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Thread: Chris Swarz surfaced at Highland Woodworking.

  1. #61
    He has a schtick of contagious energy that makes you want to get in the shop and do something.
    Last edited by Lee Schierer; 01-03-2019 at 4:22 PM.

  2. #62
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Washington, DC Metro Area
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    244
    I suspect Chris Schwarz, with a degree in journalism and experience in woodworking, doesn’t know much about TCP/IP design or hypertext markup. Wait...how’d we get to this point of the argument?
    Mark Maleski

  3. #63
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Maleski View Post
    I suspect Chris Schwarz, with a degree in journalism and experience in woodworking, doesn’t know much about TCP/IP design or hypertext markup. Wait...how’d we get to this point of the argument?
    The moderators deleted a few choice comments.
    Dojo Kun, 1: Be humble and polite.

  4. #64

    Drop the internet/web argument

    No more posts please on who invented what. It is not germane to the topic of this discussion and does nothing but cause bad feelings. The topic is Chris Schwarz and his impact on our little unimportant little segment of our vastly varied and complex world. Now back to the topic.
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

  5. #65
    Well said Derek, well said.


    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Cohen View Post
    I agree, David.

    Each generation has its heroes. It is not simply what they taught that made an impression. It was how they taught, and how this inspired a love of woodworking.

    I recall Norm very fondly, although I could possibly teach him a thing or two now about handwork. It was not his expertise that stirred me, but his passion, and that he led by example, as does Chris. Many here may also not be aware of the many articles you wrote for Furniture and Cabinetmaking all those years back (20?). They are now collected in your books. I found them wonderful, and still do. I also like that you have never stopped learning .... and demonstrating that, indeed, we old dogs can learn new tricks!

    I not only like Chris as a teacher and appreciate his blogs and books (and humour!) - I must emphasise that it is not always the last word in technique that one should seek out (there are a number of other woodworkers out their that I might recommend for technique, per se) - but I deeply respect what he has done to foster passion in so many for the craft we share. To inspire others is a wonderful gift, and I hope that this generation recognises this, and appreciates what Chris has done over the past 15 or so years.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  6. #66
    Quote Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly View Post
    Stick to woodworking Jessica. You have skills, knowledge and training there.
    Can you imagine the outcry if a woodworker told someone on this forum " Stick to engineering" or "Stick to journalism" ?

  7. #67
    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Mickley View Post
    Can you imagine the outcry if a woodworker told someone on this forum " Stick to engineering" or "Stick to journalism" ?
    You're probably right Warren. It was a crude and perhaps ineffective attempt at tact.

    I do like Mr. Schwartz and have learned from him. I have several of his books and releases from LAP. He's very readable, whether I use his techniques or someone else's. But again, I'm only in this as a hobbyist and that makes my perspective different than someone who makes their living at it like you do.

    Hope things are well with you Sir!

    Best regards,
    Fred
    Last edited by Frederick Skelly; 12-15-2018 at 5:33 PM.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  8. #68
    I think I need to get out more. I've never heard of this Christopher Schwarz, but thanks to this thread I'll have to look into him. He must be a good fellow to have such a fervent following among a crowd of high standards.

    I guess there are quite a few woodworking celebrities these days, like the personalities on the Food Network.

    I remember when there was only Norm. This must make Norm the Julia Child of the genre.

  9. #69
    Another thought - these woodworking "celebrities", whatever their medium, are good for us all.

    They promote interest in the craft, which increases the market for tools and supplies, which creates more choices, more innovation, and lower prices for all of us.

  10. #70
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
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    Clarks Summit PA
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    1,733
    Is there a misunderstanding here? Is Jessica from Europe? Perhaps they don’t hear much about American woodworking “celebrities”. Perhaps they value the trades more than we do? There are some amazing hobby woodworkers on the site who have shared their knowledge with me. When I hear of a woodworker who earns his daily bread year in & year out as a woodworker, I sometimes am very impressed.

  11. #71
    In defense of Jessica, and in keeping with the celebrity chef analogy - the content of celebrity woodworkers, as talented as they may be, is not usually aimed at a professional woodworker like her, any more than Julia Child's programs were aimed at professional chefs.
    So it might be no surprise that she may not know who Schwarz is nor that she would have a very different outlook than his target audience.

  12. #72
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rainey View Post
    Is there a misunderstanding here? Is Jessica from Europe? Perhaps they don’t hear much about American woodworking “celebrities”. Perhaps they value the trades more than we do? There are some amazing hobby woodworkers on the site who have shared their knowledge with me. When I hear of a woodworker who earns his daily bread year in & year out as a woodworker, I sometimes am very impressed.
    Yes, Belgium or Holland I think. I think Europe values the Trades more than we do. And I wouldn't expect Europeans to hear of our guys any more than we hear of theirs - the world is a big place. But being American, I've never needed multiple languages - everything I need is delivered in English. Tage and Frank taught me as much or more than Chris. But they wrote in English. Jessica is probably right - there are probably a TON of others I'd enjoy in Europe, but I can't read their languages.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  13. #73
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    Coffee City, Texas
    Posts
    169
    There's another argument to be made here for respect and tolerance as opposed to exclusivity. While Chris Schwarz may never 'teach' anything to a master woodworker, his body of work is nothing to sneer at. Particularly in compiling and publishing old books that can keep knowledge about traditional methods circulating in print. Just saying 'I'm a more skilled craftsman so his work is not educational to me' is fine if true, but I won't believe that he deserves no public respect in present company just because there are some people here on the forum who are superior craftsmen. This is a woodworking forum that people view in web searches, so why publicly tear him down?
    Dojo Kun, 1: Be humble and polite.

  14. #74
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Northwestern Connecticut
    Posts
    147
    +1 on the praise.

    Chris is a positive influence in woodworking. Take a look at his Woodworking magazine, that he did before PW. There was no advertising. In depth articles, examining different methods, and clear explanations.

  15. #75
    I appreciate and am glad of careful research made accessible to folks so that all can benefit. I wish they'd put more effort into typography and proofreading though.

    In particular, I am really looking forward to a second printing of _Virtuoso_ which hopefully will correct the errors and typos in it, and I really wish that they would make a high resolution photo of the two pairs of jeweler's pliers which should be on pg. 70 instead of the repeated photo of the flat pliers from pg. 142 available, or better still, do a cancel and provide folks who have bought the book a corrected reprint of the page in question. At the very least if they would correct this in the extract pdf which they make available folks could print their own.

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