Caught this article in facebook just recently... thought I would share. NY Times - What happened to the craftsmanship spirit?

From reading what y'alls write, I dont think craftsmen have lost the craftsmanship spirit, but rather there is an institutional lack of interest in this kind of thing. What do you think?

We posted about that article over on our Facebook page earlier today, if you want to join the discussion there, or read what others are saying.

http://www.facebook.com/Festool/posts/433048303400178\

I understand where they're coming from, but at the same time, having just read "abundance" and "the lights in the tunnel " I notice that they may be promoting the Luddite fallacy ....

Sal

I understand the point. I used to teach woodwork but had to give that up but it is easy to make YouTube videos that can help pass on your skills to others. Compared to many of the contributors here on the FOG, I am a rubbish craftsman but even so I have skills and experience to offer to those less experienced. If you, or anyone else, feels strongly about passing on skills and techniques then give a thought to capturing your talent in one or more videos.

Peter

The pyramids were obviously built with alien technologies brought to man from another world. We are not alone....Eric

BTW, for many years I've been joking:

"In woodworking, you can always buy more skill"

Festool has accelerated that.

Same here. I curse the Xmas where we let grandma break our "no gaming" policy.

Of course my youngest now has some interest , he needs to build instrument storage lockers for his eagle scout project.

Don't think he realizes yet that all I'm gonna do is set the rail, show him the switch, and supervise!

People have not changed but attitudes have due to the availability of manufactured goods and skills have been lost.

In the old days you had to either save for years to get something (a stove, a shovel or a horse) or you had to make it yourself. The latter was the norm and so everyone had the ability to make things, some better than others of course. Those good at one skill might be able to exploit their position by making things for other people and getting something back in return.

Now, everything is made somewhere else and all you have to do is walk into a store and get what you need. No longer do we have to save so hard, no longer do we need the skills from the past. That, I am afraid, is progress.

Peter

This is a common conversation.  I'm with Vindingo, Lots of "misguided nostalgia."  Things have changed but with it come lots of benefits....for example, flexibility.  One doesn't have to stay in one place or transport furniture or inherit the family estate.  Theres more freedom to be what you want...but with it comes trade offs.

Perhaps the greatest changed that has hurt the USA is the lack of real apprenticeship.  Without credibility one can't be a "professional" and therefore can't charge a professional rate.  With that change has come massive residential growth since labor is cheap and prevalent. 

Most people are focusing on the negative rather than the positives.  No one is stopping you from hiring a "craftsman" to build your house or furniture....but like everyone else you don't want to pay the bill.

I learned a trade and worked at it for something over 30 years.  I had my own business and built many foundations and fireplaces.  I did mostly jobs that all i had to do was look at the plans and knew exactly what it would cost me to construct.  i had already built the same thing many times so i knew almost to the brick and to the minute what it would take. 

Every now and then, i would be asked to do something that was very unusual.  Those were the job challenges I really enjoyed.  i often did not make as much money on them because the problems were unknown.  i knew the mechanical problems, but the unforeseen were where the challenges popped up as surprises.  I often was asked to design something unusual.  the customer wanted me to design and build something that nobody else had. 

I would come up with an idea.  The reaction would be, "We've never seen anything like that. Can you show us something just like it?"

"Well, no.  you wanted something that has never been built before."

"Maybe if you could just trim it back a little."

I would think about some changes and a few days later, we would be back at the customers living room.

Read back the above conversation to know exactly how the revision conversation went.  After several changes, we were down to the excact same fireplace i had built a hundred times before.  Cheaper?  Yes.  Imaginative?  Absolutely not.

I have an album with many of the most unusual jobs i did over my 30 year period.  Those unusual jobs were very exciting.  One brick (or stone) at a time, yeah. But anybody who has pushed a joiner plane across the edge of a board, or trimmed a dovetail joint with a chisel to get it just right, you know what i am talking about.  Those people who really want something different are the very ones who are realy fun to work for and with.  They are the folk who i ended up with lots of stories to relate.  not always a lot of profit in dollars, but a wealth of memories.  Those were the jobs that advanced my own skills.

Today, i look at huge houses that could well be classified as mansions.  I look at the masonry and recognize craftsmanship.  Great skills. But where is the immagination?  There ain't none.  I see lots of technical skill in the finished carpentry, but little imagination in some of the biggest houses.

Tinker

I certainly wish I'd had family members that 1) had the craftsman orientation and 2) were willing to teach it, but I drew a blank card on both.  I used to think my dad was able to do most anything as a wee kiddie.  Then I went away to Electricians School and spent some time in the military.  When I came home and looked at some of my dad's fixes with a new set of eyes, I was horrified.  Many things got re-done in my parents' home to prevent catastrophic fires and/or accidents.  To his credit, he built a very serviceable set of kneelers for the church, complete with upholstery.  Of course, in the process, he nearly severed the tip of his finger with a radial arm saw (and took delight in "giving people the finger", showing off the aluminum splint).  It's nice to be able to see the work that others have done and take lessons from their work, and to appreciate their craftsmanship.  The FOG is one of the resources I use most frequently in that regard.