The Craftsman by Richard Sennett

I’m currently reading The Craftsman by Richard Sennett. So far a wonderful modern look at crafts and the people and tools involved. One idea that I took away was the notion that communism focused on the worker and post world war Japanese society focused on the work. This difference was the difference between a society that afraid to insult the worker at the expense of insulting the work and a society the focused on the outcome or the work. How might this be framed in the art and craft world. Art being about the artist, their interpretation of their experience. Craft being about the work.

This book so far has brought in CAD drawing, Open Source software development, cell phone switching to show were the individual craftsmen/worker succeeds or fails in making a contribution and how tools help and hinder said expression. Really enjoy this on the recommendation of a craftsmen, Jarrod M Stone Dahl.

Marketing vs Making

I've been waiting till I had pictures of the progress on the Dutch Toolbox to post here but I've had a health setback that has kept me from much progress.

Today Mark Terry came out for a visit and it was a welcome change to my routine. We are like minded woodworkers exploring the same books (By Hand and Eye) the same we sites and largely the same shop projects.

I have spent too much time organizing and outfitting my shop and too little time building and designing furniture. This is a situation the must be overcome.

Selling my work thereby making room to make more is hard and I don't like it and I'm no good at it. I am not a marketer, I'm a maker. Do we see the problem here. I can only have so many spoons. I probably have 60 spoons scattered around the house. Many will never be used. I have maybe 10 that are in various stages of completion. And this is just spoons. I have a pair of tables that could use a different home. I feel the need to move (sell) them before I can make more. Making more will improve my skill set and put me in the position to grow.

Marketing is a huge challenge. Not something I'm good at and I want to resist the notion that "I can do that". I can't and do a good job. Some of the people I consider successful at this are Mike McCoy who lets his daughter do the social networking marketing and http://www.herriottgrace.com another father\daughter team. The things I make have to go somewhere, Mary and I have too many. I'm looking for an outlet.

My friend Geoff Crimmins a photographer at the local Daily News newspaper won a gaggle of awards for his work in this year's Utah-Idaho-Spokane Associated Press Association's annual news contest. Congratulations Geoff. To bad the newspaper doesn't make it easy to reference this. There web site is for subscribers only and even though I'm a subscriber I've had nothing but troubles and still can't login. Fail.

Hand and Eye

Looking at design with the help of George Walker and Jim Tolpin and a group of woodworkers from Fine Woodworking. I'm excited to learn about design.

Worked some on the Dutch Toolbox, adding the front pieces. Tomorrow I'll add the locking part of the front shelf.

Dutch Toolbox Update

Progress on the Dutch Toolbox. Yesterday cut dados, glued sides and made locking pieces. I'm so far planning on painting the box with the shop color which is a light blue. I have some cut nails that I plan to added to the box once it is painted because I want to keep the heads of the nails black. I'm considering adding a drawer to the under part of the box.  

The dados fit great. Using the Bridge City Tool Kerf Maker and a ¼" saw blade I was able to dial in the dados for the nominal ¾ ply easy peasy. No futzing with shims and trial and error. First time, dial in, dadoing with table saw concurred. Thanks for the video explaining how to use this tool, Paul-Marcel St-Onge over at  http://www.halfinchshy.com/2011/06/bridge-city-km-1-kerfmaker-users-guide.html.

Ideas for enhancements are swimming in my head. I think I should have applied finish on the insides before glue up, it would have been easier, but build and learn. I'm going to be adding a pull out drawer for layout tools. At least that is my thinking now. The outside color is planned to be a grey-blue color that will match the color scheme of the rest of my shop make tools. I have some cut nails I'll add for decoration and support after painting.

Doctors appointment today. Neurology checkup. Weird brain condition and even more difficult treatment.

Inspiration for Dutch Toolbox build

I've started to build a Dutch Toolbox. It is modeled after Bill Lattanzio's Dutch toolbox. I have seen a few of these designs most notably there was a couple at the The French Oak Roubo Project. http://benchcrafted.blogspot.com/p/the-french-oak-roubo-project.html Here are a couple of links to images and blog post about the Dutch Toolbox that got me initially excited about this project.

• Toolboxes of the FORP
• Bill Lattanzio's Dutch toolbox
• Google images
• Chris Schwarz build

Pictures to come. Nothing fancy by hopefully functional.

Cherry and Walnut tables

Just finished these two tables. Walnut legs and Cherry tops. The cherry is really figures and a nice ripple pattern in it. Learned a lot making these including I should keep my mouth shut about the mistakes I made. Nobody sees them and nobody but me cares. The came out wonderful. I plan on making more if I can only sell these. They have 18" X 12" tops and are 26" tall.

Why we are woodworkers

Listened to Shop Talk Live 29: Secrets for Sharp Blades and Perfect Plane Irons this morning and Asa and Matt 'waxed poetically' about what motivates them in the shop.

Asa was articulate in talked about how when one simple skill is learned and repeated, a sort of forgetting of the steps, a flow of the repetition, the noticing of little refining steps, all lead to an experience of flow or do I dare say rapture? It is the small things that bring us to the shop. Progress slowly and gaining confidence little by little focusing on little tasks.

Matt seemed to be most excited to be in the (his) shop when everything is setup correctly. The example he used was resawing with a properly tuned jointer and bandsaw. This is a skill learned after much trial an error. Now that a system is in place with upgrade tools and skills, it just added power, creativity, and expected results to resawing. The tools and techniques become invisible and background to creativity.

Will, adding my 2 cents worth to this conversation. I couldn't agree more with Asa and Matt. They bring up great points about learning to the point of automation, in a good way freeing us up for higher tasks like creativity and safety. For me there is a strong sense of "flow" when I'm in the shop. I didn't see that in my professional life and not nearly as much as I wanted in my social life. It doesn't seem to matter what I am working on, I love going into the shop. I like to start the day with swiping the floor, it gets my mind in a place to be receptive to the thought processes for the projects ahead. In some areas of woodworking I am skilled and other I'm a beginner. In the former areas, I see and refine my skills, in the latter, I am learning backs skills known to other for 100's of years.