Talent

I believe it to be more of imagination than talent. I think talent can be learned through practise, but imagination is where true art comes from. There really are quite a few artists on this site along with some very talented woodworkers. I think the biggest difference being those that work from plans to recreate a great project, and those that create such beautiful projects that people ask for thier plans.

-- Dan-- Info for all @ http://www.hoistman.com

i seem to have talent at practicing ,
until i learn something ,
or i get it right by chance !

i also seem to have talent ,
at forgetting everything
when i need it next !

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

My wife says I have a talent to be an ass!

As far as woodworking, I’m still practicing, but I am talented at dulling saw blades and making scrap wood.

-- Kirk H. -- http://www.kjwoodworking.com

I’m proud to say that I’m a talented woodworker. Unfortunately my talents aren’t in woodworking.
But, I can tie my own shoes.

-- Gene

I believe you are born with it . I grew up with woodworking so it has always been easy for me .

-- John in Belgrave ,(Slideshow ) http://cid-69bce320c6d8b119.skydrive.live.com/play.aspx/Extreme%20Birdhouses/P1030026.JPG?ref=2 (Website) http://www.extremebirdhouse.com

Talent is hardwired and not at all rare…skill is learned…craftsmanship is practiced.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

I think with technical hobbies they are mostly based on perseverence, practice, and patience. Techniques and attention to detail require practice and study. Aptitude comes into play when learning anything. Talent? Nah, I think that’s more a reflection of the aforementioned virtues combined with a certain amount of artistic flair, which isn’t exclusive to woodworking.

In short, woodworking (like my other hobby, astrophotography) combine both elements of science and art, which I suspect is why many people enjoy the journey of making a project a reality.

-- jay, www.allaboutastro.com

i believe its practice makes perfect ( i was useless at wood work at school)

to be good at woodworking you need to learn the hand skills to do any of the tasks required (for example how to use a hand saw and cut straight and accurate lines, how to use a chisel etc)

these basics need to be learnt before you can show any of the talent to make wonderful pieces

once learnt anything looks easy from the outside

keep practicing and soon everybody will think you are born to be a woodworker

Hooky

-- Happiness is a way of travel , not a destination (Roy Goodman)

Some people are born with gifts, some are not. as for me? I need to practice a lot, and have good instructions/plans to wor with.

the only thing that comes naturally to me is being grouchy :-)

-- Powered by Smith & Wilson~~~

For me, the talent is in the design and I’m short in that depaartment. The woodworking has come because f the love of the work creating the desire to keep on learning. But the design aspect, well, that hasen’t reached me yet

-- Gary, DeKalb Texas

WOW, this question hurts my head, all the answers have merit and to some degree are correct. I believe that by talent or practice makes perfect you must first have the DESIRE . without the want to, talent will go to waste. On the other hand if you want to succeed badly enough you can practice and learn until you reach your goal. Even if you are born with the talent to see things as you want them to be you must develope the skills neccessary to alter the material to fit your vision. Great question-where’s the Tylenol??

-- Duane,matt_megan@twlakes.net

I agree mostly with comicsniper.

Talent is something you are born with. An innate ability to do a certain thing. Being talented at wood working would be a sort of weird thing to have. You could be talented at doing cartwheels, throwing a ball into a hoop, running really fast, jumping really high, but cutting a board really straight? or really crooked for that matter. Some people cut stuff so crooked that I would say man, that took some talent. It takes a lot of practice and skill to cut a board super straight. Of course there are a lot of ways to do this but hopefully you get my drift. You don’t just pick up a saw and cut a super straight line. Now you may be more athletic than the next guy, may be able to see the line better, may be able to use your body parts with precision, may be intuitive enough to know how to do the operation better than the next guy. I believe these would be classified as natural skills that weren’t learned but just things that make you better at the thing than the next guy. Anywaysssssss…...

-- LAS

talent (tal’ent) n. 1 Ability, special fitness for any particular occupation. 2 An ancient unit of weight or money, ~’ented adj. Syn. Aptitude, endowment, faculty, gift, knack.
Mr. Webster doesn’t come right out and say it here, but it’s implied that talent is an innate thing.

-- Mike in Manchester, NH---Unpleasant tasks are simply worthy challenges to improve skills.

sorry folks i assumed because of the forum we are in that DESIRE was a given

but after that practice is the key

in my trade training the first month of shop time was spent learning about the joints and gaining the skill to do them by hand (and if we didn’t do it perfectly the teacher would bin it and say start again)

then the first 6 months of the course very little was done on machines

Hooky

-- Happiness is a way of travel , not a destination (Roy Goodman)

I believe it’s all perspective. Can you see how to build the project before you start? An engineer can solve a problem with out to many problems. I would be baffled for days. The same engineer could have problems with woodworking because his mind has to over analyze everything. He looks past the simplicities and makes it complicated. It’s his perspective on how it should be done. Whereas I could take the same project and blow through it because I see most woodworking as simple. My mind automatically puts it into perspective, his does not. But I assure you I couldn’t build a rocket. Was I born with it? No, I just wasn’t born smart enough to be an engineer, and I’m not dumb enough to flip burgers. So the construction industry falls in the middle.
To me Talent is in the Art of it. Your imagination. The actual process of making it has been done for generations and you can find out how to make it simply by asking the fellers here at LJ’s.
But dont forget Patience. Without that you’ll be frustrated or just sloppy.

