The future of woodworking is in the past. I'm just telling you what I know. I was the architectural designer for a union store fixture manufacturer in 1967. I saw the first bunk of particle board arrive. The men in the shop were outraged, and a rebellion nearly resulted in closing the shop. Plastic laminate only came in a few colors. The year before they were still sticking it down with wood glue and clamping it until it had dried. There were only a half-dozen bits for the router, made of brittle carbon steel; and they didn't put roller bearings on the bits until five years later. I was living on the threshold of technology. I've seen a lot of change. And as a manufacturer, I have been responsible for advocating the use of new methods and new materials, and not just to give the customers what they wanted. Even today, I advocate for new technology...but when the price of value-added products exceeds the cost of the real thing, I can see the writing on the wall. Value-added products are a bill of goods, and industry has become persuaded to accept materials and hardware that are untrue, even undesirable. Why would I want to pay $35 for a pair of drawer slides, when a two-dollar webframe will do? Why would I buy a sheet of plywood with a veneer so thin it cannot hide the substrate? And, why should I ruin my health working in a cloud of poly-resins when I can work real wood? Look at it from the bottom line. Two good men can produce $500,000 worth of product in a single year. With the cost of technology and the price of value-added materials, can they expect to clear twenty percent? But the same two men working with standard machines and a pile of sticks can produce $500,000 worth of boxes and clear up to fifty percent. I'm just telling you what I know. You never have to edge-band a piece of oak. Modern machines require modern materials, but the first principles of working wood-to cut, to shape, to fasten-are the same as they have always been... daclark
- posted
17 years ago