Modern Woodworking "tools"

[Brent Leonard]

Just went to the Kansas City Woodworkers show......

The wife and I were talking about it on the hour drive back home, and I got to wondering,
With all the modern gadgets, "tools" and devices, CAN woodworking become a matter of expensive tools and gadgetry that darn near builds things for you, minimizing (or even eliminating) any level of skill in age old craftsmanship?

There is a tool that can do anything, including measuring/marking for you. Now I realize that those "measuring" devices can be great for those who's eyesight is not what it once was, but geez, I saw people madly purchasing every silly device and contraption imaginable at the show.

What are your thoughts? Can one just buy enough gadgets to replace skill and craftsmanship?

PS; I did enjoy the show! Wish it wasn't so crowded.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

No.

You just have had to watch "One Man's Wilderness"...IIRC to realize that the ingenuity and skill of a craftsman will overcome a lack of technological advances. The guy...I wish I could remember his name...built everything for a log cabin with a couple of saws, an axe and a few handtools. He built wooden hinges...doorlocks....everything. I firmly believe that a true intelligent craftsman can produce a beautiful project with few of the modern marvels. He may not be able to mass produce them...or at the same rate as a technogical endowed shop....but just as beautiful.

JMHO....

[Randal Stevenson]

I was so hopping to go, but no luck, and back to work tomorrow. Tools make the job easier, but they don't allow for skill, experience, or creativeness. I see this with mechanics quite a bit. I've seen them have to repair something and work around with what they have. Give them the right tools and the thing gets done quicker and cheaper. Woodworking is no different.


Give all those gadgets, to the mythical Red Green, and see what I mean!

[Margaret Turco]

Hey Ken, I've seen that documentary. Is this the guy? http://www.dickproenneke.com/DickProenneke.html Now that is self-reliance.

[Neal Clayton]

so you're saying you didn't opt for the battery powered tape measure? :D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Margaret...that's the guy! I found him incredibly ingenious and a skilled craftsman. He wasn't tied to just one field either. Thanks!

[Geoff Potter]

Believe me, I am trying to accumulate all those gadgets but my woodworking hasn't really improved. The thing is, each tool or gadget has a learning curve. The more stuff the more stuff to learn.

[Derek Lyons]

Can one just buy enough gadgets to replace skill and craftsmanship

Yes - and no. With enough gadgets one can replace the tradesman end of craftsmanship (I.E. things ranging from dado sets to CNC machines).

This isn't true on the artisanal end, gadgets can't choose which piece of wood to use let alone how to orient it in the finished piece or how to finish it.

[Paul Demetropoulos]

Well Brent,

I think you know the answer to your question, it's of course no. But by the same token do skilled craftsmen by definition avoid gadgetry? And what constitutes a gadget? That would be a good question for you to answer since this is your post.

Is a smart level a gadget, by using one will we soon be unable to judge when the little bubble is in the center of the vial? Those Wixley digital readouts, gadgets? (If so I want me one of them gadgets). The Dowelmax, is that a gadget, lots of folks on this forum love that expensive hunka metal.

A while back I was on the Woodpecker's website, those guys make a lot of nice gadgets, and I saw this thing they sell called a storystick and it caught my eye. Well, it more than caught my eye, I wanted one. So when I sent my letter to the North Pole this year that was on my list, and don't ya know I got it. (Didn't get the Dowelmax, guess I wasn't that good.)

Well I've been fashioning story sticks of one kind or another for some time, and I guess I could continue to do so. But this thing is a really neat "idea",
I could have just copied the idea, and I thought about it, but in the end I got it. And I really like it and use it all the time. But it is a gadget.

I know what you mean by your question, but I think it smacks a little of "old fogeyness", especially with the giant red letters. There are woodworkers who disdain all power tools and at the other end of the spectrum woodworkers that buy every new toy that hits the market, and plenty in both camps that make beautiful things. Everyone has their own way if doing things and having all these different options available to us is a pretty cool thing. And in 2 weeks the woodworking show is coming to my town and I can't wait, I doubt I'll leave empty handed

PS. Didn't really ask for a Dowelmax (not that I wouldn't like one)

[Brent Leonard]

Well Brent,

I think you know the answer to your question, it's of course no. But by the same token do skilled craftsmen by definition avoid gadgetry? And what constitutes a gadget? That would be a good question for you to answer since this is your post.

