I posted a link to this book a while back. It’s about the difference between making something with your hands and using a machine to make something. It covers the aesthetics and pros and cons of each approach.
For example, let’s say you want to build a drawer. You would like the sides of the drawer to be constructed using dovetails because of the nice appearance. You have two options for making the dovetail joints:
Option 1: Use an electric router with a special cutter that makes semi-triangular cuts in the end of the drawer sides. You’ll also need a special jig (guide) into which you clamp the wood pieces – this jig allows you to move the router in an out of specially-shaped slots to make perfect dovetail cuts. Some dovetail jig setups for home workshops cost hundreds of dollars, and allow you to make extremely fancy and detailed joints.
Option 2: Use a small handsaw to cut the dovetailed drawer sides. This involves measuring and marking the wood with various lines and having a steady hand. After the sawing is complete, you can use chisels to remove any remaining wood that fills in the gaps where the two pieces of wood fit together.
Except for a few of specialty woodworking shops, furniture companies use Option 1 when they produce dovetail joints for drawers. (Of course, they don’t use standard home shop routers and jigs, theirs are industrial-strength.) Machines are faster and can cut dovetailed drawers flawlessly every time. Cutting the wood for the sides, planing it to be the correct thickness, and cutting dovetails can be done by machines much more quickly than by hand. The fit of the dovetails is perfect every time – there are no gaps or mistakes.
An expert hand tool user can crank out a set of drawer sides in short order, but most people can’t. Not only does cutting the dovetails by hand take longer, it also introduces a great deal of risk. It requires a lot of skill on the part of the craftsman. A person cutting a dovetail joint by hand has plenty of opportunities to make a mistake: measuring, chiseling, and sawing mistakes are easy to make. Each cut is a risk – any misstep may require you to start over with another piece of wood. The closer you get to your final cut, the more you stand to lose if you make a mistake. Your judgment is always in play – does the saw or a chisel need to be sharpened? Are you getting tired and need to take a break? A small variation in technique or a lapse in concentration might lead you to accidentally remove part of the wood with the chisel you were supposed to keep intact. Machines don’t lose their concentration, and, when maintained properly. can make the same cut, every time, forever.
The advent of mass-produced products has changed peoples’ opinions about what is beautiful “craftsmanship” and what is not . A drawer whose side has a stray chisel mark, or which shows a saw cut which went 2mm deeper than necessary, would cause many people to complain to their furniture store salesperson. This was not always the case, of course. Stray tool marks and imperfections in the wood and finish were common in older furniture. For example, some antique dressers and other furniture that are found in museums have imperfect dovetails in the drawers – they were not intended to be decorative the way they are today; they were meant to be functional. In some old, old furniture, it’s not unusual to find small wedges of wood inserted to fill in a gap made by accident when sawing or chiseling. (Drawer Trivia: People way back when didn’t use drawers the way we do today – many years ago they were primarily used for storage, and were not intended to be opened and closed every day. Drawers did not have the neat fit and smooth glide that today’s drawers do; many of them drooped forward when pulled out, and were sticky and fussy to slide back in. No one cared what the side of a drawer looked like because they were hardly ever seen.)
I think most woodworkers recognize the difficulty of making dovetails that are perfect using only hand tools. If you go to a local woodworking club, and hold up a drawer with dovetails that were made with machines and heavy jigs, people will yawn; they’ve all done that, it’s not a big deal. If you hold up a drawer with hand-cut dovetails that are so uniform they look like they were done by a machine, you’ll get their attention.
Back to David Pye’s book: His essay (which is really what it is) discusses the idea of risk and what it means to manufacturing. He points out the beauty of a slightly flawed, hand-made product over that of a mass-produced product. He makes a solid case for manual skills and the aesthetics of hand-made objects. Something stamped out of metal by a large machine is produced at no risk to the machine’s operator – the operator can always produce the same object every time. Something created by hand, molded, cut, or otherwise produced without the certainty of a machine’s help, requires the creator to take a risk at every step.
(This position avoids a related question – what about the person who programmed or otherwise set up that machine to produce that part? Aren’t plastic or metal parts first prototyped by a person, then made into molds/stamps/forms, upon which machines operate? Sure. So, if you’re striving for creativity and want to produce something, be the one who makes the mold/stamp/form, and try not to be the person feeding the metal blank into the hydraulic press and pushing the button.)
