WOODJIG.COM

[HOME]
 [TIPS] [FAQ] [ABOUT] [ORDERS] [MASCUT 1.0] 
[MINNIE] [MORE][LINKS][ARTICLES][SITE MAP]  [NEW BOOKS]

Duplication qualifies the artist, and even the Craftsman?

Right now artists and craftsman around the world attempt to produce a work of art, dreaming to produce and then successfully sell a winning product.  Maybe even a product that might be in demand one day.  What they need to do is acquire the vision that most manufacturers have.

  They need to duplicate a winning piece, and mass produce it!  Here is part of the problem.  

I have seen many, many people rush into a hobby, into woodworking by purchasing numerous expensive machines.  They thrive for awhile dreaming of some time in the future where they will produce something, be self sufficient, become self reliant upon their craft. Millions have tried this, and then found out that hand made artwork without a duplication method often fails.  Here is what I mean.  Back in the early 1700's there was an engraver named William Hogarth.  Hogarth lived in the early 1700's and he watched his father become impoverished, much from his poor attempt to promote the arts, and to produce books.  

He was not only an artist , but Hogarth lived in an age when artwork became mass produced, commercialized, not just exhibited in galleries, churches, and the homes of collectors. His ideas, and his work was soon being used in shop windows, pubs and public buildings and sold in print-shops. Old risky ideas of hand made, one at a time production were starving many of the masters all around him, and new forms began to flourish. For writers, even a new form of fiction called the novel with which authors had great success, many becoming really famous. Later on, Hogarth started painting and engraving different subjects, and they became widely commercialized making Hogarth very successful, with a new method of "mass appeal."

Consequently, many of Hogarths etchings and paintings portrayed poor writers, starving artists, and those practicing the time honored techniques. This was also because of his upbringing and also the great economic schemes that were plaguing England in the early 1700's. You could say that Hogarth "broke the mold by discovering the mold"....discovering engraving, and then discovering duplication, the mass production of 
a single masterpiece.  

Some say Hogarth was one of the pioneers of the daily comic strip....Homer Simpson for example, is a modern day Hogarth....he's now licensed everywhere, not just on one single painting, he's probably the champion of the poor little guy.  To this day, most creative people start out knowing very little about this technique.  To know how to duplicate your  work should be the place to start, and should probably be every master's primary goal.  Many woodworkers only know how to make just one thing at a time.  

Just for a few minutes, try to understand my theory.....

This is only for those who have ever had an interest in 
turning their hobby into a small business some day. 

Small business, along with lots of effort and 
unique skills and information can turn into an industry with time and with the proper insight. 
We need to unlearn some things.  We need to recognize our cultural difference between: "Hand made 
good", "High Volume bad" misinformation.  High volume is not bad!

Woodworkers can then expand their hobby and their productivity if they "Unlearn" many misconceptions 
of what tools do. If we focus more on..... "high volume" than just "making things the best", then we can break 
out of the mold. We can then focus on progress. Just because things are mass produced, doesn't mean it is low quality.  Look at Honeywell, TRW, Pella, Bose, Rolex, even Apple. They make things in massive, massive volumes, and the products are mostly very high quality. They don't make much product at all by hand, except the production machines and the tooling.  

Somebody once said:  "A young tradesman who sets up thus full of himself, and scorning advice from those who have gone before him, like a horse that rushes into the battle, is only fearless of danger because he does not understand it."  