Is a smart level a gadget, by using one will we soon be unable to judge when the little bubble is in the center of the vial? Those Wixley digital readouts, gadgets? (If so I want me one of them gadgets). The Dowelmax, is that a gadget, lots of folks on this forum love that expensive hunka metal.

A while back I was on the Woodpecker's website, those guys make a lot of nice gadgets, and I saw this thing they sell called a storystick and it caught my eye. Well, it more than caught my eye, I wanted one. So when I sent my letter to the North Pole this year that was on my list, and don't ya know I got it. (Didn't get the Dowelmax, guess I wasn't that good.)

Well I've been fashioning story sticks of one kind or another for some time, and I guess I could continue to do so. But this thing is a really neat "idea",
I could have just copied the idea, and I thought about it, but in the end I got it. And I really like it and use it all the time. But it is a gadget.

I know what you mean by your question, but I think it smacks a little of "old fogeyness", especially with the giant red letters. There are woodworkers who disdain all power tools and at the other end of the spectrum woodworkers that buy every new toy that hits the market, and plenty in both camps that make beautiful things. Everyone has their own way if doing things and having all these different options available to us is a pretty cool thing. And in 2 weeks the woodworking show is coming to my town and I can't wait, I doubt I'll leave empty handed

PS. Didn't really ask for a Dowelmax (not that I wouldn't like one)

I certainly have my own answer to the question, I was just curious of what others thought.
I hope no one gets me wrong, I don't shun the gadgets, and I'm deffinately not a "purist" neither in practice or in theory.


I like how Derek Lyons put it....the "artistry" cannot be replaced

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Machines can copy, but they are horrible at coming up with new designs;)

[george wilson]

A silversmith I know sent off a block of tool steel to get a traditional type of design diesunk into it. I thought it was an awfully cheap price,and turnaround time that was quoted. the die came back. It has no depth to the design,does not have the feeling it should have. It was made on a cnc machine,and is unusable. This is an area where good hand craftsmanship and design knowledge lacked,and it showed.

[Derek Lyons]

A silversmith I know sent off a block of tool steel to get a traditional type of design diesunk into it. I thought it was an awfully cheap price,and turnaround time that was quoted. the die came back. It has no depth to the design,does not have the feeling it should have. It was made on a cnc machine,and is unusable. This is an area where good hand craftsmanship and design knowledge lacked,and it showed.

Indeed. The smith should have done more research. It's a poor craftsman that blames his tools, be they real on his bench or virtual on his keyboard.

[Rick Potter]

As my rich buddy is fond of saying....'It is the Indian, not the arrow'.

Rick Potter

[Jim Kountz]

Theres a guy who lives near me. He has everything in woodworking tools and some of the best. All powermatic mostly. Every jig, clamp, accessory etc. The guy is really smart and usually goes about things in an intelligent manner. However when it comes to actually using the stuff, somewhere between his mind and his hands the information gets lost. He cant build a birdhouse. Im not kidding he just cant do it. Everything he builds looks like crap (his words) and Im waiting on the day when he wants to sell all that nice stuff!! He tried building some simple planters for his wife last summer. Nothing special just square cedar boxes basically. He called and asked if I could come over and help him "figure it out". I was glad to help but man! You would just have to see his shop to get the full picture. Its like walking into most peoples dream shop.
So gadgets and the latest and greatest will only take you so far, you still have to have the ability to use them correctly to achieve good results.

[Billy Chambless]

There is a tool that can do anything, including measuring/marking for you. Now I realize that those "measuring" devices can be great for those who's eyesight is not what it once was, but geez, I saw people madly purchasing every silly device and contraption imaginable at the show.

