenomenon is well known in the wider community and besides the real craftsmen and women have better things to do when they are treated so badly. 

You want to revive this Forum ? 
Back off. Because people will only put up with Nazi ninjas for so long. They bail because the mods shut down the interesting poster's so they can have their cozy bubble undisturbed by reality checks.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#2

Has anyone passed you a screwdriver recently? Slainte.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

Edited #3

Maurice

No. How about you post an example of your work to prove your genuine ?
Show me what you can do and I'll show you what I can do.
But I rather doubt your up to much are you ?
Except snearing.

Added later 08 min 49 s:

And to prove my point I can confidently predict platinum member will get me banned from here too. Won't you  ? Because you already have your stock excuses lined up and a pack of offended amateurs to back you up. 
Me ? I don't need you. I've got everything you don't. Cheers.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#4
Maurice wrote:

No. How about you post an example of your work to prove your genuine ?
Show me what you can do and I'll show you what I can do.
But I rather doubt your up to much are you ?
Except snearing.

Added later 08 min 49 s:

And to prove my point I can confidently predict platinum member will get me banned from here too. Won't you  ? Because you already have your stock excuses lined up and a pack of offended amateurs to back you up. 
Me ? I don't need you. I've got everything you don't. Cheers.

Oh dear. Yet another forum where you've decided to share the benefits of your ridiculous invective and inane gibberish. Slainte.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#5

Maurice, one should not need a thick skin to be part of a forum. One should treat a forum the same way as any face-to-face interaction - disagree by all means, but be respectful and consider the sensitivities of others when you do so. I am the furthermost from Woke in my beliefs, and am capable of being very outspoken. My button gets pushed when I see bourish, bully behaviour. There are some, here and elsewhere, who have tremendous knowledge, but I can live without them if they are intolerant of the views of others. Knowledge of woodworking is only one reason to be on the forum; there is no need to consider it in such a narrow spectrum.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#6

As long-term members of the forum know, Sgian Dubh has posted pictures of his work going back many years. He has knowledge and accomplishments that are known outside the world of the internet. I was a professional cabinetmaker for over forty years and I'm sure Sgian Dubh's knowledge and experience are much greater than mine.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#7

Maurice, from your posts so far I don't understand what you expect to get out of this forum.

If you simply want praise for your work: the pictures I've seen so far are too dark for me to judge the form or woods used or construction. From what I have seen, they aren't a style I like but they look well made. I can't comment more since I don't really know what I'm looking at.

I like build threads because those provoke some back and forth and get people thinking about alternative solutions. Perhaps you can show us your next build or comment on other ongoing build threads to share your insights.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#8

Maurice

Gentlemen.
I have read your comment's. Some of it perfectly reasonable at face value.
But if someone directs a confrontational comment at me, that's fine. I'm not interested in building a consensus and fan club.
Happy to share build experience.
My first post's were on a machine rebuild.
But my posting an example of my experience from the past excited envy more than respect. I only posted it to prove my credentials. Fatal mistake. 
My credentials were of course questioned.
So I refuted them directly and gave further examples. 
All this did was fan the flames.
So I directed my attention to a thread about a thicknesser rebuild. 
When you've been throwing timber through thickness planers for over fourty five years plus in various shops you get to know a bit from experience. 
Because my family has a strong engineering background I knew how to fix them up, dial them in and get them working properly.
Many pro woodshops don't. Eg, They adjust them incorrectly by cranking up the pressure on the feed rolls and pressure bars to much.
Stock won't feed.
Now this chap got all steamed up about my observations big time ! 
But you see I do know what I'm talking about.
You may not like me speaking plainly but I've seen to many nasty accidents. 
I used one small powermatic once. It was okay actually. 
But like any machine, if it's abused or not looked after ? Trouble.
Even kickback fingers need to be checked. They can get gummed up and stuck. If that happens they will not work. Again, I've seen it happen. The Wadkin manual advises regular inspections for that reason.
Most end users don't abide by those recomendations.

Most full time workers have no personal attachment to the tools they operate.
If it's good they will say so, if it's a pain they won't mince words. If it's downright dangerous they will refuse to use it. If they value their safety. 

So what else can I say in my defence ?
I tried to sum up my reason's and was deleted and banned for it ! 
That's not a good look Gents. It's the main reason all my friend's in the trade don't share on forum's. Cabinet makers, instrument makers etc. To busy. 

The real world isn't like your forum's and their safe space rules.  Machines don't care about you, your feelings, your wife or kid's. If they are dangerous they will hurt you and not bat an eyelid.
Same with many employers. 

I was banned for speaking plainly and trying to warn people of the dangers. Madness.
Very very sad. 

And yet when I tried to say so I was ridiculed along with those who lost finger's !
Shameful. You call that respect ? 
Fortunate are those who work wood as a hobby. Time is on their side. Not for us.

So what to do ? I'm not invested in the need for congrats. Hobby guys ask me for advice a lot. I give them the straight answer because I'm not selling anything or bidding up my stat's. Forum rule's won't get you out of a parking ticket or a mugging.
They won't prevent a shaper gutting you when an illegal cutter breaks.

