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| Early American Life magazine honored me by including me in the 2008 Directory of Traditional American Craftsmen. I also snuck past the judges in 2005. The name of the directory has changed since then. Before it was top 200 traditional craftsmen. But the poster I got reads “Selected one of America’s Best” |
I’m proud of being included. And I’m pleased a panel of pretty distinguished judges decided against voting me off the island. But I find this a difficult subject to speak about. Not only am I not one of America’s best craftsmen, traditional or otherwise, I don’t really even think that’s what the competition is about.
When I think of a top craftsman, I, perhaps shockingly, think of Norm Abram. He’s someone who I imagine can saw a straight line, make a tight fitting joint, and have little scrap at the end of a project. To judge my craftsmanship, you’d have to see me work, see how I use my tools. Am I hard on them? (I’m not) Am I consistent and neat? (I’m not). I’ve seen many good craftsmen in my time. I’m related to several, especially my brother Steve. Steve is the kind of guy for whom tools simply work better. A dull knife just cuts better in his hands. Steve used to cut my hair (when I had hair). Didn’t matter what the job was. Emergency appendectomy? I think Steve could do it. To me, tool use is what craftsmanship is all about.
As woodworkers, we tend to think of ourselves in terms of the work we do, not the work we produce. We identify ourselves not with our products, but with the material we work, or the processes we use to work it. There are hand tool people and machine people, and some who are a little of both.
I sent Early American Life digital images of my furniture. There may have been a shot that showed dovetails, but there was no way to know whether my mortise and tenons were capable of reacting load. I was judged the way the world judges us all; based on the outward appearance of my work. I was judged based on my ability to execute an 18th c esthetic, or someone’s idea of an 18th c esthetic.
What people see when they look at our work isn’t how much wood we wasted or how tight our joints are. They see artwork. They respond to the color, shape, details, or hardware choice, all things we never talk about. Few of us have any experience or education to guide us in these matters. Yet we happily sift through woodworking articles in hopes of finding a few helpful tips. Are they tips about how to be successful as a woodworker? How to make things people will cherish and value? Some authors or magazines try and we disparagingly call them artsy fartsy and go back to Schwarz’ drill press review.
This year, I’m going to have a close look at what I think it means to make great stuff. And I’ll share with you how and exactly why I’m not One of America’s Best.
Adam
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Congratulations on your award Adam! What I like most about your Arts and Mysteries articles is that it offers the reader another approach to woodworking. The reader can understand that they don’t need the latest and greatest power tool in order to complete the task, but rather sharp tools, skill and a little patience will get you to your end result just as nice. Plus the use of hand tools has it’s own rewards over power tools such as; they create less dust, they’re not as noisy, you need less space to work with them, and they less cost of own.
Keep up the great work,
Mike
Adam’s right about Steve. I watched him cope a touchy little molding for my porch one day—he finished the saw cut, then automatically reached for his utility knife while he checked the fit. It was wasted effort. The fit was perfect without adjustment, and the knife never touched the molding. That got me interested, and I watched carefully afterward. The whole project went the same way.
Now perhaps these awards are more about media profile than reality, but the thing is that Adam, unlike most of us, got off his duff and did it, and wrote about it, and taught it (and not incidentally put out a pretty darn good, and even artsy fartsy, product in the process).
That deserves recognition.
Congratulation Adj, and keep going.
Dave
While a previous Mike made an excellent point about how we see ourselves vs. how others see us, the point that I want to make is that being a craftsman isn’t just about the manual skill of performing the craft. For me, a fundamental part of a skilled trade is passing the trade on to the next generation. That is what separates you and others like you – the ability and drive to teach.
Mike
Adam,
First off, it’s in my contract to never have to write a drill press review. I hope I haven’t violated my contract.
Second, on the issue of "the work" v. "the results," you cannot separate them.
There are "the ends," which is the 18th c aesthetic expressed through (ironically) digital photography.
And there are "the means," which is how you work to produce that aesthetic.
Despite the idiom, these are not mutually exclusive. It’s not that the "ends justifies the means." But rather, it’s the "means to creates the ends."
The way you work makes your work stand out as authentic. No one can make a beading plane look like a 3/16" bead from a router bit.
I guess I’m saying congratulations. The experiment works. Use the tools of the period, and you’ll produce work appropriate to the period.
And that is one hell of a powerful lesson.
Chris
Adam,
I think all craftspeople see the construction, AND the mistakes they made, when they look at their own work.
Yet, time and again, others will look at it and praise it, without ever seeing the construction or errors.
I believe it was Burns who said: "The gift to give us, is to see us, as others see us"
Mike
Nicely written post, and congratulations!