Shopsmith Forums

I really enjoyed this video. An introduction is shared here.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTyd02-NTdQ[/youtube]

Thanks for making me feel inadequate.

I love watching others display great skill, especially with hand tools. It's not actually inspirational, since I don't find myself inspired to go through all the work to achieve the same level of skill. And that sometimes bothers me about myself. But, life is short, and we shouldn't beat ourselves up for stupid reasons like that.

So true Dave, but I'm working at it. I'm up to the 2 hour glue and staple drawer, 20 minute dovetail here I come

I dunno. That is definitely impressive. But if it is repetitive work, making the same thing again and again, machines will always be faster. If it's full-custom, the patrons are generally willing and able to pay big bucks for design, and manufacturing efficiency is secondary. I'm still trying to figure out where the fast-handmade niche fits into the market.

Good thing I'm just a woodworking hobbiest, I guess.

I found the story of apprenticing with his father charming. I think he's very proud to be his father's son. Being the father of a son myself, that goes right to the core for me.

Almost everything I do in my shop has a motor attached to it. I really want to start using more hand tools. When I see an old master like Frank Klausz in this vintage video walk a fine line between machine and handcraft, taking the best from both worlds, that makes me sit up and listen.

His technique looks simple enough that with practice anyone can do it. Of course that's not shown in this introduction.

Make it a great day!

Don't take me wrong ... as amateur woodworker, I'd love to learn those skills myself. But when he was talking about his father's advice, much of it seemed aimed at improving his woodworking income. So I started wondering if and how one could make a decent living with those skills in this day and age.

BuckeyeDennis wrote: So I started wondering if and how one could make a decent living with those skills in this day and age.

$300 bird houses?


.

robinson46176 wrote:

BuckeyeDennis wrote: So I started wondering if and how one could make a decent living with those skills in this day and age.

$300 bird houses?


.

$1000 vases.

BuckeyeDennis wrote:So I started wondering if and how one could make a decent living with those skills in this day and age.

I was in a gallery in the Wynwood District of Miami a few weeks back. There were several abstract city-scapes done in wood. Looking closely, they appeared to be mostly bandsawn and a touch of scroll sawing. Nice wood selections, but nothing outrageous, and labor wise, probably only took a few hours (max!) per piece, but were listed at $5,000 - $20,000 depending on size. Make several of those in one week, sell two of your big ones, and you've made $40,000 for the year. Sell more, and you're really sittin' pretty!