I think what is lost today, with the ability on youtube to see how to do everything, is a common sense and old school approach of the way things used to be done. That is, by thinking about it and trying to figure it out without knowing exactly how.
The other day I was helping my wife assemble something for a school project for the kids. While I am not a woodworker (and have never taken a course, read books or watched videos) I am able just using common sense to put something together and figure it out and have a workable problem solving piece of wood object [1].
My wife insisted on telling me what the guy at the Home Depot and the instructions said we needed as far as size of screws or wood but I saw it differently, visually, as far as what would hold the wood together to solve the problem. It was much easier for me that way. Later I described that we probably would want to counter sink the screws as well and did that by simply taking a larger drill bit and drilling a bit after a pilot hole.
After starting this I decided to do a youtube search out of curiosity and found video in great detail and somewhat lengthily describing how to counter sink a screw in wood and how there was a special bit just to do that. While that amount of info and detail might be needed by a professional making furniture (and actually I don't even think that is the case if you are good you can usually make do with much less) my approach worked fine and I saved time by not having to remember all these excess details that really (imo) weren't needed.
I sometimes wonder if people who have grown up in the youtube era (or the era of having everything a click away) are somehow going to be disadvantaged by not having to spend much time thinking of solutions to problems and making mistakes and learning from them. [2]
[1] An example of this would be the jigs I built for a battery backup system I did many years ago using heavy industrial batteries. I need a pad to rest the 150lb batteries on as well as a dolly to move the batteries. I just winged it and built something that ended up working pretty well out of 2x4's. Much easier than following instructions actually. I also built the wiring between batteries by going to an auto parts store and a bunch of other things to make a workable battery backup system for way less than a traditional UPS. Would run the equipment for about 24 hours (6 150lb industrial batteries in parallel hooked up to an inverter and line conditioner. Figured that one out, tested worked for about 8 to 10 years and never had any down time).
[2] Today when you need to know syntax you do a search and the answer is there. Back in olden days you had a book or two and maybe a manual and you could iterate for hours trying to figure out which command line option (using Unix as the example here) actually did what you needed.
> While that amount of info and detail might be needed by a professional
> making furniture (and actually I don't even think that is the case
> if you are good you can usually make do with much less) my approach
> worked fine and I saved time by not having to remember all these excess
> details that really (imo) weren't needed.
You think countersinking screws is sufficient if not overboard for professional furniture? Quality joinery is not done with screws. If you think you saved time taking the bit out, putting it down somewhere safe/accessible, swapping the bigger one in, realiging drill and going slow enough to have a consistent depth you are crazy. Those coutersink bits are a giant time saver. The
I wasn't doing quality joinery. It was part of a school project for children.
"If you think you saved time taking the bit out, putting it down somewhere safe/accessible, swapping the bigger one in"
I have 3 drills. So I didn't have to swap any bits at all.
I have plenty of tools. I just didn't have a countersink bit. I also took into account the quality needed for what I was building. It wasn't furniture.
I realize you were throwing something together with your wife. When "describing countersunk screws" is presented as insightful it is clear we are not discussing professional work. But when you said "While that amount of info and detail might be needed by a professional making furniture (and actually I don't even think that is the case if you are good you can usually make do with much less)" you were talking about professional furniture.
I do not understand how/why you are making statements about professional woodworking. It does not seem like you have any idea about what it takes to keep a professional shop in business. It was hard enough during the boom and now that a lot of that custom work has dried up it is even harder. There is a reason why one jackrabbit bit is $45: Clipping one drill to your belt and grabbing the other is a waste of time AND it is not consistent. Wasting time like that is deadly for a professional shop even the places that can charge a premium for "artisanal/handcrafted" work.
There are a handful of shops that do have to worry about assembly line production speeds, but they have names like Sam Maloof attached to them. And lets face it Maloof did not win a Genius Grant double fisting Dewalts.
Comments
I think what is lost today, with the ability on youtube to see how to do everything, is a common sense and old school approach of the way things used to be done. That is, by thinking about it and trying to figure it out without knowing exactly how.
The other day I was helping my wife assemble something for a school project for the kids. While I am not a woodworker (and have never taken a course, read books or watched videos) I am able just using common sense to put something together and figure it out and have a workable problem solving piece of wood object [1].
My wife insisted on telling me what the guy at the Home Depot and the instructions said we needed as far as size of screws or wood but I saw it differently, visually, as far as what would hold the wood together to solve the problem. It was much easier for me that way. Later I described that we probably would want to counter sink the screws as well and did that by simply taking a larger drill bit and drilling a bit after a pilot hole.
After starting this I decided to do a youtube search out of curiosity and found video in great detail and somewhat lengthily describing how to counter sink a screw in wood and how there was a special bit just to do that. While that amount of info and detail might be needed by a professional making furniture (and actually I don't even think that is the case if you are good you can usually make do with much less) my approach worked fine and I saved time by not having to remember all these excess details that really (imo) weren't needed.
I sometimes wonder if people who have grown up in the youtube era (or the era of having everything a click away) are somehow going to be disadvantaged by not having to spend much time thinking of solutions to problems and making mistakes and learning from them. [2]
[1] An example of this would be the jigs I built for a battery backup system I did many years ago using heavy industrial batteries. I need a pad to rest the 150lb batteries on as well as a dolly to move the batteries. I just winged it and built something that ended up working pretty well out of 2x4's. Much easier than following instructions actually. I also built the wiring between batteries by going to an auto parts store and a bunch of other things to make a workable battery backup system for way less than a traditional UPS. Would run the equipment for about 24 hours (6 150lb industrial batteries in parallel hooked up to an inverter and line conditioner. Figured that one out, tested worked for about 8 to 10 years and never had any down time).
[2] Today when you need to know syntax you do a search and the answer is there. Back in olden days you had a book or two and maybe a manual and you could iterate for hours trying to figure out which command line option (using Unix as the example here) actually did what you needed.
"Quality joinery is not done with screws."
I wasn't doing quality joinery. It was part of a school project for children.
"If you think you saved time taking the bit out, putting it down somewhere safe/accessible, swapping the bigger one in"
I have 3 drills. So I didn't have to swap any bits at all.
I have plenty of tools. I just didn't have a countersink bit. I also took into account the quality needed for what I was building. It wasn't furniture.
I realize you were throwing something together with your wife. When "describing countersunk screws" is presented as insightful it is clear we are not discussing professional work. But when you said "While that amount of info and detail might be needed by a professional making furniture (and actually I don't even think that is the case if you are good you can usually make do with much less)" you were talking about professional furniture.
I do not understand how/why you are making statements about professional woodworking. It does not seem like you have any idea about what it takes to keep a professional shop in business. It was hard enough during the boom and now that a lot of that custom work has dried up it is even harder. There is a reason why one jackrabbit bit is $45: Clipping one drill to your belt and grabbing the other is a waste of time AND it is not consistent. Wasting time like that is deadly for a professional shop even the places that can charge a premium for "artisanal/handcrafted" work.
There are a handful of shops that do have to worry about assembly line production speeds, but they have names like Sam Maloof attached to them. And lets face it Maloof did not win a Genius Grant double fisting Dewalts.
Awesome, you must be pro.