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This blather would not pass a sixth grade assignment to write a ‘theme’ on something. ‘Make me ill’ is hyperbolic and repulsive and means nothing, and ‘You owe it to yourself, the tree, and the whole of human history” is hyperbolic, stupid, and pompous. Its even punctuated incorrectly. I want a woodworking magazine and don’t want to hear from a woodworker who thinks his philosophical meanderings are interesting.
Guy M. Cooper
Dallas, Texas
Why Furniture Stores Make Me Ill
From the April 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine
In December I built a large traditional tool chest for my shop at home, and I couldn’t stop staring at the end grain of the wide pine planks I’d selected for the walls of the chest.
Though I work with wood every day, the annular rings of these boards – some of them 18″ wide – were mesmerizing. Before I cut the dovetails on one of the panels I stopped to count its annular rings, tracing the growth history of the tree for more than 20 years.
Before that board came into my hands, it had sat in a barn for at least 10 years. So when this tree was busy building the cells that would eventually become my tool chest, I was 12 years old and just learning to use a coping saw and hammer.
As I did this little bit of math, I put my dovetail saw down for a moment and tried to figure out what that meant. What other objects do we have in our houses that take so long to create?
When I visit tool-making factories, I am stunned by how rapidly things are manufactured. Once I watched an injection-molding machine make the nylon shell of a random-orbit sander. I then watched a machine wind the motor. I watched a couple workers assemble all the pieces. And at the end of the factory tour my host presented the sander to me as a gift.
That tool is a small miracle – a testament to human ingenuity and industriousness. But it is also a symptom of a chronic sickness that we have lived with for so long that we don’t even remember what life was like before we were infected and weak.
The ability to fulfill our desires in mere moments has cheapened our appreciation for the labor required to make anything. Because mass-manufacturing has made goods so inexpensive, we are willing to throw away once-permanent objects – such as furniture – when we grow tired of the way it looks.
So naturally manufacturers respond by making even cheaper goods that are designed to last
only a short time. Why build a bookcase to last 50 years when it will be kicked to the curb in five?
Honestly, I can’t live like that anymore. And I suspect that many woodworkers feel the same way, even if they don’t express it in the same way. By building things that are designed to outlast us, we make ourselves the last holdouts of a proud tradition of craft that stretches back to the beginning of civilization.
So when you pick up your saw and clamp up a board that is as old as you, try to make every stroke count. You owe it to yourself, the tree and the whole of human history.
— Christopher Schwarz
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Hey Chris!
Keep on blathering! You have many loyal fans who enjoy your writing style. I just broke down and bought the new Workbench book (I bought the first one too and just convinced myself that I really needed one more book about benches) Guess I not only have a tool but a book problem! Did I punctuate that correctly?
Some folks need to get a life! If ya don’t like it, don’t read it! No blinkin sarcastic commentary required. When did anyone respond in a positive way to sarcasm anyhow (anyway, anyhoo, whatever!) Speaking for myself, I love it!
This reminds me of a woodworking magazine I subscribed to in the early 80s. One of their columnist was a guy who know nothing about woodworking. In fact one of his articles was entitled “How to Make a Board.” I couldn’t wait to get the next month’s magazine so I could read his new article. Similar to Guy’s letter, there were many letters from their humorless readers complaining about this column. Oh yeah, what happened to the writer of these columns? He became a writer for the Miami Herald with “some” success. His name is Dave Barry.
Sounds like Guy has a splinter firmly lodged in an uncomfortable place. I’m not supporting Guy’s belief that Chris’ editorial is incorrectly written, since I enjoyed it and agree with his conclusion. At the same time, I notice grammatical errors everyday, often in writings authored by those that (I guess that should be “who”?) teach my children. But I never accuse them of being “hyperbolic, stupid and pompous.” I reserve those terms for discussions about politicans. Further, and solely from a stylistic standpoint, Guy probably should not have used the word “hyperbolic” twice in such a short passage. But I’m sure he’ll correct me if he reads this.
