"Live edge lumber" musings

[Don Penniman]

I will indeed be selling as much as I can, although lumber marketing was never one of my career choices. Lots of competition on craigslist - several guys around here are selling high-quality cherry slabs. I will check out kijiji.

[Randy Heinemann]

Cristobal,

I started this thread just to voice my opinion, nothing more, nothing less and I maintain my position that I think that much of L.E. movements' growth has cheapened George Nakashima's creative work in the same way as those who put their cell phone in B&W mode and take a selfie at the base of Half Dome and think of themselves to be a photographer like Adams or Weston.

Nothing cheapens great work, especially something at the level of George Nakashima. I feel the only thing trends really do in woodworking is take a design or concept and generate a lot of pieces that end up being appealing to a wide range of tastes in the population. There is nothing wrong with that and the work like George Nakashima's still remains what it is - great, unique work from a great craftsman and designer.

[Steve Ondich]

First, I do not wish to offend anyone, but I very well may and I apologize in advance if you are offended by my post.

First rant is that I'm way over the "live edge furniture" movement. It floods the on line and Etsy/Pinterest type market and much of it imo cheapens the artistic, functional, and intrinsic value of George Nakashima's work. It seems anyone with four pipe flanges,caps, 3/4" pipe sections and a slab of "live edge" wood views themselves as a creative genius for slapping together a hall table. Yes, I do love the beauty of a slab of figured or even character grade wood and in Georges view, the piece of wood should tell you what it wants to be; that doesn't let the craftsman off the hook as far as designing and building a base or other type component worthy of displaying that slab.

I hear you.

I'm more on the wood supplier-end than the woodworker-end. From my perspective, anyone with a chain-saw and access to Craigslist is now a purveyor of fine hardwoods. Who cares about moisture content, specie, bugs, grade, mold, etc. LOL

The biggest issue for woodworkers is that rustic live-edge often allows for craftsman-ship sloppiness that would never be tolerated in traditional furniture. So the average person sees a well designed high-end live edge piece as not significantly different than one slapped together on etsy. When the focal point of a piece of furniture is the wood, it's easy for people to lose sight of the design, hardware, finish, and all the other details that make something a piece of fine furniture.

Consider this hypothetical:

You have 24 hours create an art forgery that will fool at least some art experts. It can be either a Rembrandt or a Jackson Pollock. Which do you choose?

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If you're like me, you feel you have zero shot at the Rembrandt but you might be able to pull off a long-lost Jackson Pollock.

[mike stenson]

If you're like me, you feel you have zero shot at the Rembrandt but you might be able to pull off a long-lost Jackson Pollock.

Only if you're chain smoking while painting it.

Actually, either way you'd be hard-pressed (pretty impossible) to fool anyone with either

[Steve Ondich]

Probably...but you get my point. No one actually believes they could pull off a Rembrandt but lots of amateurs think they could create an abstract masterpiece by sloshing some paint around.

I think that a lot of marginal woodworkers see the high price tags on rustic/live edge furniture and think , "That's something I can pull off!" No hack woodworker thinks that after seeing a Sam Maloof chair.

FYI - my daughter just adopted 5 rats. They're a lot smarter than I thought.

Only if you're chain smoking while painting it.

Actually, either way you'd be hard-pressed (pretty impossible) to fool anyone with either

[mike stenson]

Probably...but you get my point. No one actually believes they could pull off a Rembrandt but lots of amateurs think they could create an abstract masterpiece by sloshing some paint around.

I think that a lot of marginal woodworkers see the high price tags on rustic/live edge furniture and think , "That's something I can pull off!" No hack woodworker thinks that after seeing a Sam Maloof chair.

FYI - my daughter just adopted 5 rats. They're a lot smarter than I thought.

Yea, I've been removing them (pack rats) from the building that's becoming my shop.

I think ultimately it's pretty much like this. Any style that's poorly done is just poorly done. Look at all the low end shaker and A&C knock offs that are out there, and there are a lot of those. All that's happened now is modern furniture design (and more specifically mid-century modern) happens to be in vogue. In all three of those cases, they all look deceptively easy to do.

No one looks at Federalist furniture and thinks it's easy to make either

full disclosure: I'm about to shamelessly rip off Nakashima, I need something to house stereo equipment and I've always appreciated the simplicity of his studio cabinets.