T style table fence: brain picking

[-MIKE-]

Some things on youtube annoy me. Vertical video is a biggie. However, as with everything, I consider the source AND I consider what's more important. If a great mechanic who doesn't know aperture from azimuth shows me how to get to the starter bolts off a Honda Element without having to remove have the freakin engine, then I don't give a $h!t how shaky the video is or if I had to scroll forward through 3 minutes of nonsense to get to the meat. The guy just saved me hours of headache and/or hundreds of dollars in repair bills.

If these people *were* trained in video production, I would have a problem with it. Lord knows I see enough crappy local commercials to make me want to vomit. The whole point of youtube was that any average joe could now upload video to the web for anyone in the world to see. I'll take the crappy production that teaches me something over some guy showing off his editing skill in video that have no redeeming value whatsoever.

Two things. Stay away from my channel. :-) If you run across any kids with a lemonade stand in their yard, go easy on them. They're still learning.

[russellseaton1]

I am not a YouTube expert, but the hundred or so total videos I have watche d have all appeared good to me. They had clear pictures, steady pictures, and good sound. About the same as my television screen. Wonder what kind of video recorder you need to do high quality internet videos? I can still remember the televisions from the 1970s that were black and white, size of a refrigerator on its side, and had grain on the screen about 1/4" in size . You would have to be an expert in video manipulation to get a modern You Tube video to look that bad.

[dadiOH]

As with most things, it is more about technique than equipment. One can have the absolute best of whatever and use it poorly, conversly, poor equipment can give good results when used knowledgeably.

IME, the poor craftsman is constantly searching for better equipment thinking that will magically elevate the quality of his work. Doesn't.

[krw]

No, but what it does do is tell him that it's not the equipment. I've had saws, both jig and circular, that _would_not_ cut a straight line. I thought it was me. A decent saw made all the difference. My track saw is a *hell* of a lot more accurate than my circular saw, even with a fence (which tends to move). There is something the be said for good tools.

[DerbyDad03]

What year is your Element?

SWMBO bought this 2003 last year. 69K miles. The previous owner lives in the rust belt, but the E was never driven in the winter. $8K. We bought it within an hour of the listing showing up on Craigslist.

[Puckdropper]

krw wrote in news: [e-mail]:

A good craftsman doesn't blame his tools, he stops the project to tune or acquire a tool that will give him the results he desires.

Circular saws seem like such simple things that it's hard to make them bad. They found a way, though! I pronounced one circular saw I had borrowed dead when I saw the way the blade moved so readily side-to-side. Bad bearings or something. I stopped the job and found another saw... a handsaw but at least it was still sharp!

This post is about the juxtoposition of thought... The "good craftsman" saying is actually about a "bad craftsman" and circular saws are simple enough it's easy to make them good.

Puckdropper

[krw]

A crafstman doesn't have crapsman tools. There is no tuning a turd. it will always be a turd.

Crapsman sure managed the impossible, then. It would *not* cut a straight line.

It may be "easy" but much too tough for Sears.

[-MIKE-]

Wow, that's quite the coincidence as we have a very similar story several years back. Ours is an '07 and had under 45k miles. We responded to a Craigslist ad within 2 hours and drove 3hrs that day to go see it.

The guy just wanted enough to pay off the loan on his wife's other car, then he took another 10% off without us even asking.

Bluebook was somewhere around 15 and we paid around 11, IIRC. The lady at the bank called to ask if our bill of sale was a typo because she though it was way too low. :-)

Great little car and fun to drive.

[-MIKE-]

I was replacing an oak handrail volute for a client who was way too hands on and thought he knew how to do everything and made sure he told me such.

I was making a preliminary cut just to remove the old, bad section. I measured thrice, drew a line, and went out to the van to get a saw. I came in with my cheap but effective and super-sharp Japanese style pull saw. The guy looked at me like I was an amateur and started saying things like, "Hey, I have a really good Milwaukee Sawzall if you want to use it." "How is that going to..." and at about that moment, I started cutting.

My cut was so straight, clean, and perfectly on the line that it ended up being my final cut. The dude's demeanor totally changed and he was all, "Wow, man, I've never seen anybody use one of those. That thing cut like butter." I said, "Yeah, I can just control this saw better than an electric one. Plus, I'm done with the cut by the time I plug in an extension cord."

Then I explained how a powered saw could jump around and would be too course of a cut. Then I showed him how I avoided cutting into the other sections of handrail that were very close to where I was cutting, etc., etc.

I don't know what that has to do with your story, but it reminded me of it. :-)

[Jack]

Pretty much exactly what I'm saying. 5 minutes of repetitive hole drilling annoys me.

Normally poorly done videos don't depart much information other than the guy doing it either is stupid, or could care less what he is showing. I'm not talking pro videos done by professional videographers, I've already taken into account the folks are doing it free, and are not professionals. Still, the level of skill and effort needed to accomplish a decent enough video is _extremely_ low. If you can't get there you shouldn't be sending them up for the world to see.

It takes no training to recognize an agonizing video of drilling 100 duplicate holes in a board is brutally wrong. The very first time I downloaded a free video editor, the first thing I did was edit out unwanted, repetitive junk. No training, no skill and complete success with close to no effort.

I agree with dadiOH when he mentioned this, and disagree with Scott when he said 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth'. That doesn't mean I expect a guy to go to college for videography, work in Hollywood producing B grade movies for 15 years before he uploads a video to YouTube. Just means a little care and effort would go a long way.

If you make this type of video after 15 years in the business, no need to ask, I'll stay away automatically:-) This type of "mistake" shouldn't be made after 5 minutes "in the business".

Really though, I don't think it's a "mistake", it's more like stupid laziness. Mistakes are expected from amateurs, stupid laziness, not so much.

I would expect an adult in their life would provide them with sufficient supervision to allow for a palatable product. If they were charging $10 for a glass of muddy water, I might raise the issue.

[woodchucker]

Actually there are some sears tools that are better than others. I have a portalign portable drill press. Dead on straight, while the General and other brands are not.

I have had other tools from Sears that were pretty good too.

_But There also are a ton of their tools that are earn them the Crapsman moniker._

[woodchucker]

Yep, that's a toaster oven with wheels :-)

[Leon]

The good Craftsman power tools are the ones that look exactly like another brand except for color.

[dadiOH]

I think part of it may also be due to the "15 minutes of fame" syndrome too. There are also those that wander away - sometimes FAR away - from the subject of their video...personal anedote, playful puppy, etc.

But mostly, just lazy and/or unthinking.

[krw]

I have Sears hand tools that are pretty good but every one of their power tools has been pure junk. Not all were cheap, either.

I have wrench sets that are great.

They're called "power tools". ;-)

[DerbyDad03]

We drove 3 *minutes*. Turns out the seller lived just a few miles from our house.

It was around 9PM when SWMBO called the guy and told him we'd pay his asking price. He said we'd better come over right then because he had 2 appts with out-of-town people first thing in the morning. The first one who pays full price gets it.

We went over, I slid under the car with a flashlight (love that ground clearance!) and a few minutes later I was sitting at his computer typing up a bill of sale. He said I could probably do it faster than him.

As soon as the check cleared, he called me and dropped the car off. We took it to my indy mechanic, a former Honda dealer tech that opened his own shop for a complete once over. He said we basically stole it from the guy.

AWD = Donuts in the snow. ;-)