thoughts about woodworking

[zimmerstutzen]

About fifteen years ago, there were three mom and pop hardware stores within ten miles of my home.  My favorite of these was three miles from the farm and not only saved many a day of work with a needed nut, bolt or other part, it was open Sundays, starting early, with the Sunday paper, milk, bread, and ice cream.  Traditionally most stores were still closed on Sundays, but this hardware store seemed busier on Sundays than other days of the week.  When the owner retired, it was purchased by a husband and wife who closed Sundays.  No more convenience to get a paper Sundays, or on warm Sundays to promise the kids a trip for popsicles or soda.  

In a few years, I noticed the stock on the shelves was not being replenished and one day, I went for a plumbing fitting and the husband just stayed behind the counter, and did not even assist me in finding it.  He was going through employment classified.  When i went to pay for the fitting, he told me the store would be closing and thanked me for my patronage.  He lamented the lack of DIY'rs and the inability of many homeowners to do simple repairs like replace and electrical switch.  We talked a bit about the difference between the 1950's, when nearly every father had a small work shop and did repairs to save the household budget from going for unnecessary expense of replacing lamps etc.  Nearly everyone knew how to replace a wire or socket on a table lamp.  Some father's built furniture, or made other useful household items.  The owner blamed out replacement society of planned obsolescence and throw away culture, instead of making repairs.  I almost told him, it was a major mistake to close Sundays, and that chased business away, but I bit my tongue.  The guy was obviously depressed over his failing hardware enterprise.    He and his wife made no effort to give discounts to contractors to bring in their business., They had no classes on how to do simple repairs and did not even have a way to rent or borrow the special tools to make some simple repairs.    Fifteen years later, that store has been closed for years and the property sports a for lease sign that is old and faded.     Things have become even more throw away, and people do fewer repairs themselves.  Heck new technology of cnc controls has dramatically changed the types of wood work that many do.  Laser and cnc routers carve out duplicate materials in a few minutes,  that once took people months to complete.  CNC lathes can copy dozens of little turnings in a few minutes.  

 

The population in general has lost much respect for the ability to repair or craft a piece.  There was a similar lament in a thread here about a bad weekend at a craft show.  I see intricate fretwork that obviously took hours to do, and can't justify the price even though it is a steal when considering the effort involved.

 

 Part of that Colonial fortitude that made America strong was the fierce self reliance that the people possessed.  We largely lost that self reliance.  Can't fix it have to replace it. It is too difficult to fix, I might electrocute myself,  I got no idea how to fix it. A new one is dirt cheap and less than the materials to fix the thing.  Their simply is little if any self reliance.  

 

But gee, I am seeing a resurgence in personal crafting.  regardless of whether it is my wifes renewed interest in quilting, or my renewed interest in wood turning or scrolling.  Big Stores are now having classes on doing repairs, and even doing some remodeling.  I recently heard of a nearby scrolling group that meets at a woodcraft store,  that I may check out.   I was raised to do for myself, unless it was above my capacity.  I have done brake jobs, rebuilt carburetors, installed radiant heating, learned to replace plumbing and wiring in an old farmhouse.  This dumb city boy bought a baler and tractor and filled a barn with hay.  I have learned to give innoculations to the livestock, Bought a back hoe and learned to dig tranches to install irrigation.  Stitched up wire cuts on animals, Stitched up a cut on my leg because I needed to get a job done before a storm set in.  Even watched a couple internet articles and butchered a pig by myself. Made scrapple and bacon. I built a muzzle loader from a maple plank and parts.  I needed a colonial outfit to go with the muzzle loader, and bought a thrift shop sewing machine and made my own uniform from some patterns. (Thanks to my mother in law for the 15 minute sewing machine lesson to get started.)  I learned to bake from scratch from my uncle, a professional baker.  . When my hay bine frame broke, I learned to weld and put it back together.  I can install a new circuit in the box and run the wire and install the switches, receptacles, etc.  On Monday morning when somebody asks what I thought of "the game", I didn't watch it, was busy doing x all weekend, what did they do, Watched Tv and went drinking, etc. .  

 

   Seems I have a hobby collecting things.  Not so much tangible things you can hold, but collecting the knowledge and skills to do a vast variety of tasks for myself.  Guess many of you are rare birds like me.  not enough people are like us. 

  

[jerry1939]

jerry

[SCROLLSAW703]

Zim, i hear ya talkin' brother. I grew up 30 miles from nowhere, my Father was in the trucking business, we had a few animals around the farm. But I never learned anything about woodworking. Mine was all mechanics & keeping Dads' trucks runnin'. Even from a very young age, I remember workin' on trucks, & if we didn't have the exact parts, we made do with what we had. Drivers would come in with a broken floor in bull rack, or a cracked frame, we fixed it. We did all our own tire work, electrical work, engine work, you name it. 
 