Some of you may be familiar with Roy Underhill, of the PBS show “The Woodwright’s Shop”. He is also an author of several woodworking books. He is the most prominent spokesman for the art of using “old” tools to work with wood. (Serious hand tool collectors and users refer to him as “St. Roy.”) He was formerly a carpenter and presenter at Colonial Williamsburg and is still associated with them, although he makes his home in North Carolina. He loves to ham it up on his show, and the word “corny” often comes to my mind when he cracks a joke. But his message is very interesting, and his understanding of tools is more than just a working knowledge – he often taps into the “zen” of tools to see how they work and what they can teach us. This episode of his show is my favorite – he makes many references to movies (Star Wars, Caddyshack), popular culture, and books, while explaining the beauty and meaning behind hand tools. It’s about 25 minutes long, and I encourage you to watch it when you have the time. (He also references David Pye’s book, which is where I first heard about it.)
This book, and this episode of The Woodwright's Shop, really speak to me. I will keep working towards being a creator and a maker, and continue moving away from the temptation of pushing a button on a big machine.
Mean People at the Popcorn Store. Plus: Links And Whatnot
I forgot to mention in my recent trip report for Mackinaw Island/City: Do not go to The Popcorn Factory on the main drag in Mackinaw City. They are really mean and pushy. You think they're nice because they give you free samples, but then they turn mean and grumpy.
And their popcorn tastes crummy. Pffffllllllt. (that's me spitting out their crummy popcorn.)
Don't go there. Buy some fudge somewhere else instead. Have an ice cream cone. Break a tooth on some peanut brittle. Eat some of the fancy soap for sale in the next shop over. But stay away from the popcorn.
-----
Is it really this easy to pick a combination lock? I haven't tried it but I'm going to.
-----
Fun objects made from spare parts. This is an ongoing theme on The DEB Log.
-----
This must be a hoax, because creating this on an etch-a-sketch should, by all reasonable measures, be impossible.
-----
MAKE magazine’s website had a series of posts about soldering:
Link 1: Soldering Tools Part I
Link 2: Camp Counselor Dave's Soldering Tips
Link 3: Learn to Solder
Link 4: Solarbotics Soldering Summary
Link 5: Soldering tools part II
And their popcorn tastes crummy. Pffffllllllt. (that's me spitting out their crummy popcorn.)
Don't go there. Buy some fudge somewhere else instead. Have an ice cream cone. Break a tooth on some peanut brittle. Eat some of the fancy soap for sale in the next shop over. But stay away from the popcorn.
-----
Is it really this easy to pick a combination lock? I haven't tried it but I'm going to.
-----
Fun objects made from spare parts. This is an ongoing theme on The DEB Log.
-----
This must be a hoax, because creating this on an etch-a-sketch should, by all reasonable measures, be impossible.
-----
MAKE magazine’s website had a series of posts about soldering:
Link 1: Soldering Tools Part I
Link 2: Camp Counselor Dave's Soldering Tips
Link 3: Learn to Solder
Link 4: Solarbotics Soldering Summary
Link 5: Soldering tools part II
Trip Report: Mackinac Island
J, M, K, Laurie, and I went to Mackinac Island this week. We arrived on Wednesday and went straight to the island to take advantage of the weather. We stayed in Mackinaw City at the Holiday Inn Express (which, contrary to its name, doesn't do anything faster than a regular Holiday Inn.) The kids got in some pool time, we all did some shopping, and had some treats.
We toured the retired Coast Guard icebreaker ship - it was really impressive. The Great Lakes have 6 active icebreakers - one really large one that does the big job of making the initial lane through the ice, and 5 smaller icebreakers which expand that lane and maintain their own areas after the initial job is done. The shipping season in the Great Lakes is considered to be about 10 months, so the icebreakers work only about 2 months out of the year. The rest of the time is devoted to maintenance, and travelling to events, such as city anniveraries, kicking off the annual Chicago to Mackinac regatta, and so on. Here's the icebreaker that took its place.
