tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post7770285778033178059..comments2024-03-16T10:26:53.460-05:00Comments on Wisdom of the Hands: making screwsDoug Stowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-10123829565724870662021-08-26T21:55:02.878-05:002021-08-26T21:55:02.878-05:00What a coincidence! I was poking around Pinterest...What a coincidence! I was poking around Pinterest and Came across your tie cabinet picture. I am literally almost done making the same cabinet from your book. Just a few little details and it’s done. I’ve built a number of cabinets from your book....it’s actually how started woodworking! I often wonder how the author would critique my builds:)Jerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14723250601371624795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-12532978073888111322018-08-08T01:00:36.859-05:002018-08-08T01:00:36.859-05:00Thanks for your post. I’ve been thinking about wri...Thanks for your post. I’ve been thinking about writing a very comparable post over the last couple of weeks, I’ll probably keep it short and sweet and link to this instead if thats cool. Thanks. <a href="https://5productreviews.com/best-stainless-steel-screws/" rel="nofollow">Best Stainless Steel Screws in 2018</a><br />Prinxess https://www.blogger.com/profile/14313504668917104996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-62681531975744417942015-06-03T16:59:20.207-05:002015-06-03T16:59:20.207-05:00That cabinet was done for a book, and it is availa...That cabinet was done for a book, and it is available for sale.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-43809010221443045762015-06-03T15:48:51.056-05:002015-06-03T15:48:51.056-05:00I was wondering if you make these cabinets for sal...I was wondering if you make these cabinets for sale?Jazzyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02624605737259518008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-5786208456047818192010-12-31T15:53:46.019-06:002010-12-31T15:53:46.019-06:00John, on the idea of Colonial Williamsburg doing a...John, on the idea of Colonial Williamsburg doing all of it, start to finish, that is a part of the Sloyd educational system.. engendering a sense of completeness and self-reliance.. sense of the whole of it, the Gestalt. We don't do very much in the way of systems thinking. <br /><br />A friend of mine who I have mentioned before in the blog was a gunsmith who made replicas of long rifles and antique fire arms. He would buy cast parts from foundries, brass and steel or iron, then file and mill them into working locks. The parts were rather crudely cast, and took a lot of work to get a working flintlock out of the deal. Funny, now we think of locks as what you use on the storage shed, when at one time a "lock" was was part of a firearm.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-11124852826481667892010-12-31T15:18:46.711-06:002010-12-31T15:18:46.711-06:00John, I have thought that one of the things most m...John, I have thought that one of the things most missing from modern education is the understanding of how mastery is attained. It seems that if you know the steps, they can lead in a number of directions. Some time ago, the county had a building that was available and wanted to use available federal and state funds to develop and education program. It never went anywhere, of course. But if you centered a program on a single skill, like wood turning and the program would be intended to simply impart a sense of how quality is achieved, it would add significantly to the value of the workforce. It could be constructed around any given skill set, but is based on what I've observed in the crafts community. If you can do something really well, you have the mental and physiological make-up to do other things at the same level... You have a set of expectations and ability to self-manage toward significant goals. I observed this when I would see a jeweler doing woodwork, or a potter doing jewelry. They all had higher than normal sets of goals and expectations for what was to result from their efforts. These days in schools we present a smorgasbord of activities, even when kids are lucky enough to get doses of the arts, none of which offer true opportunities of engagement on a path toward mastery of some kind.<br /><br />This is actually another selling point for ESSA and similar craft schools. If students emerge with higher standards and a clear sense of how those standards can be met, you have added significantly to the value of each employee. But then we have become a culture in which craftsmanship is poorly understood.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-2195005711951952042010-12-31T14:49:12.125-06:002010-12-31T14:49:12.125-06:00Mario's comment brought another thought to min...Mario's comment brought another thought to mind... Specialization and division of labor were well entrenched concepts by the mid-18th century. Adam Smith wrote, as I recall, in The Wealth of Nations about those notions in the context of pin manufacturing. The guild system in England and Europe certainly forced the notion on the manufacturing world as did government contracting for things like musket parts. Even in the Colonies many items were assembled from parts created by others. That is one area where a living history museum such as Williamsburg departs from history... it would have been unlikely for a single craftsman to build an entire gun's parts and assemble them into a finished gun. In the context of WOTH, it would seem to me that exposure to myriad craftsman, perhaps of varying skills so the good ones could show themselves, would be a good approach to understanding our world. Funny... that sounds a lot like the shop and home economics classes that existed when I was a child.John Grossbohlinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-3548407752548735602010-12-31T13:43:58.023-06:002010-12-31T13:43:58.023-06:00A trip to the hardware store could get the teen bo...A trip to the hardware store could get the teen boys giggling. Funny, they don't know how much fun hardware stores can be.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-4900095429461844992010-12-31T13:31:00.928-06:002010-12-31T13:31:00.928-06:00The skill needed to make screws, even if it was a ...The skill needed to make screws, even if it was a job for kids, was serious. About three miles from where I sit is a company that makes screw-making machinery. Their name, Oliver Screw, along with the Acme Nipple Manufacturing Co. not far away, have always been favorites of teenaged boys.<br /><br />MarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com