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CNC = Woodworking?

3K views 63 replies 30 participants last post by  groyuti 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well?

Some say it is simply just another machine? Really?
If it is an autonomous piece of equipment controlled by a CPU, doesn't that make a difference?

Corollary: Can we claim to be "craftsman" solely based on what we make or does it necessarily encompass the idea of working with ones hands?
 
#3 ·
You still need to have the vision and design to create something special. It is a different skill set, but an important one. I imagine a future where small and mid-sized shops produce top quality pieces with tools of all types. The quality is what separates those pieces from the rest, not the manner in which they were made.

I don't currently use CNC, but how cool would it be to finish an arts and crafts piece, and send it into the CNC for a carved logo in the vein of the old Roycroft community. Maybe furniture isn't made that way anymore because it was too time consuming to make. Maybe CNC and other semi-automated tools can bring it back.
 
#6 ·
I keep telling myself that since I can't use power tools any longer ( osteoarthritis) that I will buy myself a CNC for christmass. It will allow me to still enjoy creating. I can not hold surgical insatruments any longer but I refuse to go quietly into the night. I will attempt to stay active until I draw my final breath. And if CNC is the only way in which I can do so, so be it. If they finaly put me in a casket, let it by made of wood. "Hopefully Knotty Pine." but if nothing else just put me in the sawdust pile.
 
#7 ·
You can do some very creative things with CNC machines and these machines will probably become more and more common and probably less expensive and they are not going away. Eventually there will even be 3d printers in woodworking shops. However, hand tools, portable power tools, and stationary woodworking machines will still be used along with the new machines. I don't really see anything wrong with the mix. I think that it is rather exciting. I believe that it will be very good for woodworking in the long run. Just because a CNC router can do a woodcarving it doesn't mean that a hand carved piece won't be done in the same shop.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
 
#8 ·
Me personally I would say yes.

Back in the days of 1400 to 1800 they used hand saws then in the last 1800s they did pedal power, then steam power then to electoral power. The guys that used broad axes for wood working thought using saws were not a good form of wood working.

Now it is CNC machines. I do think a person should know how to use hand tools and power tools to be a well rounded wood worker. If a person did not have to worry about production and could do all with hand tools then more power to him and I really respect him or her for it. Now adays it is just not practical if you are in business. I really, really wish I had a CNC machine to do things I can not do nor have enough time on earth to learn how and that is why I so strongly wish I had one but not just for me but for the others I teach which have physical limitations too.
I really wish I had a saw mill also but if someone was a purist then I would have to do it by hand with maul and wedges.
 
#10 ·
Like ball players on steroids - there should always be an asterisk next to the "craftsman s" name.
So I can't really be a "craftsman" if I use a computer? I'm a cheater, like someone using steroids to play ball? IT's against the "rules"?

Well if you wanna be a purist, then make nothing you can't make without the exclusive use of your hands, or teeth. No tools at all….
 
#15 · (Edited by Moderator)
Same thing comes up in my other hobby (computer case modding/scratch building).

I hear the argument "but they still have to be able to design it which takes a lot of time and work", like it's supposed to make it the same thing as actually making with your hands? I get it, it's a lot of work. So is hand planing rough stock to usable boards. However, just because someone is a designer at a car company doesn't mean they actually make the car; they're designing it and handing it off to the manufacturing plant because that's what the manufacturing plant specializes in.

I'm not saying it's "easier" or "not actually work", as I've done 3D design work in the past for parts, but rather it's different work. Designing something and hitting "go" to watch it be made isn't much different than an architect drafting a building, and having someone else build it.

In short, yes it's working with wood, but I wouldn't consider them a craftsman to my personal definition, but rather a designer or engineer. The real art is designing something intricate, inspiring, and unique…

It's all just an addition to the ever increasingly fuzzy line of "hand made" vs "production", in my opinion.
 
#17 ·
I'll jump in again to say (again)...

Why do people get upset when told they don't qualify by the strict definition of "craftsman?"

Full Definition of CRAFTSMAN

1: a worker who practices a trade or handicraft
2: one who creates or performs with skill or dexterity especially in the manual arts <jewelry>

Using a CNC does not qualify one as a craftsman, per se. You are a computer operator and/or a machinist, but not a craftsman in the strict sense of the word.

However, woodworking is a more general term that encompasses everything from the nearly entirely automated to the nearly entirely manual. Using a tablesaw, a CNC, etc. to work wood literally qualifies you as a woodworker. Whether or not you're a craftsman, by definition, is something altogether different.
 
#18 ·
Same thing comes up in my other hobby (computer case modding/scratch building).

I hear the argument "but they still have to be able to design it which takes a lot of time and work", like it s supposed to make it the same thing as actually making with your hands? I get it, it s a lot of work. So is hand planing rough stock to usable boards. However, just because someone is a designer at a car company doesn t mean they actually make the car; they re designing it and handing it off to the manufacturing plant.

I m not saying it s "easier" or "not actually work", as I ve done 3D design work in the past for parts, but rather it s different work. Designing something and hitting "go" to watch it be made isn t much different than an architect drafting a building, and having someone else build it.

In short, yes it s working with wood, but I wouldn t consider them a craftsman to my personal definition, but rather a designer or engineer. The real art is designing something intricate, inspiring, and unique…

It s all just an addition to the ever increasingly fuzzy line of "hand made" vs "production", in my opinion.

- Mosquito
This. So much this.
 
#22 ·
I am not a craftsman nor am I a woodworker. I have a hobby of doing whatever the wood tells me to do. It is often firewood in the end, so I will never be upset with not adding another title to the end of my signature line. I do it because I enjoy it, not because I need to reach perfection. A good woodburning stove is a wonder to have around. Mine is always well fed and no feelings of failure to measure up to someone elses standards. See my tagline.
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
Jim, I don't think your analogy holds up.
For one thing, when you punch a calculator, you're not running expensive tooling with an expensive machine, into actual material.
It begins as digital design, but is converted from that into an actual physical object.
You MUST know your toolling, machine, and wood. AND you have to know how to use the software and computer…
So it's more than just knowing how to push a button.
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
I think ww'ing is a very broad term and I do agree that using a CNC machine IS ww'ing, but…..

I believe craftsmanship is whole nother thing. There is craftsmanship only in the sense that IF you created the design you get the artistic credit. However if all you did was calibrate the machine and use a preloaded design, that is NOT craftsmanship. In fact, you haven't created anything at all - not even the idea.

I think the idea of craftsmanship is multifaceted. There is the artistic/design aspect plus the tool skills involved in materially creating what the mind has conceived.

I'm not saying there is no place for machines in craftsman ww'ing, either.
I'm saying if all you do is push a button and watch the machine make the piece, where is the craftsmanship?

Craftsmanship is not simply a Machievellian appeal to the eye of the finished product but in our day, it seems the end product is paramount. I believe inherent in craftsmanship is the WAY something is built - what someone has done with their hands and the skills they have developed over years and years of work - this is what brings real value to a piece.

If I am not able to honestly say "I made that" - even if I used machines - then I am neither a craftsman nor a woodworker.
 
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