We toured the retired Coast Guard icebreaker ship - it was really impressive. The Great Lakes have 6 active icebreakers - one really large one that does the big job of making the initial lane through the ice, and 5 smaller icebreakers which expand that lane and maintain their own areas after the initial job is done. The shipping season in the Great Lakes is considered to be about 10 months, so the icebreakers work only about 2 months out of the year. The rest of the time is devoted to maintenance, and travelling to events, such as city anniveraries, kicking off the annual Chicago to Mackinac regatta, and so on. Here's the icebreaker that took its place.
M and K in the icebreaker's engine room.
Most of you have probably been to Mackinac Island, so I thought I would go a little more in-depth than most visitors to the island, and try to discover the more esoteric trivia. Here are some notes from my investigation.
Transportation To The Island
Other than swimming, the only decent way to get to the island is by ferry. The ferries to Mackinac Island are very competitive with each other. Billboards on I-75 brag about their comfort and speed. They all cost about the same, so it's important to understand the small differences. After scouring all the brochures, I can offer this complete list of competitive claims made by the various ferry businesses
- Shortest time to the island
- Only catamaran ferry - Catch the Cat!
- Oldest Ferry Service
- Fewest Children Lost En Route To The Island
- Most Available Parking Spaces
- Fewest Dolphins Killed (?)
- Smoothest Ride
- Latest Daily Service To the Island
- Most Vomit Hosed from Deck - 2003, 2004, 2005 (tie), and 2008. (Note: we took this ferry - J said she thought it sounded like the cleanest one.)
The Grand Hotel
As everyone knows, the Grand Hotel is famous for its long porch (660 feet), the longest porch in the world. Along with the Great Wall of China and Warren Buffet's wallet, it is one of the few man-made objects that can be seen from outer space.
The Grand Hotel was the first hotel to guarantee its guests a perfect stay - it was the first to place signs in the rooms reading "We want your stay to be perfect. If any part of your stay is unsatisfactory, please let us know. We will make it right, or you won't pay for that part of your stay." They are the only American hotel to still accept the Discover card.
Fudge Shops
Mackinac Island is famous for its fudge. There are several different brands of fudge available on the island. Fudge shops also sell other candy and treats, such as ice cream, taffy, and peanut brittle. This is why Michigan residents are among the fattest in the country.
It appeared to me that most, if not all, of the fudge shops had two shops on the small main road, one on each side of the road. I'm not sure why that is, but I have a few guesses:
1) Some people are such snobs they will only shop on one side of the street
2) Some people won't cross the street because they're afraid they'll get run over by a horse or a bike, or that they'll step in horse poop.
3) Most people nowadays have Attention Deficit Disorder, and studies show visitors to the island will often purchase goodies from a fudge shop without realizing they already bought fudge from the same shop across the street.
4) On a hot summer day, fudge doesn't last very long in small, uninsulated boxes, and by the time you can walk from one Murdick's store to the other, your original purchase will have melted.
We did not eat here.
Getting Around On The Island
There are no cars allowed on the island, possibly because the mayor of the island is Amish. Horses pull wheeled carts around the streets. It's kind of hard to describe these wheeled carts - the best way I can describe them is "engineless automobiles". They don't have steering wheels, and the horses pull them through the streets. While I watched them, I wondered if the horses might have better luck pushing the carts instead of pulling them. (Little-known fact: Some of the horses are actually robots - can you tell the difference?)
The other good way to get around is by bicycle. There were hundreds of bikes everywhere. When there were no horses around, the streets were very quiet. We felt safe walking across the street when there were no horses clopping towards us, but we quickly learned to look both ways in case a herd of bike riders was approaching. We also quickly learned to look DOWN in case the street sweepers had not been available to clean up after the last group of horses.
You can also walk places, but people don't walk in Michigan (we're fat!) so this was unpopular.
There is one motorized vehicle on the island - an ambulance. While at the fort, we looked down and saw the ambulance making its way slowly through traffic. The ambulance doesn't have a siren. It has a giant bike bell that can be heard a quarter of a mile away.
The Fort
Fort Mackinac was built a long time ago and most of it is still standing today. For a building from the 1800's, it is surprisingly modern, with an elevator and everything. The British controlled the Fort at one point, and the Americans controlled it also. I don't know what they were defending, exactly, since the Mackinac Bridge wasn't built until the 1950s, but they really wanted it, so they fought.
