Have we lost our woodworking ways

In my experience, it comes down to having the confidence to make something that fills that need. For me, I was always intimidated by making a crosscut sled. It has to be perfect, or I just wasted my time and effort. As I gained more experience, I realized it’s not so daunting of a task. In the meantime, though, if someone sold one that would allow me to effectively, safely and competently crosscut on my tablesaw, I’d have bought it.

Now, pushsticks are consumeables. You can make one in 10 seconds on the bandsaw. Why anyone would buy one is beyond me. Having said that, I have a TON of things in my shop that others wouldn’t buy. We come into the discussion of, “What do I want out of this hobby?” Do I want to build boxes or build jigs? For the first few projects, you want to build boxes. For the rest, you realize that your boxes will gain in precision, appeal and variety, if you build some jigs.

Have we lost something? I suppose. Everytime someone comments on a project that has dovetail drawers that were cut with a dovetail jig and say, “Nice dovetails!” I sort of think, we don’t say, “Nice glue on edgebanding!” It might be argued that more effort goes into glue on edge banding than machine cut dovetails. “Nice pocket holes!” “Nice cross cut!” “Nice use of wood on that shelf.” “Nice biscuit slots!”

...but that’s not the point. It comes back to what we want out of this hobby. I think it’s embodied in the comments posted on projects here. Whether it’s the first effort of a box, or a toy, or a bench or a shelf. Whether it’s the first efforts at handcut joinery, or machine cut joinery with a twist. Whether someone used a scraper, or a $1000 drum sander. Whether they used red oak, or bubinga. We appreciate the effort, the work, the outcome and watching someone on their journey.

I’d like to see some challenges on this site. Not a table, or a campaign, but a skill builder. Take two boards, a saw and a chisel and have a challenge to hand cut a mortise and tenon. To hand cut a dovetail. To get on your tablesaw and do an edge to edge glueup. A challenge that gets people to do something they havn’t done before and not neccessarily for a project, but just a skill. To build a crosscut sled…not with t-tracks and stop blocks, but make a piece of plywood with runners that is square to your tablesaw and add a fence that makes perfect cuts. To show people that the daunting task is not so daunting, but to grab the attention of everyone on the site to a specific skill share, skill building task. To teach the novice the skill or give them the experience of it, and to remind the seasoned woodworker about other ways to do things, or perhaps how they used to do it before they bought a Domino…

I’m rambling…too much coffee….what was the question again?

Tom

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Lol Tom. Very well put. I agree. The competition is a great idea. I dont believe we build skills these days, we just buy them. I dont want to learn this way and I am sure I couldnt afford too. I believe that there are numerous skills to be learned through building jigs and fixtures that can be directly applied to the project. I think a lot of skills are lost when we purchase something that just does it for us. Not that I own a wooden table saw but I do like to push the wood through myself. Its getting to the point these days where we are just gonna be buying cnc routers to do the work we cant and take all the credit for it anyway. I like the task of doing hudreds of precise inlay cuts with a scroll saw.

I think for me I am going to try and learn to be a fine woodworker and not so much just buying a tool that does all the work for me. I dont want to be known for my precision glue ups.

Chris

-- All donations should be made out to me and in the form of wood or tools ~Chris

Jigs and fixtures are projects to me, and its how i practiced when i first got into the hobby. By the way. I’ve filled a dumpster with things I had to discard, but with each one came lessons learned and skills gained and a lot of enjoyment.
I say make it if you can, buy it if you need or want to and enjoy your time in the shop safely.
By the way:
I think a lot of people who enjoy hobby’s of all “flavors” ,deep down subscribe to the axiom…..
“He who dies with the most toys wins.”
Isn’t it all about enjoying what we like and growing in some way because of it.
Developing our skill is what we are all trying to do.

-- Brad,--"The way to eat an eliphant is one bite at a time"

I think that you have to go deep enough into the water to realize that knowing how to swim is a good thing. When I started this little obsession, my objective was to make stuff and eventually have people ask, “You made that?” My ignorance guided me to ready made tools and techniques that would allow me to produce sooner. As I’ve progressed and interacted with real woodworkers, I’ve come to appreciate and understand the value of jigs and hand tools and such. I have cut dovetails by hand and made mortise and tenon joints with a saw and chisel. However, it wasn’t until I knew that these things existed as a result of machines that I learned that they could also be done by hand. Yet expediency and the knowledge of my own lack of skills cause me to purchase many things that I could make myself. My objective is to make stuff, and making stuff to make stuff is often a diversion I’m not willing to tolerate.