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

I think you are born with talent and ability. Practice makes perfect :-)) The only aptitude test I ever took, they told me I could do anything I wanted to do. I guess they were right, my wife says I’m too hard on people. She says everything is easy for me.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

I believe that true “talent” is God given, but like anything, it’s practice that perfects it. Effort is what tends to take you to the next level regardless of your natural ability.

I believe your talent is there when you are born.

-- Ray Cody, Florence Alabama

Yep! Us hamburger flippers are a bunch of idjits…

-- Mike in Manchester, NH---Unpleasant tasks are simply worthy challenges to improve skills.

mike ,
it has been brought to my attention ,
that you are intelligent ,
and that a1jim is developing a sense of humor .

how do you answer to this ?

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

Practice, practice, practice…

-- Mike in Manchester, NH---Unpleasant tasks are simply worthy challenges to improve skills.

I usually build it first then read the instructions. I love assembling things, but woodworking is to a point where you must start from scratch. In a hunk of wood one sees a totem pole, an owl, or a stool. We pull from within ourselves to expose what the tree is calling to be. I have seen some great work here and other places like this and it is the same from whomever designed it. I built two folding adirondack chairs and they are both different but from the same plan, like a snow flake no two are alike. We take the fallen tree and make it what it is. Perfection? No tree is perfect and precision only comes from what we see it as.

-- justjohn49, New Hampshire

I think knotscott has it right. Talent is something you are born with. Some people are naturally athletic, some are artistically creative, some have perfect pitch, still others are good with numbers. But true greatness comes from a combination of natural talent and hard work to develop that talent.

Take athletics, for example. Some people are overachievers…. they don’t have tremendous natural physical ability, but they are able to perform at a high level because they work extremely hard. On the other hand, there are some professional athletes who have a reputation for being extremely lazy as far as practice goes, but they are able to get by on great natural ability. But your real superstars, like a Michael Jordan, are the people who take their natural talent to its maximum potential through constant practice.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I believe that talent like most other things can be measured in degrees. I think most of us have some degree of talent, while many others have more and a few have a lot more.

When I started woodworking I had the arrogant idea that all I had to do was learn the technical aspects of the craft because the design certainly wouldn’t be any problem. Since that beginning 14 years or so ago I have been severely humbled. The positive part is that I now really really appreciate those talented people who produce new and exciting designs, and for just about everything, not just wood.

Notwithstanding the above, I have managed to design a couple of things which I’m a little proud of. They are no big deal, but they probably represent the outer limits of what I am capable of. I don’t find this disturbing because I just love making stuff. I have to admit though that I get more satisfaction out of things I designed myself. This is not to imply that projects built from other’s plans are less worthy. It’s just how I feel and I can’t help it.

The point I am making is that we who aren’t born artists shouldn’t think of ourselves as totally without talent. We can also come up with wonderful things if we want to and try hard, but maybe just not as often or as spectacular as more gifted folks can. So we should use the talent we have and try to develop it through exercise just like we do with our muscles.

-- Mike, American in Norway

I would agree, we are born with talent—BUT—-I could not possibly have built a Grandfather Clock at 1 year old. Talent must be developed. That said, I believe we are all born with certain abilities—or talents. Some more than others.That is our genetic make-up. What is done from then on makes you what you eventually become as an adult. Don’t your interests tend to gravitate toward what you have natural ability to do. My real passions in life now are music and woodworking. I have found both come very easy for me, but neither would do me any good without practice. If I were to play bass or drums professionaly, I would certainly have to spend way more time practicing than I do now, although I play OK now. That’s just as true with my woodworking. I could have made perfect scores in school shop classes (which I never took, by the way) and then never did another thing. Would I have much “talent” now. Maybe, in the sense of potential, but what good would it do me or anyone else.

For whatever reason, I have always been able to visualize projects. I don’t remember ever using a plan for anything. I jot down basic measurements and go for it. I can modify designs in midsteam without much problem, and somehow things turn out rather well on occasion. After reading many comments on LJ, that doesn’t seem very common. Is that talent or ability? I think so, but if I never used that ability, I would never even know I had it.

So many think they have no talent because they never step out, take a risk, and actually try anything—-and then wish they could do something as well as someone famous.

Basically, I guess I’m saying, talent hidden, and not developed into skill, is worthless.

-- Kent Shepherd * The goal is-----More Tools!

After reading the above post, there is one asspect I think that wasn’t touched on—inheirted talent. I’ve been a musican since I was 10 years old. I learned to sing and play instruments at an early age. But—- my mom and dad both were musicans also, and played anything with a string on it. My sister couldn’t tune a radio!!
My dad was also a great carpenter and cabinet maker. Playing and singing came natural to me, but woodworking—that’s another fly in the ointment. But just like music or whatever, you’ve got to PRACTICE!
And I practice a whole lot more at ww than music. I can write songs, but I can’t design a pencil, but I can build that pencil if I can see it. Talent, ability, and creativity all play a major role in this game of wood. Maybe I should of stuck with music and not purchased all the ww tools—— NOT- I like it too much. I’ll perservier!!!!!!!