The layout of the Fort is confusing. For example, they have several cannons. One of the cannons is pointed directly at a church which is next to a few other buildings. I don't understand that - why would they shoot the church? Another cannon is pointed right at a big park where people have picnics. There are towers with holes in the walls for people to point guns through, and one of these towers was next to a tree. What did they shoot out of this tower? Squirrels?
It was tough being a soldier at this Fort. Winters were cold, and the only things soldiers had to do were cutting off their own frostbitten toes, and looking through the coin-operated telescopes at the frozen lake.
(Side note: It was during one heated battle between the Americans and the British that the owner of the Grand Hotel removed the "satisfaction guaranteed" notices from the rooms. The cannon fire was interrupting afternoon tea.)
I hope you learned something new about Mackinac Island and Mackinaw City today. If the tourism bureau wants to use any text from this blog posting, they are free contact me. I'm here to help.
P.S. While waiting for the ferry back to Mackinaw City, the people in line behind us recognized my Jackson High Vikings baseball cap, and asked us we were from Jackson. We talked for a minute, and I introduced myself. After hearing my last name, he asked me if my dad played banjo. Sometimes it can be difficult being the son of a legend.
P.S.S. I learned after I originally posted this that Mackinac Island, Mackinac Bridge, and the Straits of Mackinac are spelled with a 'c' at the end. Mackinaw City is spelled with a 'w'. I updated this post to use the correct spellings.
Lego Mania
M entered the Lego contest at the Ann Arbor District Library. Here are some links to stories and pictures about the contest. M's entry has a picture, but the picture wasn't taken at a very good angle and it's hard to see what it has on it. I'll have a talk with the people at the library about this... (just kidding.)
http://www.aadl.org/node/19388
http://www.aadl.org/gallery/pictureAnnArbor/aadlcontests/2009LEGO/
http://www.aadl.org/gallery/pictureAnnArbor/aadlcontests/2009LEGO/Grades3-5/Mark_Bruey.JPG.html
A little write-up in the new "newspaper" in Ann Arbor. The Ann Arbor News, a paper newspaper, is no longer in business. It's now called AnnArbor.com. AnnArbor.com prints a paper, er, paper on Thursday and Sunday each week. AnnArbor.com also has a list of bloggers in the area who write about various topics. (I know what you're thinking, and I can't believe they haven't asked me, either. But I'll get over it.)
http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/parenting/2009-lego-contest-building-stuff-and-character-1/
http://www.aadl.org/node/19388
http://www.aadl.org/gallery/pictureAnnArbor/aadlcontests/2009LEGO/
http://www.aadl.org/gallery/pictureAnnArbor/aadlcontests/2009LEGO/Grades3-5/Mark_Bruey.JPG.html
A little write-up in the new "newspaper" in Ann Arbor. The Ann Arbor News, a paper newspaper, is no longer in business. It's now called AnnArbor.com. AnnArbor.com prints a paper, er, paper on Thursday and Sunday each week. AnnArbor.com also has a list of bloggers in the area who write about various topics. (I know what you're thinking, and I can't believe they haven't asked me, either. But I'll get over it.)
http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/parenting/2009-lego-contest-building-stuff-and-character-1/
Les Paul, RIP
Les Paul
June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009
A great inventor and even better guitar player. His impact on the world of music is very difficult to exaggerate.
June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009
A great inventor and even better guitar player. His impact on the world of music is very difficult to exaggerate.
What We've Been Up To (Or, if you are the language police: To What We've Been Up)
Or is it "Up To What We've Been"?
We went to the Detroit Lions’ practice on Saturday at Ford Field. It was a lot of fun. This is the first time we’d been there, so we took a walk around to see everything. So much better than the old Silverdome. We got a chance to see the different practices for the different positions, and they had some 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 scrimmages. Each of the three quarterbacks (Daunte Culpepper, Matthew Stafford, and Drew Stanton) were there and we got to compare and contrast their play. In practice, they all looked pretty similar, although Stafford, the Lions’ first-round draft pick and Detroit’s newest multi-millionaire, clearly has a great arm – he could throw that ball on a rope. The last play of the scrimmage, and of the entire practice session, was Drew Stanton, former MSU Spartan, throwing a touchdown pass to Carson Butler, a former UM Wolverine. J wondered if that play might have been staged for the fans…
We bought a few hot pretzels and pop, and I was marveling at the prices for everything. I’d like to buy stock in the concession stands at Ford Field – can I do that? Just the concession stands. If I can’t do that, I’d like to have a cut of the beer sales, at $8.50 a cup. Unless you want the gluten-free beer, which is only $7.50. Really.
