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Post by mrgrimsdale on Dec 26, 2008 18:05:38 GMT
Thanks for the compliment. It's just a matter of copying the old man's work - you can't go wrong! They shouldn't look that unfamiliar; there's tons of good quality ordinary traditional softwood furniture out there with drawer dove-tails much the same. They may be "fine" but they are also the easiest - both to set out and to cut. Praps fine is the wrong word - easier to think of as single kerf DTs Actually I'm not into 'fine' woodwork so-called. I don't even really like it! It's a devalued word IMHO. If you see " fine woodwork" it's like "purveyors of fine comestibles" - for fine substitute pretentious ;D ;D I really like very ordinary stuff - or primitive bodgery things done with axe and draw knife, which I keep meaning to have a go at who said stuff made with drawknifes and axe's were primitive? Its just one vital and essential aspect of our anglo saxon rural working class cultural identity-Skilled use of a few well designed "primitive"  tools combined with a profound understanding of the properties limitations and possibilities of natural materials, to create all manner of practical useful and attractive items. (ah thats why arty tradition hating pseudo intellectual middle class folk write it off as primitive-I forgot..... ;D) its an activity that dependes on prcatical manual skill, not litetrary skill. LOL ;D No doubt you have noticed how many people that "get well into" fine woodworking scene, aspire to WRITE about so called "fine woodworking" as a carreer move? (that, and seek out the very latest aids, gadgets and fixes to side step the grubby issue of learning manual dexterity) 'Primitive' is not an insult in my book. ;D Thing is about the gadgets and fixes - each one you acquire is one less bit of skill needed. Or if you haven't the skill it's a road to nowhere. Better to buy wood. |
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woodchucker
New Member
Known to my family as 'His Bungleness'.
Posts: 34
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Post by woodchucker on Dec 27, 2008 9:33:58 GMT
I wouldn't call The 'Mouseman's' work primitive, and all of the examples I've seen that have tops, were surfaced with an adze.
Jack
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woodchucker
New Member
Known to my family as 'His Bungleness'.
Posts: 34
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Post by woodchucker on Dec 27, 2008 9:53:51 GMT
Thanks for the compliment. It's just a matter of copying the old man's work - you can't go wrong!
They shouldn't look that unfamiliar; there's tons of good quality ordinary traditional softwood furniture out there with drawer dove-tails much the same. They may be "fine" but they are also the easiest - both to set out and to cut. Praps fine is the wrong word - easier to think of as single kerf DTs
Actually I'm not into 'fine' woodwork so-called. I don't even really like it! It's a devalued word IMHO. If you see "fine woodwork" it's like "purveyors of fine comestibles" - for fine substitute pretentious ;D ;D
I really like very ordinary stuff - or primitive bodgery things done with axe and draw knife, which I keep meaning to have a go at[/quote] Mr. G. I think I already mentioned the 'Mouseman'. It's a delight to feel a surface that is virtually straight from the adze. Okay, so the cruets fall about on his tables, but the workmanship is 'nillus-secundus'. Some of my furniture is 'primitive'. Made before I knew very much and with the basics in hand-tools. But it's still in commission! Fine Woodworking to me is the working to 'engineeering' tolerances. Out of place in woodwork. A 'cut-too-far' for me. Anyway, some of it is mostly only done on machines anyhow. Nothing against machines, but I never used them to make up for lack of hand-skills. Nowadays I let a P/T take the back-break out of preparation, but I kept my weight down years ago with handplanes! I still prefer hand-tools where I can use them but I also admit to using a dovetail jig for stuff like workshop drawers. People won't always wait, but they still want dovetails. If you get my drift. Jack 
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Post by mrgrimsdale on Dec 27, 2008 16:21:11 GMT
We had a mouseman thread hereTheir adze finish is more for effect than anything IMHO - I bet they machine up all the boards and just whip over them with an adze at the last minute. If you spill beer does it stay on the table in little pools? Could be a unique selling point. ;D The neo bodgers would be into hand felling, splitting with wedges, axe and adze finish etc. Lot different. |
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tools combined with a profound understanding of the properties limitations and possibilities of natural materials, to create all manner of practical useful and attractive items. (ah thats why arty tradition hating pseudo intellectual middle class folk write it off as primitive-I forgot..... 