What are your thoughts? Can one just buy enough gadgets to replace skill and craftsmanship?



NO.

On the other hand, one can get so busy choosing and accumulating gadgets, figuring out how to use them, building clever storage systems for them, and taking pictures of them that one has little time left to work toward building skill and craftsmanship.

The ideal, imo, is to find just those "gadgets" that enhance one's personal skill and craftsmanship without being a distraction.

[Bill Huber]

The short answer is NO....

I think of true woodworking like photography, you can have an $8000 state of the art Canon camera and still not take good pictures.

The gadgets my make things a little easier to do and take a little less time but they can not make it better.

The DowelMax is a good example of this, it makes putting dowels in much faster and easier but it does not make them any better, its still a dowel in a hole. I have a DowelMax and use it all the time but it still does not make me a better craftsman. In fact it more then likely makes me a worse craftsman because I can't put a dowel in without the DowelMax as a guide. So my skills at putting in dowels are not getting any better and I am not learning anything that would help we with a project that I could not use it on.

I guess the other question is what is a real craftsman?


.

[George Sanders]

Gadgetitis is an incurable disease with some people. I have had mild bouts of it from time to time. :rolleyes: My gadget criteria is now more refined and restrained. 1. Does it really work. 2. Is it really going to save me time. 3. Can I afford it. Rule no. 3 usually negates and overrides rules no. 1 and 2. I can see it if it enhances accuracy (such as a new rip fence) but some things leave me wondering why they were brought to market at all.
I think the basic skills of woodworking may be enhanced by gadgets; but without these basic skills no amount of gadgetitis will help.

[Joe Chritz]

Power tools (and other devices) replace time, not skill. Some things are easier (dovetail jigs come to mind) but there is still skill involved to get quality products.

Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum

Joe

[Porter Bassett]

The DowelMax is a good example of this, it makes putting dowels in much faster and easier but it does not make them any better, its still a dowel in a hole. I have a DowelMax and use it all the time but it still does not make me a better craftsman. In fact it more then likely makes me a worse craftsman because I can't put a dowel in without the DowelMax as a guide. So my skills at putting in dowels are not getting any better and I am not learning anything that would help we with a project that I could not use it on. I don't think I agree. The DowlMax helps ensure that your dowels are properly aligned so that the joint is straight and true, no? The Dowel max does make the dowel better -- it makes it a correct dowel in a hole.

And since you say you're not able to put in a dowel without a DowelMax, but you are able to with, I'd say that you're a better better craftsman with than without it, since you are able to craft things with it that you're not able to.

Your DowelMax is like a prosthetic skill. On the negative side, it's a skill that you can lose by losing your prosthesis. On the negative side, all the time and effort you would have had to spend gaining that skill was able to be used doing something else.

[Bruce Page]

It begs the question; what’s more important, the finished piece or how you get there?
Unless you are a full-blood neander that fells his/her own lumber and does not use any power tool, then you use modern technology. It’s just a matter of degree and budget.
Personally, if I can make a cut safer, easier, on my milling machine rather than my tablesaw, I’ll do it and have no remorse in doing so.

[glenn bradley]

I enjoy a quality tool that makes working more enjoyable. Unless we are talking machines and gadgets like they had on the Jetson's (push one button, out comes a house) I would have to answer 'no'.

Even the finest designed aid can be misused by an unskilled hand. Take the automobile; we have made them so safe and easy to drive that they let all those people we all cuss at meander about the roadways. I would guess one of those folks could take a really safe saw and cut their thumb off and then try to sue ;-)

I do this for the enjoyment but I wouldn't enjoy it if all I had to do was push a button to get a jewelry box.

[Mike Gager]

i think all these new gadgets make people THINK they are better craftsman then they really are

[Neal Clayton]

the one ability (for some innate, for most, learned) that gadgets can't replace is the ability to visualize the proper way to build something. and most people can't do it. most of us have shops capable of building even the most complex things from wood.

the only thing stopping every joe on the street from building those things if you put him in those shops is knowing where to start.