I’m not sure why Guy’s so upset. He doesn’t have to read Chris’s blog, or any others if he chooses not to. It must have been a bad hair day for Guy.
As for me, Chris’s ‘philosophical meanderings’ actually almost directly reflect the reason I’m getting back into woodworking. The desire to create something that outlives me, and may outlive other less expensive, throw-away cheapies.
That’s a large part of the reason I read the magazine, and the blogs.
Thanks Chris for confirming my choice.
Why does “43yearsateacher” assume that Guy is a conservative? My first thought was that Guy’s comments are typical of the many liberals who do not recognize in themselves either the faults that “43yearsateacher” attaches to Texas conservatives or their own hypocrisy.
“Its even punctuated incorrectly.”
Now that’s just funny. Good one, Texas.
We know that the Texas State Flower is the Bluebonnet.
We know also that the Texas State Bird is the Mockingbird.
Hey Guy, does the Texas State furniture glue have an orange label with a picture of a gorilla on it?
Hey Chris, there is great public service in blogging philosophical blather when that blather jogs just one soul from the urea formaldehyde induced stupor of his dusty shop!
I’m with Guy. Bring on the MDF router table jigs and cordless drill reviews. I’ve had enough of Chris’ pompous “thoughtfulness”. When I pick up a woodworking magazine what I REALLY want to know is Jet or Grizzly?
Adam
Chris, I thoroughly enjoyed your article. I recently became interested in furniture making after my wife and I were looking to purchase a bookcase from a furniture store. As I closely inspected the item I thought to myself, I could build this! So I began reading books, blogs and magazines about furniture making. Although I have yet to build that bookcase, the thought as you put it, “building things that are designed to outlast us,” is palpable.
I bet Guy even cuts his dovetails pins first.
(With apologies to, among others, Chuckie B., Mr. Klausz, and Senior Editor Glen. Oops, there’s that extra comma…)
Reading this post, and the subsequent comments have been the highlight of my day. Sometimes I feel like the only person around that likes to get a little high minded about woodworking. And as a 25 year old woodworker, it often occurs to me that most, if not all the wood that I get my hands on, is in fact older than me. So when someone starts ranting in opposition for no other apparent reason than to be contrary, it irks me. And in reading these comments, I feel that I am not alone.
Mr. Cooper is unforgivably rude.
Earlier in my legal career, a battered old veteran of innumerable courtroom wars told me, “Never intentionally make an enemy, because you’ll make more than enough of them along the way without ever intending to do so.”
Some of the best advice I ever received (I know, I know, that’s a sentence fragment, Mr. Cooper)…
I don’t read Chris Schwartz’s and the Popular Woodworking editors’ blogs for plans, projects, or techniques. I read them because they provide me with context and because they’re fun to read.
Now for the important part: Chris, I know exactly what you mean, and I couldn’t agree more. That’s exactly why I love to make things out of wood and metal. And I also find this throw-away world wearying.
It may be blather, but much of the pleasure I derive from woodworking is simply an appreciation of the wood itself – its infinite variety, its feel, its aroma, the delight I feel shaping it into something useful.
George Nakashima wrote about “The Soul of a Tree,” and he was dead on right. I have a friend who has a bench made from an Iowa Methodist Church pew which was handmade in the 1840’s and, even after a century and a half, you can still see the adz marks which created its surfaces. It’s impossible to sit on it and not think about the generations of Iowa worshippers who sat there before, and of the innumerable baptisms, weddings and funerals they witnessed.
That wood is positively alive, and if you can’t understand that, if you can’t feel that, you have no soul and of course you can’t understand what Chris was writing about. Even metalworkers are in love with their materials – asking anyone who’s machined 4140 steel (my personal favorite, by the way).
When we make things by hand, we impart something of ourselves to them in a way that’s rarely matched by a mass produced item, and nothing’s more important in this impersonal binary age. I have two ancient Alfa Romeos which, frankly, drive me crazy, because something’s always going wrong with them, but which I’ll never sell because they are the last of the purely mechanical automobiles – no semiconductors anywhere. When you get behind the wheel in one of these cars, you can smell the exhaust fumes, the hot oil, the sickly-sweet odor of hot antifreeze and suddenly you’re transported to a twisting road in the Italian Alps and the world disappears and you’re suffused with joy. Those cars, for all their faults, have soul, and they were made by people who loved to drive and who managed to translate that love into steel and leather and rubber.
