
Shop Class as Soulcraft (2006) - Pamar
http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/shop-class-as-soulcraft
======
VLM
Slight correction in the article:

"Hobbyists will tell you that making one’s own furniture is hard to justify
economically"

He meant to write at the lowest levels of quality, like particle board, maybe
with photographic veneer, or at most the lower levels of plywood.

There's a binary furniture market of $50 particle board that looks nice for
about a month till it falls apart, and the four figure "if you have to ask,
you can't afford it" market of somewhat decent stuff.

This is based on a couple decades of homeowner and wood butcher experience.

As subset of quality is I enjoy radical customization. I don't find a bookcase
to fit an obscure corner, I make it to fit perfectly.

Its also extraordinarily cheap given the labor cost of zero. If I were not
risking my digits on my table saw I'd likely be watching brainless TV or
drinking or some other waste of time... this hobby provides something useful
at a very low $$$ per hour cost.

~~~
dfc
I am pretty sure that Mr. Crawford's words are an accurate reflection of his
opinion. The two big points you are glossing over are equipment and labor
costs. Hobbyists do not have planers, joiners, cabinet work sized table saws,
a festool domino and workshop space. Most importantly labor cost is not zero.
Quality craftsmanship takes time as well as an investment in education. How
many hours have you spent honing your woodworking skills?

As far as fingers go I really want a SawStop. If you compare the Workers
Compensation tables to the cost of a sawstop it is a no brainer.

~~~
VLM
Equipment cost amortizes to basically zero. My dad's 60s drill press is still
making holes a half century later. I have some of my grandfather's tools also.
Its not like computer gaming where a $500 video card today is not even a
decent paperweight in two years. It is true that modern Chinese junk is value
engineered to fall apart quickly and profitably, but none the less I have a
new-ish belt sander that refuses to break despite some pretty heavy use.

As for space, all houses north of a certain latitude have basements and
virtually all of them have some kind of shop area however humble it may be.
Even my mother in law has a folding card table with a 5 gallon bucket of
abused hand tools. The standard of living is lower in some areas, but
alternatives may be possible. Even today, I'll do major sanding jobs outside
in my back yard to keep the mess out of the house, and I always do finishing
outdoors for obvious chemical reasons.

Labor cost is less than zero in that I'm willing to spend money for
recreation. Its a hobby, just like WoW or EVEonline or exotic cooking or ham
radio or watching TV, its just that almost accidentally, some nice wooden
projects escape the shop. That adds a grind game reward... if I had to burn
absolutely everything produced in the fire pit as scrap, it wouldn't be as
much fun.

I have looked into the saw stop and it scares me because its an active safety
crutch and expensive both capital and ongoing (internet gossip implies they
supposedly fire randomly in use, not just when you touch them with a hand).

I have multiple layers of relatively cheap passive safety measures which I
couldn't afford if I spent the money on a single active sawstop.

From a safety culture perspective reliance on one active gadget is very much
like "Oh, no need to patch those servers, we have a magic firewall".

~~~
jlewallen
Agree on the cost of equipment. It's especially evident in hand tool community
where 150+ year old equipment is going strong after some minor TLC.

I've recently gotten into woodworking as a hobby in a large way. Space is a
luxury and if you're serious about woodworking you can find a way no matter
what. I moved from a house with a three car garage completely devoted to
woodworking into a downtown two bedroom apartment recently and went from a
fairly complete power tool shop to a completely hand tool one that's behind my
desk (I work from home)

As far as saw stops firing randomly... I'm guessing it's got more to do with
the moisture of the wood the user is using than a technical flaw. You can
touch the wood to the blade prior to turning the saw on and there's an
indicator that will tell you if the saw would trip. I do agree though on them
not being a replacement for best practices. I would be surprised to see any
kind of teaching institution w/o one though.

~~~
dfc
150+ year tools? That almost excludes the entire Stanley catalog.

~~~
jlewallen
Definitely not many tools that old :) You can find handsaws from the 1700's
and get them working again, for example. Not that I do. I like to work wood,
not tools (at least for now).

~~~
saalweachter
Do you know any good references on old tools? I trawl a lot of yard and estate
sales, but stay away from most tools because I don't know if they're still
safe/serviceable (eg, chipped hammers I know are Bad). The only thing I feel
comfortable buying right now are vices and clamps, because it's pretty easy to
give them a spin and see if they still move freely, and you can always use
another clamp.

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hownottowrite
I read this book when it came out in 2009. The essay contains all the key
parts of Crawford's philosophy. The book is a little more academic in places,
which is fine as far as that goes.

Personally, I like it when authors demonstrate values like this through the
story of the craft itself.

There are a number of books in this vein, including Clapton's Guitar:
[http://www.amazon.com/Claptons-Guitar-Watching-Henderson-
Ins...](http://www.amazon.com/Claptons-Guitar-Watching-Henderson-
Instrument/dp/0743266366)

~~~
dfc
I also really enjoyed this book. I am a sucker for books about the "Arts and
Crafts ethos" whether the author is Crawford, Morris, Ruskin or Stickley. I
got really excited when I read "There are a number of other books" because it
is so rare to find new books like this. I don't mean this in a snide way but
please tell me the "number of books in this vein" that you mentioned is not
equal to one?

~~~
jlewallen
Not necessarily the same vein, but we may have similar enough taste in books
that this isn't a useless recommendation. I've been wanting to read this:

[http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001P8M9FK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?...](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001P8M9FK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=226OVZRNLVDTW&coliid=I2NQ2IM03SUOI1)

I haven't yet but it's been recommended by sources with enough credibility

~~~
dfc
I have a feeling you will enjoy this boat building documentary:

[http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/charlotte_a_wooden_boat...](http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/charlotte_a_wooden_boat_story)

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madengr
The author has a TED talk worth watching.

