BIG SNIP
That's fair because your opinion didn't mean anything to me either.
If everyone had your burning quest for technological advancement we'd still be sitting in unheated caves wondering if rocks are edible.
FoggyTown "Cut to shape . . . pound to fit."
Agreed. So if you just want to make flat boards, go with the machine.
I'm expecting Ikea's new range of Chippendale chairs with great interest.
Sometimes you start with flat boards before doing something more interesting, power tools could be useful to even the most devout neander. After all, the 18th century had self-acting power tools for the simple tedious work - they were called apprentices. I see no benefit in ignoring useful power for stock preparation, but a router won't be replacing my moulders and scratch stocks any time soon.
NO! The machine is incapable of doing the job without the human, whereas the human is capable of doing the job without the machine.
The mach>
The 18th Century had self-feeding gang rip saws, only they were water powered and reciprocating rather than circular and electric powered.
The physique of lumbermill apprentices before water power must have been a sight to behold from ripsawing or wedge splitting planks from logs.
A friend of mine is irritated by the paintings that show Jesus as (in her words) "a skinny, wimpy-looking kind of guy". She says "He was a carpenter. They didn't have power tools two thousand years ago. He must've been buff!"
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.
Yeah, but there are two sides to this coin. There are a LOT of completely worthless, dog shit tools in the world, both power and hand.
Go to Dollar Tree or Big Lots and stock up on tools, now go build me a Chippendale high boy.
A good craftman can make up for these deficiencies to a large extent, but you can't put a decorative edge on a piece of cherry with a hammer and an ice pick and have it come out looking like anything.
You obviously hold the "ancient masters" in high regard. And I will agree that many of them did striking work. But (just to pick one example we all know) Norm Abram makes handsome antique reproductions, which conform very well to the originals, with only a small amount of hand work. Most of his time is spent operating his extensive collection of power tools.
It is possible to do craftsman-like work with power tools. It just requires a different set of skills.
(snip)>
and if everyone had your respect for talent and skill we'd all be living in plastic boxes and eating twinkies out of a tube....
I read an article once that estimated lumberjacks two hundred years ago, working in relative cold, cutting down trees with axes and saws for ten hours a day, probably burned something like 5,000 calories per day. Can you imagine the food they'd have to shovel down just to maintain their bodies?
And I get hungry just from walking to the donut box at work...
-BAT
Where can I get one of those machines?
-j
You ever see pictures of the chow halls in lumber camps?
Still a few around here who worked > > The physique of lumbermill apprentices before water power must have been
Unless you're running windows, you're sitting at one.
Tom Watson wrote
Chuck Hoffman wrote:
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I'll assume that you're not joking and really mean what you said about Norm. I've watched Norm, and while he does better than I do, he doesn't do all that well. He certainly isn't up to the quality of the "ancient masters". You might want to take a look at Tom's work before you make comparisons.
Dave in Fairfax
The question isn't whether one can do the job without the other. It's which part of the system (human-machine) has the skill. With modern machinery the answer is increasingly 'the machine'.
--RC
You can tell a really good idea by the enemies it makes
There are a lot of automation vendors that will sell them to you -- if you're prepared to pay enough. They're called 'machining cells' and similar things.
--RC
You can tell a really good idea by the enemies it makes
There was a reason the cook was one of the most important people in a lumber camp. And why there are so many jokes about bad lumber camp cooks.
--RC
You can tell a really good idea by the enemies it makes
There's a continium there and each of us gets to decide where we fall on the continium.
Ain't freedom wonderful?
--RC You can tell a really good idea by the enemies it makes
They also had water and beast of burden powered tools, like saws. You just had to go to the major metropolises to see them.
Barry
Right!
I like the saying "There are few poorly made antiques"!
Barry
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.