Some old machines are great. Some are not.
It's a war zone. The longer a soldier survives his first deployment the greater his chances of getting home in one piece. Assuming the CO is competent to lead. Many are not.
Experience is valuable knowledge. Ignore it at your peril.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#9
Steve Elliott wrote:

As long-term members of the forum know, Sgian Dubh has posted pictures of his work going back many years. He has knowledge and accomplishments that are known outside the world of the internet. I was a professional cabinetmaker for over forty years and I'm sure Sgian Dubh's knowledge and experience are much greater than mine.

That's very kind of you to say so, Steve.

However, the reason I made a comment in the first place is that I recognised a pattern of behaviour in a new poster here. I saw a very similar pattern over at UKWorkshop, i.e., a new member called Pass the Screwdriver who, in less than 48 hours posted roughly 50 times. It was generally screeds of somewhat odd stream of conscience stuff essentially replicated here with a focus on things like Powermatic planers which no-one had asked about as far as I'm aware, along with training, apprenticeships, saving people from injury, theft of tools, sabotage of work, experiencing persecution for being professional and knowledgeable, decrying cabals of amateur self appointed experts on forums, and so on.

I suspect 'Maurice', who elsewhere claimed to be British but living in Australia may be experiencing some sort of emotional or psychological difficulty. If that is the case I hope someone who knows and cares for him (maybe her?) is able to help getting whatever treatment may be needed. I really hope my suspicions are unfounded and 'Maurice' just likes sounding off long-windedly and annoying people. Slainte.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

Edited #10

It makes so little sense that one wonders if it's created by AI based on some parameters:
* nonsensical
* unrelated to the forum, claiming events that are generalized but not specific to the forum
* misspelled words for authenticity?

it is a little bit of a throwback - the kind of "I'm older and just got on the internet, lived in a bubble imagining nobody else can build anything, and I'm going to take some typical work to the forum and tell everyone that I'm here to make them great". 

There are definitely some things I miss from the old days (Todd and Larry going back and forth, for example), but not really the attention seekers who boil over from member indifference.

Added later 03 min 32 s:

That does make me wonder - anyone heard from Todd in the last decade? I've seen him still selling stuff on off and on when looking for mrsdeadhorse, but do miss his stories that forced you to get out a spiral notebook to remember the names of all of the girls who would find him antique tools to flip.

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#11

admin

Maurice wrote:

Most full time workers have no personal attachment to the tools they operate.
The real world isn't like your forum's and their safe space rules.  Machines don't care about you, your feelings, your wife or kid's. If they are dangerous they will hurt you and not bat an eyelid.
Same with many employers. 
Fortunate are those who work wood as a hobby. Time is on their side. Not for us.
It's a war zone. The longer a soldier survives his first deployment the greater his chances of getting home in one piece. Assuming the CO is competent to lead. Many are not.
Experience is valuable knowledge. Ignore it at your peril.


Interesting. Yeah, there is quite a difference between pursuing something as a hobby and doing it in a production environment where bean counters perceive you as just another tool to be used in generating profits.

That said, I'm curious as to your thoughts on a hotly debated topic on (often expensive) safety technology such as used in Sawstop saws being justified or just expensive fluff unneeded if operators simply always did things "the right way." You mentioned being dog tired at the end of the day and not being able to readily find a push stick, and the brain usually tells us, "It will be fine just this one time, I'll be careful." 

A related thread you may wish commenting on...

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

#12

Peter, you're a mensch!

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

Edited #13

admin

@David Weaver, 

It's an act in case my probation officer visits this site. ;)

Re: Walter Mitty woodworker's

Edited #14

Maurice

Replying to Peter Martin.

Re Saw stop.
Good question. I know how easy it is to come across as a safety Nazi such that you make everyone feel guilty for not having a saw stop ! 
I use a Felder series 7 panel shaper combination. It's fine for what I do but it doesn't have electronic breaking or saw stop. If you can afford a saw stop go for it, if not, be more careful. 
Regardless of my personal opinions on machines it's everybody's right to choose in their own private shop. As it should be.
Whenever you start working in a new shop the foreman would talk you through every machine so you knew what you were up against. As did I when I've been foreman.
A good foreman won't mince word's. He doesn't want to see someone get injured under his direction. I have and that's something I will have to live with the rest of my life. Yes, I was cleared of any negligence by all concerned but let me tell you. I felt sick to my stomach when it happened.
So all I can do is what any conscientious person would and tell you what to look out for. It's not to dump on your gear per se. It is simply giving you a heads up that could save you from a nasty permanent injury.
Some guys in joinery still like to use old style cutters because they can grind and modify them themselves. French head's and slider knife head's etc. It's their choice. I do understand the temptations to manage their risks their way. 
Everybody has had a near miss, everybody has pushed their luck on the odd occasion.
But what I do find hilarious is the presumption I am possibly AI !
Well I can only deny and supply proof.
People demand proof your real then get triggered and call you an ego driven show off ! Maybe because they lack what you have for real. That's kind of sad.
But I'm not here to prove anything so it doesn't matter to me. 
I've only shown the simple stuff to avoid getting called a faker and troll. 
The irony is that my customers generally prefer I do not show pictures of their finished commissions because they want it to remain unique and uncopied. So that's fine. 
My nosy neighbour is an architect. He is banned from visiting my shop because he tries to steal my design's. This is a very common problem. So now I have blinds on the windows facing his house. 😆. 
What I did today. Mortiser restoration.
20240830-134347.jpg

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