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

On the other hand, my objective is to go to the shop/garage/lab and have fun creating anything.

*I think that’s about the shortest answer I’ve offered yet!

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

I say make rather than buy if you can. I have a long list of jigs and toys for the shop to make. However, my scrap pile is currently not suited to some of them. In the future I will be posting some of these qizmos. In the mean time I will line up with and request scrap piles of the compulsive purchasers be sent my way as well. LOL.

I agree that a lot of the things we buy, (jigs, fixtures ect) could be made guite easily. That is what i did when i started with my first tools as a boy. First, i seen My father and Grandfather, who were both experienced boat builders do just about everything by hand. They didn’t use any power tools other than those furnished by the company such as huge bandsaws and Table saws for heavy skelton work. So i learned to build bows, arrows, ect for quiet a while. I have all the power tools that i need, but i would drather build as many jigs and fixtures as i need. Then when doing the job with tools, and jigs that i bought & built, a big rush comes over me and i can say how slick that jig works. By the way , i am 61 and sharing these things with my grandson.

-- Saved, and so grateful, consider who Created it ALL!!!

I would guess that a lot of the store bought pushsticks are a result of woodworking catalog people, instead of actual woodworkers, driving the perception of what the novice needs for the hobby. I don;t think woodworking is alone with this problem. Surely professional body building people gotta be wondering WTF!! at the number of people that purchase Ab Rollers and Thighmasters.

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

oh man. lol. Thats good stuff right there.

-- All donations should be made out to me and in the form of wood or tools ~Chris

I tend to agree with Dadoo. For me it is a hobby, and I get to define it.

I believe that one should be careful about setting rules for other people on what is or is not woodworking. My father (who was an accomplished amateur woodworker) would have not considered making a box as woodworking. He would call that a craft. It also drove him crazy when someone would make a beautiful tool out of exotic wood. He saw woodworking as a practical art only. If it wasn’t furniture or something like built-ins, it was not woodworking. Yet he loved to carve but he called that just art. Go figure.

I know of other guys who want you start from rough lumber, preferably stuff you have dried yourself. Others can not stand it if you build from plans, or worse, a kit. Still others will not allow paint into their definition.

So I believe that we need less rules. I want to appreciate it all. I love the unique, and the classics. I love the simple and the complicated. I love the serious and the whimsical. I love hand cut and I love machine cut.

Steve

p.s. My Dad would have gone ballistic seeing an expensive router table from a uppity store like Rockler. Me, I am kind of jealous.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Spalm, there are purist, then there are PURIST. When we get to the day when you can put a chair or table design in the computer, and then go out to the shop and watch robots build it and finish it…i gotta draw the line!

There are plenty of factories that can spit out a curio cabinet faster than a woodworking artisan can. Portrait painters ran into this problem with the advent of photography over a hundred years ago. I take comfort in the fact that a hundred years later, a photograph, by its very ease of being produced, is rarely considered as valuable as a human created painting. This gets even more interesting when you consider that the photograph and its process wins hands down when it comes to technical accuracy in capturing a persons likeness.

True woodworking art iseems directly proportional to how much a persons talent and efforts are revealed to you when viewing the piece and studying how it was achieved .

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

I think your Dad would be right Steve. When I look back at that purchase, it was money wasted. Practically $300.00 in laminated particle board with a couple of machined aluminum parts. Atleast I made the rest of it. Yeah, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldnt have spent the money on the table. I got plenty of material that I could have made just about anything and probably better. I think miles125 got it right when he said pushsticks are something novice catalog shoppers buy because they think they need it. I certainly felt that way. Hindsight is 20 20

-- All donations should be made out to me and in the form of wood or tools ~Chris

After looking at those push sticks I went back to restudy Steve’s CNC Router. What a wonderous woodworking world we live in. And it’s all kinda relative isn’t it?

I agree with miles though. I like studying a handmade piece and seeing the tiny mistakes. They define the journey and after all, isn’t that what it’s really about?

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

I agree with you guys more than you might think. Some of my real inspirations in woodworking came from Maloof, Krenov, and Tage Frid. I love hand made works of art. I just keep trying to tell myself to ignore the little voices and keep my field of vision wide.

I still buy flowers, and make my popcorn on top of the stove.