The schedule has more open practices listed. I was reading this page with the practice schedule and rules and restrictions for visitors to Ford Field, and I noticed that kazoos are not allowed in the stadium. I can understand they don’t want people to bring whistles to the game, because that might interrupt play or confuse the officials or players. But kazoos? I wonder what kazoo-related incident occurred to put it on the list. The NFC East Division Playoffs Terrorist Kazoo Incident of 2006, perhaps.
--------
M entered the Ann Arbor District Library Lego Contest again this year . He didn’t win any medals (he peaked in 2nd grade, when he won two) but he had a very respectable entry. The quality of the entries has gone up in the last two years, and it is becoming more difficult to stand out. We’ve noticed that the judges are more interested in detail and unique ideas than they are in large or complex projects, which M enjoys making. We’ve tried to convince him to scale it down a bit, but he has his specialty and will not compromise his artistic vision. I’m going to give him a copy of Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” for his 10th birthday, it’ll be right up his alley.
--------
M and K are still reading their Harry Potter books after taking a break to do the summer reading program at the AA library. K is on book 6 and hoping to finish it before the movie for that book leaves the theaters. They’ve scaled the violence down recently in the movies, and this one gets a PG rating. I mentioned before that sometimes they start making the movies more violent, giving them PG-13 ratings, and excluding smaller kids from seeing them (or liking them.) Fortunately, this movie is considered more reasonable for kids. He may be able to read the book, but he's still just a seven year-old kid, and he doesn't need to have too much exposure to wizard-related violence.
--------
At work I was officially moved to a new team. I have been “on loan” to this team for a while, but some organizational changes have moved me over officially. As usual, it means a move to another cubicle, and I’m back in a section of the building I left 15 months ago. I’d make a map of all the places I’ve sat since I’ve worked her, but there is no way I’d be able to remember all of them.
--------
A few fun links:
1: Some tips on using a hand saw.
2: Do you know what the differential in your car is? If so, do you know how it works? I love the simplicity of the design of the differential, and the excellent explanation in this video. It shows a scale model of a differential, building it little by little until it's working very well. Complex things can usually be explained in complex terms, but explaining a complex thing in simple terms is an art.
We went to the Detroit Lions’ practice on Saturday at Ford Field. It was a lot of fun. This is the first time we’d been there, so we took a walk around to see everything. So much better than the old Silverdome. We got a chance to see the different practices for the different positions, and they had some 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 scrimmages. Each of the three quarterbacks (Daunte Culpepper, Matthew Stafford, and Drew Stanton) were there and we got to compare and contrast their play. In practice, they all looked pretty similar, although Stafford, the Lions’ first-round draft pick and Detroit’s newest multi-millionaire, clearly has a great arm – he could throw that ball on a rope. The last play of the scrimmage, and of the entire practice session, was Drew Stanton, former MSU Spartan, throwing a touchdown pass to Carson Butler, a former UM Wolverine. J wondered if that play might have been staged for the fans…
We bought a few hot pretzels and pop, and I was marveling at the prices for everything. I’d like to buy stock in the concession stands at Ford Field – can I do that? Just the concession stands. If I can’t do that, I’d like to have a cut of the beer sales, at $8.50 a cup. Unless you want the gluten-free beer, which is only $7.50. Really.
The schedule has more open practices listed. I was reading this page with the practice schedule and rules and restrictions for visitors to Ford Field, and I noticed that kazoos are not allowed in the stadium. I can understand they don’t want people to bring whistles to the game, because that might interrupt play or confuse the officials or players. But kazoos? I wonder what kazoo-related incident occurred to put it on the list. The NFC East Division Playoffs Terrorist Kazoo Incident of 2006, perhaps.