I know, Mr. Cooper, that’s all blather, and silly blather at that.
But every single bit of it is true, and it’s why I love to work with my hands, why I love to shape wood, and steel, and fix old cars – it makes me happy, and brings me joy in a way that things in the rest of my life rarely do.
I also happen to be interested in hearing from “a woodworker who thinks his philosophical meanderings are interesting.”
P.S. Chris, what’s the problem with young men in Cincinnati? Megan Fitzpatrick should have to carry a softball bat everywhere to keep her innumerable suitors away. A red haired, freckled Irishwoman who loves woodwork and Shakespeare and early modern drama? That’s much too good to be true. I’m way too old to be her beau but I wish she was my daughter!
I wonder if Mr. Cooper caught the irony in the sentence, “Its even punctuated incorrectly.” Probably not. I’m guessing he missed that part of 6th grade.
Chris, I have no doubt my 6th grade English teacher (Mrs. Shaver) would have given you high marks for this piece. Frankly, I think it would pass muster all the way through my freshman English Comp professor as well.
Now the notion that Mr. Cooper’s opinions are in some way a function or reflection of his state of residence is in fact a pile of of Bevo droppings. *This* Dallas resident subcribes to PW and frequents this blog specifically for the types of pieces written above in addition to the finest woodworking written instruction currently available. And there are many likeminded souls tucked away here between the Red, Sabine, and Rio Grande.
So Chris and gang keep it up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go wash my newly delivered “Divide and Conquer” shirt.
Sounds pretty rude to me. If a person wants to disagree they should do it respectfully.
At any rate, a philosophical bent in a woodworking article is certainly not worth the vitriol. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.
I’d like to respond to Greg’s comment that manufacturer’s and retailers were simply filling a need. From a certain perspective, I can see how you might come to that conclusion but I don’t think it goes far enough. To take that view imply’s that customers somehow preferred inferior products that fell apart or didn’t perform as advertised. More likely, competition for a share of the tool market, as commonly happens, comes down to a price war and how to manufacture at the lowest costs. There’s always a segment of any market where price will take precedence over quality. Also, when tool quality and workmanship started going down hill in the past, many bemoaned their favorite brands “not being what they used to be”, and settled for what they could get. Sure, complaints were made but, back to the manufacturer’s side of the fence, I think those complaints either fell on deaf ears or those that heard them simply felt it wasn’t cost effective do meet those demands. Well, now we’ve come full circle in a time where the price of almost everything has gone up and the idea of having to throw something away that perhaps should have lasted a lifetime, is no longer acceptable to many. Either way you look at things, we live in an age of limited and costly resources. There’s always a place for entry level products, be it a side table or a chisel; but I hope that the time has come when the demand for quality and durability will no longer be simply written off by producers and not so readily deemed as too costly by consumers.
Chris,
The reason why this is the only woodworking magazine I subscribe to is because of the philosophy and history interwoven in the articles and blog posts. That’s important to me because it helps me to understand not just how to build but why we build the way we do and why we build at all.
Keep doing what you’re doing, I wouldn’t enjoy a magazine written by or for this Guy from Dallas.
Cheers,
Josh
Since Chris obviously intended this to be opened up for debate, here goes …
To be completely pedantic about it, Mr. Cooper is correct on several points. Both of the quotes mentioned are indeed examples of hyperbole (deliberate exaggeration) and the use of a serial comma in the second quote does violate stylistic rules because it introduces the ambiguity that “yourself” [the reader] and “the tree” may in fact be one and the same thing. “Repulsive”, “means nothing”, “stupid” and “pompous” are the commenter’s own (hyperbolic) opinions, to which he is entitled.