Take care,
Steve

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

sounds like the “film vs digital” photography debate as well… the end result is: do you like the process? do you like the end result of the efforts?

I was watching someone on tv show how to turn 4 table legs to make them “identical”.... I turned the channel. I found the process to be annoying to watch. Now, I’ve also watched bowls and pens being turned and oh how fascinated I am by the process. Everyone has their own preferences and their own interests.

Tools, building/buying jigs, carving with hand tools, power tools, or electronic equipment— “To each his own” and “to thine own self be true”.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

I’ll speak to the original question: “Have we lost our woodworking ways?”
I do a fair amount of reading about furniture making from the past I as far as I can discover the craft was divided into designer/assembly areas and a series of cottage industries supplying parts to the company holing the “commission” (i.e. Chippendale)
These people worked 12 – 14 hours a day and only did one or two things day in and day out.
Bodgers for instance would sit and turn up to 3 dozen chair spindles per day – day in and day out.
Today our fast paced world puts that task on an automatic lathe and turns the same number in an hour.

Here’s my point, we are all rushed along through life and often only have spare minute here or there to pursue this fascinating craft.
It’s not a stretch to see people buying things they could make because they are caught in the “frantic ism” of western culture and life.
That goes for soup, bread,casseroles, salads, and touques.
We live too fast to enjoy the skills we possess.
Couple that with the fact that most people don’t read and rely on TV to get their information and you have the plastic push stick.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I think alot depends on wether you are woodworking for a hoby or profit.I do this as a business and time is very important to me.Now something as simple as a pushstick I would make but I saw plans the other day to make a toggle clamp (like a jig clamp)out of wood it would probably take over an hour to make something you can purchase for under $4.00 for me that hour is worth much more than $4

-- Scott NM,http://www.shangrilawoodworks.com

Interesting observation Scott.
I have been in business for several years as well and I have found that there are periods of time in my business where you have to get creative to remain productive.
If I can use up existing materials and end up with a productive product for down the line then it is a win, wn, win!
Win 1. I didn’t have to buy anything.
Win 2. I used shop time that could not be billed.
Win 3. I got a valuable tool for little more than my otherwise wasted time.

So $4.00 + $4.00 + $4.00 = $12.00
I got $12.00 value for free!
You can do the math for more expensive shop aids.

p.s. I think I know the jig of which you speak and it has no intrinsic value. <g>

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I like and agree with Tom’s original comment. But answering the original question, to play devil’s advocate, it goes both ways: Spending $10 plus tax and shipping for a push stick is stupid. A push stick is a scrap of wood with a notch in it. ITS A STICK FOR GOODNESS SAKE. Sticks grow on trees, money doesn’t.

However, the latest edition of Shopnotes magazine just arrived in the mail and the cover featured a shop-made disk sander and several pages of instructions plus links to the website for tutorials inside. Holy crap, how much money and time really went in to that disk sander? I bought my disk sander from a yardsale for $20 bucks, came home and plugged it in. Works great. How many of you use a shop-built table saw? That will be in the next edition of Shopnotes.

The bottom line is gray and must be defined by each wood worker based on individual needs. Do you have more time or money? Sometimes I cant afford a tool and must make it. But sometimes I feel like just splurging… because I would rather spend that shop time making boxes or furniture than elaborate jigs.

I also agree with Scott, depends on whether your shop is for work or for play. A similar can of worms has opened up some good conversation in fingerleft’s blog on FESTOOL.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.theeasellife.com

Different strokes- Evil grin

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I love this post, it give us all a chance to vent and contribute to the discussion. Personal need must also enter into the equation. A topic that stimulates thoughts and ideas is good for those who visit the site.

-- Brad,--"The way to eat an eliphant is one bite at a time"

Mostly, I don’t have either “store bought” or “home-made” jigs, push sticks, etc.

Store bought = dovetail jig, push stick, featherboard, push pads (the last three came together in a safety kit for a great give-away pre-Christmas price at Rockler)

Homemade = box finger joint jig & dip net bending form

I know, I know, I know I “should” take the time to build all the great jigs folks have come up with. The investment of time would make my shop experience and creativity and accuracy more often much better. Most of the “greats” of woodworking use jigs! I have a self-created index listing of jig articles in my magazine library and whole books of “The Greatest Jigs of All-Time.” Yet, when I walk into my garage shop, jigs just never seem to be high on my list of ways to spend a limited amount of hobby time.