Do you know what branding is?  Branding is where a certain manufacturer, over the years  becomes famous for a great product.  He then gets attention from Dignitaries, Presidents and famous people which puts his product in high demand, thereby allowing him to charge a massive premium.  In England in the 1700's  there was a furniture maker named Thomas Chippendale.  Chippendale was branded as the best furniture and bought by the aristocrats.  It was not mass produced, therefore the majority couldn't afford such craftsmanship.  This allowed Chippendale the ability to stay in business because his furniture was exquisite and very detailed.  Then, other furniture makers couldn't compete, not only because they were not as good, but because Chippendale was in demand, and so he made a profit.  What did they do?  They rode on the "Coat tails" of Chippendale.  The other manufacturers found out what designs were in demand and they decided to try something.  They mass produced copies!  Soon, Chippendale became a huge legend, and the other cabinet makers were teasingly labeled as imitators making junk. .  Because some of the "imitators" were forced to resort to cost cutting, they gave mass production a bad name.  The truth is, mass production can be critically high quality, but quality is a matter of specifications, of what materials are available, and what time will be spent, not the machine methods used.  Chippendale could afford all of the time required because he sold his furniture to the very, very wealthy.  Mass production was to blame for the problems of industry by many!  There are still thousands of hand made manufacturers, and hand made helps to build skills and discipline.  But unless they are exceptionally great skills, or have a niche, the mass producer is usually at an advantage, especially nowadays with imports.

Quality is inherent in the design and the material 
specifications, and usually not the process.

This is just my theory for a minute. We are 200 years into the Industrial Age and a majority of new 
woodworkers want to further their skills for one reason. They want to make things in their manner, in their "hand made quality".. .. Stay with me here, I'm not saying it is wrong, that it is not a noble pursuit. I'm saying that there is an enormous "waste" of effort to ignore the potential for automation, for modern tools and processes. Tools are built to be worked, to make huge amounts of products. But most people expend all of their effort learning how to produce custom work. High volume has become equated with low quality widgets....(that's  mostly mis-informational and myths).

Some still need to adapt to the new rules, to acquire 
some automated type methods....

For the majority of woodworkers, their goal is often to make that one cabinet, chest, or desk with great 
detail, perfection, and the best of "hand made quality." Sure, their is a need for custom work, but to take the 
next step, for industries to develop and prosper out of years of hobbying, then high volume also needs to be the goal. No economy, culture, or society can ever go back to one at a time production, except for the smaller, custom niche manufacturers who are well established. Every economy since the ancient Sumerian clay workers, had to survive by knowing how to make things in high volume. They used molds but they practiced their hand to eye methods only. This "volume manufacturing" subject is about as elusive as the personal names of the Sumerian craftsman. Now that our economy is slow, new craftsman need to know the core methods, the techniques involved in high volume, they are just too rare, too secretive, and for most, elusive and mysterious at the least. 

After around 25 years in manufacturing, this writer has come to one conclusion:  For the majority 
of the growing industrial world, they still think about making things the "Sumerian way"  Too many think that  hand made, is progress. They carve things, they use mallets and chisels. They build things instead of automating.  They don't know what is required, or how to begin to make things in high volume with high quality and accuracy.

Woodworkers need to produce quality work for sure, but some need to carry on the techniques which have 
been the basis for industry for ages. Duplication, gauging, and locating work for high volume, for mass production needs to be transferred to insure an ever growing pool of skilled craftsman. "The Ageless 
Method" is actually a manual that comprehensively explains how to turn a table saw into an accurate 
machining center. Make things in volume! 

Build an accurate fence, learn the most efficient 
methods for your saw!  SAVE

Book #1  ~NEWS AT FIVE..... Best jobs, going, gone, gone~
Book#2   ~About Ingenious Machines and Methods.
Book #3   ~The 50 Giants on Industry~
Book #4   ~The Castle Builder of Kleatt~
Book #5   ~Box Joints and more for the Shop~

See the Chapter about 
licensing in IMM...Ingenious 
Machines and Methods.

[SITE MAP] 

HOME

Your invited to read some of the most unusual woodworking information and about the most innovative woodworking jigs online.  Our information throughout our site includes power tools,  woodworking, wood jigs, hardwoods, box joints (finger joints), and an assortment of interesting and provocative articles.  We also have over 100 links to woodworking sites online, and a great ....FREE (email) "table saw finder".
WC3 valid site Copyright 2007  Xtra Products.  "Extraordinary."  All woodworking photos on this website are 
produced by Woodjig.com, or acquired from fee based sources.