I do not subscribe to woodworking magazines for their philosophical content, but if it is present I am not offended by it and certainly would not feel the need to complain to the editor. The editorial column and back page in particular are entirely appropriate and unsurprising places to find musings beyond the merely technical.
On a side note, was anyone else struck by the irony of an article bemoaning impermanence and instant gratification being (re)posted on an Internet blog? More seriously, although Chris’ views on this matter are close to my own, I disagree with him placing the blame on the manufacturers and retailers. They are merely filling a demand, not creating it. It is we the consumers who must vote with our dollars to change this cycle.
You can’t please everyone
nor should you try.
The ONLY reason I come here
or read the magazine is because
of the writing of Mr. Schwarz.
I can’t abide disrespect for trees.
Mr. Underhill expressed it quite well
in the dedication to Eclectic Workshop
when he wrote
“”My humble thanks go to the pine, oak, hickory,
poplar, walnut, cherry, dogwood and walnut trees
that lost their lives to make this book possible.
Someday my bones will help your descendants.
Till then, thanks for the air, and good luck.”
I agree completely with you Chris, that is why we have been using some recycled lumber from the Pandora Sweater Factory that was recently renovated. The Longleaf Pine was harvested 159 years ago to build this factory. According to Wikipedia this lumber was 100-150 years old at harvest time. I have not taken the time to count the rings (my eye sight is not that good). I am building small pieces of furniture with the material and it is a pleasure to work with and smell. Take a look for yourself http://nhschreiner.wordpress.com/.
Blather on!
I wonder if Mr. Cooper has ever paused to think of how his food got to his plate?
Even in these “tough” times, we definitely live in an age of ease. Reflection is a good thing…
Funny how different people can react. This very post stuck with me…one of the lines resonated with me so much that I reposted it on Facebook (“The ability to fulfill our desires in mere moments has cheapened our appreciation for the labor required to make anything”). The discussion about the age and the life of the wood motivated me to finally pick up _Understanding Wood_…
I’m kinda glad this guy reacted so strongly because it gave me a chance to re-read this post.
Oh, Guy, perhaps this was meant to be funny, but your line “Its even punctuated incorrectly” actually contains a grammar mistake. “It is” should be contracted into ‘it’s’; when used as a possessive pronoun, it is spelled ‘its.’ To remember this, you can think of other possessive pronouns such as his and hers, which also do not use the apostrophe.
Shut up Guy.
I like the way this he writes.
Please be advised that, for better or worse, Dallas (and most of Texas) is somewhat to right of Gengis Khan. These conservatives are characterized by a lack of empathy, and the inability to perceive things from another’s viewpoint.
I understood where you were coming from, and after reading your comments to my wife, an English Language Arts teacher (retired…25 years of service…student’s test scores typically in the 90th percentile) she responded quite favorably to both content and technique.
I’ve said all that to say this…your work and opinions are of great value to your readers. Your work is much admired.
By the way, 31 of those 43 years of teaching were done in a public school wood shop…teaching hand tool woodworking for the most part.
Perhaps this particular article is too wordy for this gentleman. Let’s get rid of those unnecessary conjunctions, adverbs, and all those paragraphs. Let us reduce it to its most primal of states: Get wood. Cut wood. Plane wood. Connect wood. Look wood. Oh what the hell, let’s change up our structure. Wood good.
As for your writing style, Chris: yours is my absolute favorite. Period. Or is it comma? Your writing style is amazing, and I feel that it breathes life into what can be a very dry subject. I’ll always be a faithful reader.
As for Guy, well, all I can truly say is…..
Relax guy!
OK, maybe “the whole of human history” is too much, but I understand what you meant. I like your writing style and your work is valuable and original. I think it strides right along the line between silly navel gazing wood worship and cold Teutonic instructions. You and Adam Cherubini pretty much have it right. You both carry the flag that Roy Underhill picked up out of the dust.
Chris,
I second others appreciation for your writing. I suspect the individual would not enjoy George Nakashima’s The Soul of a Tree either.
John
Screw ’em
2b^2/a
…speaking of “stupid and Pompous.”
Chris’ column is the reason that I was drawn to Popular Woodworking…thought I love the rest of the editors now too (Megan cracks me up).
