Al F. Furnituremaker wrote:No offense taken. This subject can be debated forever with many different viewpoints. I think though that this forum in itself and specifically this thread is testament to the value and quality of craftsmanship done with the hand and heart vs. a machine and in particular CNC.
I am an engineer and in my previous career embraced all the technology. I worked for a company that pushed the limits of technology. We used to joke that we were too dumb to know that it couldn't be done. I designed hardware, designed and wrote software, and managed multi-million dollar programs. It was an industry where the new was absoutely better than the old.
But. There are things that technology has cheapened. I have yet to see a piece of furniture come into my shop that was made 15-20 years ago, or even yesterday, that is built better than something built 50-100 years ago. Of course there are the exceptions. There was cheap junk built long ago as well as high quality stuff built now. I still stand by the notion that custom made furniture built by an individual experienced craftsman is of higher quality than factory made, and I think the same goes for old houses.
right. I admire a lot of antiques in a totally different way than new things. more often than not what's available on the market is mass produced in such high volumes that it looses it's appeal and as you say becomes too perfect. a lot of it is made with junk wood with excellent finishing techniques but scratch that ikea piece and it's white wood not walnut for example.
one thing that is nice about antiques is that they often had the pick of better wood grades and it is reflected. Now if you were to choose your wood for something like the table leg in the video you might pick a grain pattern and orientation that added strength and beauty. CNC wont' prevent that.
I think one of the exciting things about CNC is that you can make a subtle change and then run the piece again and this leads more easily to customization , one advantage is in production work and yea that gets boring I know.. but the neat thing is it also lends itself well to custom pieces. It also seems really easy when you see the machine do everything but if it isn't programmed to use the right tools and the right feed rate, speed etc for the process it'll chip out and do bad stuff. so it does actually require a lot of skill at that level , they are just different skills. the operator of the Maka is basically just a grunt. he has no control during the sequence. he just has to watch to make sure he can shut it off if all goes wrong and to be there to load the next part.
the one in the video is a 5 axis Maka which is quite a machine but even most little cabinet shops need a CNC router to keep up these days. I dont' think it necessarily means they dont 'pay attention to quality or aren't craftsmen but they need to use the new technology or they cant' compete.
there will probably always be furniture made as a form of art and prestige. What I seem to notice though is the price of antiques and their general appreciation. I hope it changes but as of now I see super nice antiques going for less than Ikea pricing. maybe that will change in time and people will pay the money for something hand made and unique. maybe it just needs to become more rare before people go wow look at this thing it's antique!
I have a kitchen table with queen Anne legs and additional leaves on craigslist as example. it is super well made and I have it on for 300 bucks. I bet it's 50's but super well made. You couldn't' buy the wood for that. I bet Ill have to drop by another half before it sells.
Joiners will be around for a while. as long as we need custom pieces. things like restaurant and hotel counters dont' come from Ikea usually. Carving is another thing though. there aren't' many good carvers or wood turners still practicing. of course there are a few but most do it for fun not as a career.
the most astounding thing I notice is chairs. you can buy antique chairs for 25 bucks apiece often even in sets of 6 or so. now try to make a set of chairs and look at all the angles and how those patterns have evolved. making chairs is not easy, but antique ones still sell for less than Ikea crap. I think the market is due for some changes.
I thought a lot of the radios I have would appreciate over time as things made of wood became unusual. I have many and I have always appreciated the woodwork. but I just dont; see the appreciation for them so maybe I won't live to see it. At present I am looking at downsizing a lot but if I could see them appreciating I'd probably steer a different way. the same happens with my restorations. normally if I spend a week restoring a radio and spend a hundred on parts I increase the value by 100 bucks. there is just no profit in it unless it's a radio that someone has some particular value to the owner such as formerly being their grandmas' then they might pay a couple hundred for the work. If you just buy radios and fix them up and try to re-sell it is a very difficult business to make money at. Ill continue to dabble in it but only for my hobby. some of course are particularly rare and those might be more profitable.
one of the reasons Ive aleways liked old radios was because there are so many unique styles and even though most were mass produced they do make a nice display of various art deco and machine age artwork.
Arguably manipulating the mouse to make a drawing is just as much "hand work" as manipulating a pencil.