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Thread: "I don't much care for furniture making,but I love to make work benches!"

  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Stewie Simpson View Post
    Personally I struggle to understand the approach of woodworkers in the USA. As someone that was taught under the uk system of of traditional apprenticeship training,as was my father before me, I can only put it down to the USA;s move away from traditional trade apprenticeships shortly after WWII, to a system that has become more heavily reliant on excepting what can and cannot be learnt on the job site, to a system that has become heavily reliant on the skill-set of Engineers to fill the void of understanding within the craft.
    Hi Stewie.
    I don't disagree that we lost something good as apprenticeships declined. I'm not following you on how that thought ties to Ken building workbenches for fun, or the whimsical idea of making "moravian workbench furniture". Did you mean to post that in a different thread?
    Fred
    "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.”

  2. #17
    I think it'd make a very tasteful desk or dining table....and far nicer than anything ikea.

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by ken hatch;2931238[h=2
    "I don't much care for furniture making,but I love to make work benches!"[/h]]That quote from George Wilson post 255 on the "Show Us Your Bench" thread.was like a slap upside the head. I build furniture so I have an excuse to build benches. It may be time to cut the middleman and just build workbenches.

    ken
    I'm the same as you and George. However, I do also like to tinker with restoring old tools.

    Some great & humorous ideas above though!

    Allen

  4. #19
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    Stewie Stewie Stewie
    For the most part the old ways are gone and not coming back. At least in the US we have a rich rural history of self reliance and what we are about is indeed reliant on what we can teach ourselves and pick up from helter skelter teaching. Individual growth is the reward.

  5. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Allen Read View Post
    I'm the same as you and George. However, I do also like to tinker with restoring old tools.

    Some great & humorous ideas above though!

    Allen
    Allen,

    Good to know I'm not alone . Yeah, some of the ideas had me laughing and at the same time thinking "Hey, that's not bad. I might build it."

    ken

  6. #21
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    There are a few forum members out there who have been valuable and active contributors to our knowledge base who make very little. These people enjoy "getting ready" to do things. They have lots of really cool items and ideas implemented in their shops. They are well organized, well equipped and often ever-morphing their shops in order to be "ready" to do something new. Their joy of the craft is building workshops. Getting enjoyment from building workbenches, or coffee tables or M&M machines is no different. For many, making furniture is a hobby, for others getting ready to do so, or building things that help others do so is the fun. Have fun!
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  7. #22
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    I think Ken has it right now. To build something that is essentially a copy is one thing. To understand why it was built the way it was is another. That lightbulb moment when you figure it out is very rewarding. Ken's explainations of realization why the joints were done a certain way is a fine example.
    Jim

  8. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by James Pallas View Post
    I think Ken has it right now. To build something that is essentially a copy is one thing. To understand why it was built the way it was is another. That lightbulb moment when you figure it out is very rewarding. Ken's explainations of realization why the joints were done a certain way is a fine example.
    Jim
    Thanks Jim,

    As I make the joints on the new build I smile with each one. BTW, this bench is as good an example as I can find of my often stated: "If you can figure out how the old guys did it you've usually found the best way".

    ken

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