--------
M entered the Ann Arbor District Library Lego Contest again this year . He didn’t win any medals (he peaked in 2nd grade, when he won two) but he had a very respectable entry. The quality of the entries has gone up in the last two years, and it is becoming more difficult to stand out. We’ve noticed that the judges are more interested in detail and unique ideas than they are in large or complex projects, which M enjoys making. We’ve tried to convince him to scale it down a bit, but he has his specialty and will not compromise his artistic vision. I’m going to give him a copy of Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” for his 10th birthday, it’ll be right up his alley.
--------
M and K are still reading their Harry Potter books after taking a break to do the summer reading program at the AA library. K is on book 6 and hoping to finish it before the movie for that book leaves the theaters. They’ve scaled the violence down recently in the movies, and this one gets a PG rating. I mentioned before that sometimes they start making the movies more violent, giving them PG-13 ratings, and excluding smaller kids from seeing them (or liking them.) Fortunately, this movie is considered more reasonable for kids. He may be able to read the book, but he's still just a seven year-old kid, and he doesn't need to have too much exposure to wizard-related violence.
--------
At work I was officially moved to a new team. I have been “on loan” to this team for a while, but some organizational changes have moved me over officially. As usual, it means a move to another cubicle, and I’m back in a section of the building I left 15 months ago. I’d make a map of all the places I’ve sat since I’ve worked her, but there is no way I’d be able to remember all of them.
--------
A few fun links:
1: Some tips on using a hand saw.
2: Do you know what the differential in your car is? If so, do you know how it works? I love the simplicity of the design of the differential, and the excellent explanation in this video. It shows a scale model of a differential, building it little by little until it's working very well. Complex things can usually be explained in complex terms, but explaining a complex thing in simple terms is an art.
Links 'N Stuff
I'll kick off the links with some neat relief wood carving.
-----------------
Look at the gorgeous workbench this guy made. Really impressive - beautiful and functional.
-----------------
Did I already post this link to more robots? I don't think so.
-----------------
Another project I want to do some day. It will have to get in line behind all the other stuff on my list.
-----------------
A really nice book about the difference between making something with a machine and making something with hand tools. I'll make another post sometime about my thoughts on this.
-----------------
A couple of online discussion forums I have joined. It's fun to browse around. Woodworking and wooden model ship building (the latter frustrates the heck out of me and I swear I'll never do one again, but then I get the catalog from Model Expo and I think "maybe I'll try it again, maybe this time it will work better". I'm such a sucker.)
-----------------
Stop by soon for more info and time-wasting links.
-----------------
Look at the gorgeous workbench this guy made. Really impressive - beautiful and functional.
-----------------
Did I already post this link to more robots? I don't think so.
-----------------
Another project I want to do some day. It will have to get in line behind all the other stuff on my list.
-----------------
A really nice book about the difference between making something with a machine and making something with hand tools. I'll make another post sometime about my thoughts on this.
-----------------
A couple of online discussion forums I have joined. It's fun to browse around. Woodworking and wooden model ship building (the latter frustrates the heck out of me and I swear I'll never do one again, but then I get the catalog from Model Expo and I think "maybe I'll try it again, maybe this time it will work better". I'm such a sucker.)
-----------------
Stop by soon for more info and time-wasting links.
Back in Ann Arbor
(click for a large picture).
This is not my boat, in case you were wondering. And not my car, either.
We're back - four nights and five days in lovely Frankfort, MI. We had pretty good weather - we went to the beach four days in a row. Saturday morning, as we were leaving, the wind was pretty high and the rain was starting, so we cancelled our planned One Last Walk and got on the road a few minutes early.
This year we went up to the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb and, well, climbed. We did some shopping in Frankfort, ate some ice cream, spent a lot of time at the beach, and only got a little bit of sunburn. We spent a lot of time with our family friends The Baroskos, whose rented condo was conveniently (but not coincidentally) next door to ours.
We wanted to hit the alpine slide on our way home like we did last year, but it was closed due to the rain. So we decided to stop in Cadillac at a fun center that had a water slide, mini golf, and go karts. We were going to try a round of mini golf as a make-up for missing the alpine slide, but the whole place was closed to the public since some company had reserved it for the day for their own private use. Bummer.
We had a great trip, although we were always on the go, and the weather was so cooperative that we didn't spend much time reading or relaxing. We can catch up on our reading this week, once we take care of all the "back home" chores.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)