Also…I am a typesetter, and the punctuation looks good to me.
I know Guy…I use way too many ellipses…
To “Guy” Cooper (if that IS your real name):
According to Wikipedia:
“The Chicago Manual of Style, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, most authorities on American English and Canadian English, and some authorities on British English (for example, Oxford University Press and Fowler’s Modern English Usage) recommend the use of the serial comma.”
I guess these “authorities” should get their act together and give Mr. Cooper a call before publishing their next edition to get “set straight” about the use of serial commas… (oops, I used an ellipsis just then, I guess I’m an idiot as well).
Mr. Cooper, I’d like to quote Sergeant Hulka from the movie Stripes and offer a resounding, “Lighten up, Francis!” You should really research decaffeinated coffee and perhaps a stress-relieving hobby like woodworking!
Speaking of things that “make me ill”…
I honestly don’t know what people want. I think you would have better chance selling magic beans than getting people to appreciate well made quality goods or writing introspective articles on handcraft. It’s amazing that even when something is free (blog posts) people still come out of the woodwork to take potshots. Pass me the Dramamine.
Anyway, keep blathering and rest assured that what you are doing is appreciated and quite necessary.
About the wood:
I find my self constantly amazed and humbled by this amazing living material. I also have a well developed sense of “wood guilt”. It’s not a religious thing, but more likely a circumstance of my upbringing to frugal parents who disdained waste, but I can’t shake the feeling of having use the wood to make something worthwhile and lasting. Also to get the most out of each board, being mindfully of conserving and re-purposing my “scrap”. Not to get hippy-dippy, but I also feel like there is an obligation to something that lived, grew, and died over a long period- only to create something that can potentially last for a very long time. People talk about sustainability and think that it means biodegradable cups and bamboo-flooring (and it does), but it also means understanding where things come from, how they are made, and making sure that things DON’T end up in a landfill. It’s a the responsibility of designers and crafts people to build things that shouldn’t belong in a landfill, but are appreciated for generations to come. Yes, there is a sometimes extra cost associated with these goods, but it only seems unreasonabl when you have been conditioned to “Walmart everyday low priced” foreign mass manufactured plastic garbage. Of course, I also think that we all could probably get by with less stuff but of higher quality(more expensive), but you already know that.
Cheers,
Niels
Two things:
First I love the “blather”. The passion you have for woodworking, lore and learning gets me excited (in a good way) and it makes reading you work much more enjoyable. St. Roy demonstrates similar qualities, just try to watch one of his episodes without smiling or wanting to try something new.
Secondly is this a formula for getting articles posted online:
“Deer poplar wodwerking,,.,.,;’`
This blather would not pass a sixth grade assignment to write a ‘theme’ on something. ‘’ is hyperbolic and repulsive and means nothing, and ‘” is hyperbolic, stupid, and pompous. Its even punctuated incorrectly. I want a woodworking magazine and don’t want to hear from a woodworker who thinks his philosophical meanderings are interesting.
Person L. Wheelwright
Dallas, Texas”
If so there are a number of articles I want posted so I can bookmark them; although now that I have thought about it I realized I can use actual bookmarks in the actual books. Technology seems to be making me stupider.
Also I don’t know if it was in the initial message or was a publishing error but the second quote in his message starts with a single quote and ends with a double quote so technically speaking the whole second half of his message is in two levels of quote instead of zero.
For what it’s worth, Chris, I didn’t at all think your article was a curve having a single bend, with lines going infinitely far from said bend.
It might have been tangential, but it definitely was not hyperbolic.
“So when you pick up your saw and clamp up a board that is as old as you, try to make every stroke count. You owe it to yourself, the tree and the whole of human history.”
I was fortunate to rescue the boards that formed the inside walls of my grandfather’s barn. 1x material between 6 and 14 inches wide. 60 year old stuff. My wife wonders why I don’t have several specific projects assigned to it (she thinks it would be fine to use on the kids’ playfort.) This is exactly why I’m waiting.
Thanks again, Chris.
