Crucible dividers?

[Simon MacGowen]

Schwarz is a hardworking person and has captured the imagination of many. Thankfully, people are free to choose how they spend their money.

Chris and Paul both have a huge following but they pursued differently in how they captured their followers.

Chris - Carefully cultivates relationships over a long period of time (since PW days of course) with players in the field (major hand tool makers, writers, other small artisans, etc.) locally and overseas. His connections in today's woodworking (hand tool) world are second to none. He does not side with Lie-Nielsen or Veritas, both are friendly to him. He supports all others in the field whenever he can. He invests in building relationships. He makes it a point that he supports local or US businesses; he could have saved a lot by having his books printed in China which is pretty much the largest printing factory in the world. He makes an effort to nurture and expand his network, which directly or indirectly grows his following as those players have their own supporters.

Paul - Confident and a true woodworker by all definitions, has tasted success during his time in the US. Who else, a foreigner, do you know who has done furniture work for the White House? In this respect, he is in the class of Sam Maloof, except Sam an American. He is more like Norm Abram, a born teacher and presenter, drawing viewers to him with little effort. He works hard to make woodworking by hand look easy, but often showing his human side that people can relate to: Oops...he says as he makes a mistake and then goes on to fix it, right in front of your eyes. He planes against the grain and then says so as he turns the stock around, making him just like one of us. How can you not follow an accomplished woodworker who makes you feel you can do what he does? Unlike Chris, he doesn't mingle with other woodworkers or tool makers in the field. When did you ever see or hear him mention another woodworker by name...unless when he was to point out a technical mistake that he wanted corrected?

Different approaches but same objective: To create, expand and maintain an audience that will stick around. Social media have made both of their approaches easier to succeed.

Simon