-- Remember--- one good turn-- gets most of the blanket!!!!

It always bothers me when people make the remark that I’m a talented woodworker, or whatever.
I wasn’t born with the ability to work wood. It isn’t, for me, an INATE ability.
Talent is, by definition, something you have as a gift.
If one LEARNS something and excels at it – that isn’t talent. Its an acquired ability.

d

-- If a man says something in the forest and there's no woman to hear it, is he still wrong?

I would guess it’s a little of both. Part of it is remembering how you did it last time. But true talent seems to get it right the first time. Aggravating isn’t it

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Right. Not disputing that there is talent, but rather that what makes a talented woodworker is not exclusive to just woodworking.

Michael Jordan was not a talented basketball player, but rather a talented athlete who chose to apply those talents in basketball. I suspect, as with most talented athletes, he could have been great at any sport he devoted his life to. I would bet, in the same theme, that the “talented” woodworkers among us would have been good at anything similar to which they devoted their time.

-- jay, www.allaboutastro.com

If I have a talent, I think it must be LEARNING.
I can learn easily and read quickly with good comprehension.
Reading isn’t talent it’s an acquired skill, but the inate ability to grasp and use the skills may be why I can do that.
I don’t read the manuals to machines because I usually can determine what does what without the instructions.
I learn new software by jumping in and poking around.
d

-- If a man says something in the forest and there's no woman to hear it, is he still wrong?

Well said, Jay! Exactly what I was trying to say in my first post on this subject. I guess my talent isn’t communication, either.

-- Gene

I believe everyone is wired a little different from birth. Look at young kids: some get excited with linclon logs / leggos, some with paints, some with action figures, some with a ball, some with an ant farm, some with a toy piano and on and on. Each of those points to a talent that will develop later in life. I’d bet that many LJ were drawn to assembly type toys early in life, pounded nails in anything after that and were the proverbial take everything apart to see how it works next in life. Doesn’t mean the road to LJ doesn’t include stops to be an engineer, military service, banker, medical field, author, public safety, entertainment, media…

I also think Dan hit it on the head in the first reply. Talent and imagination are different aspects. Myself, I can practice and develop talent to replicate something that I have been exposed to by a person with imagination. I’m in awe of the people with imagination and the talent to then make the item with a high degree of craftsmanship.

I worked as an engineer and have several patents, but each of those were to solve a stated problem or need and I don’t really compare those to imagination I have seen here at LJ for many items.

Steve.

when I was 4 or 5, I found a hammer near a little used wooden box of apples (btw I have always thought it was my mom who left them there for me). Do you believe I still remember the true pleasure I felt in dismantle that little box? and in handling the small boards I got? In English, like in Italian, talent means “inclination, disposition” but also “will, desire”, and this is what I like the most about this word: the emotional and sentimental aspect of the talent. On googlebooks I have searched for the exact literal translation of ”seguire il proprio talento” (to follow one’s own talent), and as you can see this expression is common, because I bet it’s universal the pleasure of fulfilling oneself in what one loves; only someone is brave enough (or lucky enough) to follow his talent for a living though.

-- Antonio --

Some talents have to opened up through education or inspiration. When I was an apprentice, the teacher who was supposed to be teaching motor control logic had a series of questions we were supposed to solve. I had dropped out of pre-engineering college classes to enter the apprenticeship. I drew them up with my drafting experience. When he was handing them back, he always asked if he could keep it. I told him I didn’t care.

Years later he told me he didn’t know the answers to the questions, but figured he and the class could solve them. He used my drawings and explanations as hand outs to subsequent classes to study after they had attempted their solutions. He went on to teach college level motor controls. He said his whole teachbing career was based on my drawings. My ability and talent in controls kept me working during the many downturns in construction over the years. The only input I ever had to access this talent was a basic ladder logic text.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Amazing comments by all.
Dennis Mitchell you always seem to say so much with so little. Skill is learned…craftsmanship is practiced.
Hooky; basic skills need to be learnt before you can show any of the talent.
Kent: Don’t your interests tend to gravitate toward what you have natural ability to do?
Rick Dennington; Inherited talent
Don Butler; If one LEARNS something and excels at it –that isn’t talent. Its an acquired ability. an INATE ability.
Antonio: The will, desire The emotional and sentimental aspect of the talent..
knotscott; Talent is God given;
Everyone makes a good addition to this post. How do you know what talent a child has? You can see development and a gravitational pull to certian aspects in life. A child sitting infront of a piano with no one in the family a musician. A child being able to do math early in life without much tuition.etc. Is this not talent?
But then again, a person taught a skill And using imagination to perfect that acquired skill, can become a very talented person….......
Some just have the inbred ability to pick something up for the first time and find they are a natural.
Others have the desire to be able to pick up the same thing, Yet they have to work so much harder in trying to make it seem natural.

-- "Even small steps makes a distance." (Shawn Phillips, musician)