I liked the article, but clearly some people did not.
How about we just chalk it up to some people are just grumpy and like to bitch and will not be satisfied unless they have someone else to sulk with them.
Keep up the good work Chris!!!
I have pre-ordered your new book and am waiting eagerly.
Robert
P.S. I am certain some of my punctuation is wrong, I don’t care, I am not being graded.
“A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.” George Bernard Shaw
“Life is a gift of the immortal Gods, but living well is the gift of philosophy” Seneca
Hi Folks, I agree with Mr. Schwarz on this one. Although Mr. Cooper is entitled to his opinion and has a right to express it, I don’t have to agree with it. We are indeed in the age of cheap goods. I have a 1937 Refrigerator that still works. New ones last… um… 10-15 years? The 1911 water heater in our house worked perfectly until 1979 – 68 years – and it can still be repaired. As for new ones, I am already on my 2nd modern one since then. As to the question of what does or does not belong in a woodworking magazine, if Mr. Cooper doesn’t like the editorial he can turn the page and read the how-to articles instead and he will pull through just fine. I think Mr. Schwarz was right on target. Keep up the good work and I need to find my renewal notice — I think my subscription lapsed as I don’t have the new issue already!
Given the time, effort and relative amount of commitment woodworking takes, one would think the drive to do so would come from a level deeper than “I like working with my hands” or “I like making stuff”. That’s what makes answering the question “Why would you make it?” difficult to answer without stepping into the deep end of the philosophical pool.
I suppose, as with anything, there are different ends to the spectrum. Maybe he’s a “Glued & Screwed MDF”© type of guy?
For my part, I’d too would like to thank Chris and the other editors at PopWood for their “blather”. Their perspectives on various aspects of the craft have caused me to dust off a way of thinking that had been put down a long time ago, and I’m better for it. It’s good to have a passion in life and Chris’ articles and books over the years have resurrected that in me. Many of the other posts here reflect a similar sentiment in that the mind, or attitude adopted when creating something by hand, extends beyond the shop and into daily life. As a people, we sorely need to believe in something tangible and with some permanence and the attitudes of people in the hand tool movement are a great place to start. Quality, endurance, strength, efficiency, perseverance…these are just a few of the hallmarks I’ve been reminded of and for me, I find myself guided by them in many aspects of life. I’m inspired by Chris’ projects, articles and books and as long as he’s in the public eye, I’ll be there supporting him. To Mr. Cooper I say, you’re missing something important in all this. It’s best learned from our peers and should be taken in and allowed to seep into your soul and your mind until it’s a part of you. I was taught a long time ago that we have two years and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. If it’s really hard core how-to you want, I’d suggest you browse the PopWood Bookstore. If you can’t find it there, I don’t know where you can.
Mr. Cooper just needs to subscribe to another magazine.
Surely someone is running an article titled “40 Pieces of Heirloom Furniture You Can Make in Under 30 Minutes”.
Chris,
I was contemplating yesterday about how I’ve had to cut back on my magazine subscriptions to save money. I let lapse some subscriptions that I enjoyed, however I did not let my Popular Woodworking lapse. As I pondered this I tried to put my finger on what it was about your magazine that made me choose it over the others. Upon reading the above quoted rant, I now realize it is your blather, and the blather of the others who write for the magazine, that I love the most.
Please keep it up.
-Will
You’re the editor and it was the editors column, a traditional place for an editor to speak his mind and espouse whatever philosophical meanderings he sees fit to spew.
The things I make, including what I write, may be for other people. But how I make them is for me.
“Its even punctuated incorrectly.” Ahh, the deafening clatter of a petard being hoisted. Doncha just love it? 🙂
Wow. I bet this guy can’t wait to read the Anarchist’s Toolchest!
Oh, and the line, “Its even punctuated incorrectly” … happens to be punctuated incorrectly.
Sheesh, someone must be a big fan of the Oxford comma. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma
I have to say, I can’t disagree with Guy more strongly. The “philosophical meanderings” are one of my favorite aspects to the articles in PopWood. Keep up the good work.