When I got old enough to drive, Dad taught me to drive. I drove OTR for 35 years. Very seldom did I need a road side repair call. I fixed it myself. I can't begin to tell you the blizzards, rain, wind, cold, I've laid under those damn trucks workin' on them to get down the road, & home. Then we could fix the problem right in our own shop. 

 

I didn't get into woodworking until about 25 years ago, at my brides' insistence. It started out to be a stress reliever when I was home off the road, & it just kept gettin' deeper. Even then it amazed me at what folks threw away that could be easily repaired, & replaced with junk. The more I've learned about it, & the more I've done, scroll saw work especially, you've hit on the head, Sir! Folks have no appreciation for the time & dedication it takes to create our work, if you will. The world is always lookin' for a handout, & we, as woodworkers are a dyin' breed. 

[Scrappile]

This is all too deep for me, I'm going back to the shop...

[blights69]

This is all too deep for me, I'm going back to the shop...

I tried to double like this comment but could not so like like    Frank

[David Lehner]

well said..... not much more to add 

[hawkeye10]

jerry

I agree Jerry. My daughter has two boys and the oldest is 16 and has been giving them trouble. Things like not doing home work and being disrespectful, things like that. He is doing nothing that is against the law ( that we know of). I told her when he was around 8 years old that if she didn't clamp down on him it would get worse and she would be sorry. They are now clamping down on him, I just hope it isn't to late. So at least they have changed to some degree but I know other parents who are really bad at bring up their kids.

 

PS- The younger boy is doing fine. He sees how a butt his older brother is. 

[Doug]

Jerry

 

I grew up on a farm and was staying with you until you got to stitching up animals and yourself - that is when I call for help.

[Bill WIlson]

I too see some light at the end of the tunnel.  Not sure whether it's a wholesale resurgence in DIY, but there are signs that the trend is turning in the right direction.  Look at all the DIY shows on TV.  There are whole networks devoted to nothing but DIY.  Sure, a lot of the stuff you see may questionable, but there is no doubt that the popularity of these programs has helped bring back some interest in DIY home repair & remodeling.  Also YouTube is about the greatest thing since sliced bread for learning how to do basic and not so basic DIY stuff.  My two sons-in-law spend a lot of time researching how to do something on YouTube.  They both use it to learn how to do all sorts of things.  There are YouTube videos for just about any task or project you can imagine.  Some are better than others, but this generation knows enough how to find the good ones.  I've been duly impressed, on several occasions, at the stuff they're willing to tackle, after simply watching some videos.  Never fear, there is still hope.  We haven't completely lost that pioneer/can-do spirit.

[woodknots]

I didn't  have a father around to teach me anything I learned to do it by trial and error method. The men in my wife's family can't do anything without calling a repair man or me. Her cousins water heater had a leak and didn't know where or how to turn off the water to the house. I make sure anytime I have to fix or replace anything I make sure my son is there to learn to do it I even make him do it at times with me standing over to give advice or instructions. I have a four door ford F150 with the small back doors and the quit opening so I made him watch a video on you tube on how to fix the problem and told him to go fix it and if he needed help to come get me and he didn't need it. It really makes me made that more parents don't teach there kids to do things on there own when the older generation dyes off this world is going to be in big trouble.

[TripleJScroller]

I recently built a deck on my house, nothing big or fancy, but enough that I needed some help.  Most of my friends are the type of people that have never picked up a hammer in their lives, but I asked a few anyway if they'd mind giving me a hand.  To my surprise two of my buddies quickly agreed to help, but neither of them knew anything about building a deck.  They were very eager to learn though and so my deck building became a lesson in simple construction for two of my friends.  It was a lot of fun and I think they took a lot away with them.  We talked a lot about how growing up their father's were not DIYrs and so never taught them the basics, but they both had always wanted to learn.   I think there are a lot more people out there willing to learn to do basic DIY stuff. 

[Woodmaster1]

I retired from teaching industrial arts 2 years ago. My last year they brought back woodworking and construction classes. I think they decided that college was not for everyone. I still have former students tell me how much they loved woodworking. Some students still drop by for advice on projects. So maybe the pendulum is starting to swing back where college is not the only alternative.

