Craftsmanship

What does the word craftsmanship mean?

Can you see its final result?

sometimes I think all it means is that you care about what you're building... whether you're building to 1/2" tolerances, or 1/16" tolerances you still care about the building and you do whatever you can to make the best of it.

as far as origins go, teh greek word techne (root of technitas- craftsperson) refers to the means by which a being that is brought into being by another being, distingusihed from a natural being (like a tree) that comes into being according to its own internal causes. so a craftsperson is responsible for the being of other beings that s/he makes. recognizing this responsibility is a measure of care.

as far as the ends of craft go, it's all coming down eventually.

haha lol, over beers, yes. i don't think the arche is necessary anymore anyways, now that the old world guild system was forgotten.

story?

There's always a story with Derek....we haven't even gotten to the subject of craftmanship yet, let alone the punchline

And beer often seems to play a part.

Gather round, children...There's a tale being told....
(Derek, come back and finish now)

(...ooo...I can't wait to find out what happens next...)

Derek, you're a natural story teller!

Great story and even better if its not hypothetical. Very cool.

Craftsmanship is a hard word to define. It seems to be an abstract thought. I guess that it defines more of a persons attitude towards their life as opposed to one project that he/she might be working on.

I think for myself that learning timberframing/carpentry and building in itself is teaching me lessons on the bigger scale.

I feel that the tools to become a craftsman can be taught through methods but ultimately the craftsman comes from within.

First, tools, walk around with them, get to know them, put them to use.

Second, start drawing what you want to build. Sketching to technical drawings.

Third, learn the material on all levels, molecular, natural, cut, etc.

Fourth, GEOMETRY, this goes with two.

Then study design and its principles and the science of why buildings fail and incorporate the two.

From, there I guess it requires passion, ambition, talent, and knowledge.....and time.

I guess all these things combined create craftsmanship as long as the standards are high and met. The problem seems to be that most people might not see it. When a craftsman builds something he/she is proud. Does the person who did not build it recognize it. What if a machine could make a duplicate of the craftsman's product and a innocent bystander is brought in to look at them. Is the hand built more valuable than the machine built in this scenario supposing that there is only one of the machine built?
In short they are both one of a kind.

I would appreciate thoughts on this.

A few months after our company brought in the Hundegger the question was asked to me 'Do you still feel like a craftsman?'

I replied 'Well, I wouldn't know how a craftsman feels, now would I?'
No, that's not what I replied....

But I had to ponder this question for a long time.

And when I replied it was 'no', because to me, at that time, my craft was in hand cutting - knowing the wood, and knowing the tools and the joinery, and knowing how to make the frame fit.
And I saw that those skills, which I considered my craft, were now obsolete.

But now, after 2 years of running this machine, I realise that I still practice a craft, it's just more defined. But it would have happened whether I was hand cutting or machine cutting a frame.
It is my passion for the wood itself, and knowing it, and the joinery.
Being able to see a timber and judge it structurally and aesthetically, and making sure the joinery is correct - these are crafts that I'm learning.
And I still take pride in each piece that goes through my hands.

But I think that the biggest rush for me in making a timberframe is the idea that people have these homes that have been crafted by those of us who were dedicated to each timber in it. And years after we have left this planet, that home will be there.

I have seen old frames, and whenever I do I think of the craftsmen who took the time to create something so wonderful.

I believe that craftsmanship is defined not only by skill and passion, but by the legacy it leaves behind.

Ever seen some of the old iron castings. Thousands of parts made from one pattern, carved by a true craftsman. I don't think the machinery or tooling matters, its the attitude of the operator.

On monument building, I have mixed feelings. That's a whole nuther ball o wax.

i think the question needs to be more defined to get anything more than an abstract answer about a general kind of attitude. it makes more specific sense in terms of wood-craft. as in what kind of attitude makes wood-made things translate into their specific kind of excellence. then it becomes a matter of working with the particularities of how wood moves, in terms of its layers of growth rings and how they respond to being cut.

how wood is cut in terms of the tools and methods has the potential to undo the question too. that is a really interesting question where wood-craft becomes machine-craft. i can appreciate phleps' rather hardcore point that things started to go downhill with the saw. the point with the saw afterall is not to follow the grain, but to cut straight!11 (so hard). but then i can also imagine the pleasure of pure cerebral plastic shaping of wood with computer-synchronized high speed blades. at a point though it starts to become a matter of dreaming up structures relative to engineering constraints. that's not craft- that's architecture informed by engineering.

i wonder how they squared up the ends of their logs without saws.

axe

wow