But then, jigs are not very high on my list of ways to spend limited hobby money either! Even some home-made jigs have a fair amount $ to invest in knobs, hardware and such. I can do a pretty good job of cutting dovetails by hand, but when faced with 12 drawers in two chests – I waited for a great sale coupled with a discount coupon. A thin stick of scrap with a crude notch cut into the end was replaced with a real “store-bought” push stick only when the pre-Christmas sale made it dirt cheap.

For me, jigs are like “eating right” for other people. I know I should – I would often feel better about my shop experiences – but I never quite get around to it – home-made (other than quick and crude) or store-bought.

-- Paul, Texas

I’ve not built many jigs.

EXCEPT – While working at the toy making we have to make 100 toys that are the same with holes in the same place, circles cut the same size.

We are now working on a baby cradle that have angled ends and sides. I made 8 jigs to hold the wood while it is being cut.

I’m probably more willing to make and use them now.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I’ve read about one woodworker who alternates each project – one for the shop, one for the home. I took on that philosophy at first, but despite a want/need/desire to make everything, if I can buy it for cheaper than I can make it, I will. Somedays cheaper is valued in money, other days it hours.

I found a design for a great jig for sharpening chisels, and bought most of the compontnts for around 15-18 bucks. Didn’t have everything I needed, so I waited and scouted to get all the parts. When I finally got around to making it, I saw that it was going to be a lot of work, especially where I had to make design alterations based on the things I couldn’t find. I finally broke down and bought the veritas jig. I was trying to save the money, and ended up spending more than if I just bought it in the first place. But at least I know what it’s really worth to me in time and frustration.

I’ve cut tons of tapered spindles though, and will quickly cobble together a jig for when I’m doing a staircase for efficiency and quality. and push sticks – those are made of scrap and there’s always one nearby.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

I made my own router table once. It was really big and heavy. Extremely stable. Never used it much. So big, it was always in-the-way. Traded it for wood.

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

Its easy to spot the guy prone to overly zealous jig making. Hes the guy with the hand carved mahogany hinges on his birdeye maple tool box. Or the inlaid Anegre box with dovetailed corners thats worth 9 times more than the Craftsman cordless it was built to hold. Hehe

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

Add to Miles125:
And usually has the quartersawn white Oak workbench that is to scared to do anything on it, let alone a glue up.

-- Scott NM,http://www.shangrilawoodworks.com

These are jigs i made to serve as both the form and the clamp for glueing up the jambs for gothic top cased openings. Got to use up a lot of scrap plywood and kept me from having to go buy 100 more c-clamps. Once i used a clamp to pull a section up tight, i drove a small wedge into place to hold it tight while i moved on around the curve.

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

Touché Bob, that was the perfect post after mine. Good one. But you should see my diamond studded push stick from Gucci…

Although I must say, your disk sander looks a lot more practical than the one in Shopnotes.

I do like the way this blog has gone: listing everyone’s built and bought… So lets hear it. It is very interesting to see what people have done. I am taking a poll and I am going first:

Built:
Maple chisel mallot
router table (several by now and one in the works) (maybe I should have just bought though…)
Router dovetail jig (hardly use it)
Drill press table
Band saw fence
Push sticks
Tenoning jig
Workbench (just solid core doors on legs)
Clamp rack
Radial Arm Saw (restored and built table/cabinet)
Table Saw fence (modified a Vega)
Thin ripping indexer for table saw (built from Shopnotes, one of my favorite simple jigs)

Bought: (besides the obvious)
Disk/belt sander
Router table fence
Tool box
Shop cabinets (dirt cheap, used)

-- Check out my new website! http://www.theeasellife.com

Thats it, now im forced to build a wooden table saw. No seriously, I am gonna dedicate maybe 1 day a week to just building a jig. I know I have had plenty of moments that I was in need of one but didnt have the time so I went without. The next time this occurs, I am gonna write it down and save it for my jig building day. Next on my list is a simple tapered leg jig.. Lets see your designs on a tapered leg jig people, be creative.

-- All donations should be made out to me and in the form of wood or tools ~Chris

I made this cradle jig for my belt sander before i owned a horizontal sander. Still comes in handy sometimes to take on the job.

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

Thats a darn fine belt sander too. You know you are a Lumberjock when you got one of these jigs sittin around.

-- All donations should be made out to me and in the form of wood or tools ~Chris