[amazingkevin]

About fifteen years ago, there were three mom and pop hardware stores within ten miles of my home.  My favorite of these was three miles from the farm and not only saved many a day of work with a needed nut, bolt or other part, it was open Sundays, starting early, with the Sunday paper, milk, bread, and ice cream.  Traditionally most stores were still closed on Sundays, but this hardware store seemed busier on Sundays than other days of the week.  When the owner retired, it was purchased by a husband and wife who closed Sundays.  No more convenience to get a paper Sundays, or on warm Sundays to promise the kids a trip for popsicles or soda.  

In a few years, I noticed the stock on the shelves was not being replenished and one day, I went for a plumbing fitting and the husband just stayed behind the counter, and did not even assist me in finding it.  He was going through employment classified.  When i went to pay for the fitting, he told me the store would be closing and thanked me for my patronage.  He lamented the lack of DIY'rs and the inability of many homeowners to do simple repairs like replace and electrical switch.  We talked a bit about the difference between the 1950's, when nearly every father had a small work shop and did repairs to save the household budget from going for unnecessary expense of replacing lamps etc.  Nearly everyone knew how to replace a wire or socket on a table lamp.  Some father's built furniture, or made other useful household items.  The owner blamed out replacement society of planned obsolescence and throw away culture, instead of making repairs.  I almost told him, it was a major mistake to close Sundays, and that chased business away, but I bit my tongue.  The guy was obviously depressed over his failing hardware enterprise.    He and his wife made no effort to give discounts to contractors to bring in their business., They had no classes on how to do simple repairs and did not even have a way to rent or borrow the special tools to make some simple repairs.    Fifteen years later, that store has been closed for years and the property sports a for lease sign that is old and faded.     Things have become even more throw away, and people do fewer repairs themselves.  Heck new technology of cnc controls has dramatically changed the types of wood work that many do.  Laser and cnc routers carve out duplicate materials in a few minutes,  that once took people months to complete.  CNC lathes can copy dozens of little turnings in a few minutes.  

 

The population in general has lost much respect for the ability to repair or craft a piece.  There was a similar lament in a thread here about a bad weekend at a craft show.  I see intricate fretwork that obviously took hours to do, and can't justify the price even though it is a steal when considering the effort involved.

 

 Part of that Colonial fortitude that made America strong was the fierce self reliance that the people possessed.  We largely lost that self reliance.  Can't fix it have to replace it. It is too difficult to fix, I might electrocute myself,  I got no idea how to fix it. A new one is dirt cheap and less than the materials to fix the thing.  Their simply is little if any self reliance.  

 

But gee, I am seeing a resurgence in personal crafting.  regardless of whether it is my wifes renewed interest in quilting, or my renewed interest in wood turning or scrolling.  Big Stores are now having classes on doing repairs, and even doing some remodeling.  I recently heard of a nearby scrolling group that meets at a woodcraft store,  that I may check out.   I was raised to do for myself, unless it was above my capacity.  I have done brake jobs, rebuilt carburetors, installed radiant heating, learned to replace plumbing and wiring in an old farmhouse.  This dumb city boy bought a baler and tractor and filled a barn with hay.  I have learned to give innoculations to the livestock, Bought a back hoe and learned to dig tranches to install irrigation.  Stitched up wire cuts on animals, Stitched up a cut on my leg because I needed to get a job done before a storm set in.  Even watched a couple internet articles and butchered a pig by myself. Made scrapple and bacon. I built a muzzle loader from a maple plank and parts.  I needed a colonial outfit to go with the muzzle loader, and bought a thrift shop sewing machine and made my own uniform from some patterns. (Thanks to my mother in law for the 15 minute sewing machine lesson to get started.)  I learned to bake from scratch from my uncle, a professional baker.  . When my hay bine frame broke, I learned to weld and put it back together.  I can install a new circuit in the box and run the wire and install the switches, receptacles, etc.  On Monday morning when somebody asks what I thought of "the game", I didn't watch it, was busy doing x all weekend, what did they do, Watched Tv and went drinking, etc. .  

 

   Seems I have a hobby collecting things.  Not so much tangible things you can hold, but collecting the knowledge and skills to do a vast variety of tasks for myself.  Guess many of you are rare birds like me.  not enough people are like us. 

Lol, i was keep in my room for 16 years and took apart anything and everything in the room for entertainment .I ended up being a self taught handyman tradesman ,that could do anything you want and had the tools .I asked God for knowledge when 12 instead of money that way I'd have the knowledge to make money.

[tuner]

Back when ......we just called ourselves Jack of all trades, master of none... I also draw the line at sewing myself up 😣 and to be fair I guess I did master my trade ( or came darn close)

But I know were your coming from, trouble is ( I think) there is too much demand on our time now days and everything needed to be done yesterday😦