Mindset while woodworking
#11
Hi all,
New to Woodnet but I just retired from residential remodeling/woodworking/finish carpenter this last month.  I am stretching into my retirement by getting involved in a forum community.  
I taught some woodworking in the past and am interested in getting back into it on a new level.  What I am curious about is the mindset of carpentry/woodworking ever a part of the conversation?  I recognize it is a kind of 'touchy feely' topic and most carpenters don't like to go there.  I have been interested in the topic for a few decades but don't hear much about it.
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#12
I could use a little more detail on what you mean by "mindset".

In education/developmental settings we talk about a fixed or growth mindset. Fixed is the idea that every challenge is a cause to get pissed, and growth is the idea that you meet each challenge with a positive, can-do attitude. Or are you thinking about mindset in terms of production, pleasure, or maybe skill-building?
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#13
Ok – I’ll bite.

FWIW – you could say I do a little bit of both. I volunteer at Habit for Humanity one day a week (so basically carpentry), but I am pretty much a furniture builder. So, for me I would say I bring more of the furniture making mindset (aesthetics and precision) to carpentry than the other way around. Some of the H$H superintendents appreciate my precise and meticulous nature, but a few would rather just get the job done.

Then again,  that is the beauty of being a carpenter on an H4H project, the labor is free – so no one really complains if it takes an extra day or so to build framing like a piece of furniture!
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#14
Puzzled, but my stab would be they are 2 separate activities with some overlap in the skills required. Some folks go back and  forth (Norm was always labeled as a Master Carpenter) but others are one or the other. Such is the case for me, I'm a woodworker. I've done some carpentry, but not much and always fairly small stuff.
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#15
(10-01-2021, 05:25 AM)fredhargis Wrote: Puzzled, but my stab would be they are 2 separate activities with some overlap in the skills required. Some folks go back and  forth (Norm was always labeled as a Master Carpenter) but others are one or the other. Such is the case for me, I'm a woodworker. I've done some carpentry, but not much and always fairly small stuff.

I can do 'carpentry' as well as building furniture and cabinets.  I've always felt like the difference is that a guy working in the cabinet shop may not be able to pull off 'furniture', but a furniture guy could almost certainly build cabinets.
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#16
(10-01-2021, 06:08 AM)KC Wrote: I can do 'carpentry' as well as building furniture and cabinets.  I've always felt like the difference is that a guy working in the cabinet shop may not be able to pull off 'furniture', but a furniture guy could almost certainly build cabinets.

I love this. 

Just finishing out a new shop I had built.  Had a small office framed in the back corner and I have been sheathing the walls and putting a floor down overhead to use for storage.  Being that I prefer making furniture working on this I am reminded very much how sloppy and imprecise carpentry is/can be compared to making furniture.  That is not a criticism just an observation.

Just really convinces me there is a big difference in a real woodworking and a carpenter.  I don't think now days that the two words are really interchangeable even though they are used that way.
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#17
(10-01-2021, 08:25 AM)Kudzu Wrote: I love this. 

Just finishing out a new shop I had built.  Had a small office framed in the back corner and I have been sheathing the walls and putting a floor down overhead to use for storage.  Being that I prefer making furniture working on this I am reminded very much how sloppy and imprecise carpentry is/can be compared to making furniture.  That is not a criticism just an observation.

Just really convinces me there is a big difference in a real woodworking and a carpenter.  I don't think now days that the two words are really interchangeable even though they are used that way.

ha ha; in the past I volunteered for Habitat, helped with 4 houses or so.  Once we were doing framing and I was up on a ladder calling down measurements to the guy on the chop saw, and he was consistently 3/8ths off the measurement.  After about a half dozen, I called down and told him he was consistently short, he said "its good enough."  While it likely was, my retort was that I build furniture and I work in 64ths!  He got better....
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#18
In my book:

Carpenters and furniture/cabinetmakers are the same.......only to someone who doesn't know enough about fine woodworking.

I never call myself a carpenter, though I don't correct people in any conversation when they say I'm a carpenter or have good carpentry skills.

Master Carpenter? Norm is one of the most humble folks under the sky you can find, despite his achievements. Sam Maloof called himself a woodworker, not a fine craftsman as some modern makers like to label themselves.


Simon
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#19
Thank you all for being here and joining in the conversation.

For me this is a huge topic spanning decades of transitions from one skillset to the next.  I spent my first ten years of experience, the 1970's, as a furniture builder. I spent a few years with different types of cabinetry. From there I followed the money into highly custom fine finish carpentry. Then to get off my knees into management of the process.

Some of what I am curious about:

  • People who work angry make mistakes.  How much of what we are feeling gets translated into our work?
  • As a career carpenter/woodworker I am astounded by the fact a simple thought of piece of trim actually finds itself into the world. How does that work?  I have been trying to track the path of thought-to-thing for a long time. 
  • If we understand what we are thinking and feeling while we are measuring and cutting, can we assemble better structures? My answer to this is yes, it makes a difference.  

So, when advising someone in the art/craft of woodworking, how much of the conversation is about self-evaluation, patience, and acceptance of where one is at in the process, the stuff that comes along with the years of experience, the subtle advanced techniques?
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#20
I just call myself a woodworker. I don't think it implies much other than I make large pieces of wood into smaller ones. I've done some carpentry, but would never consider myself a carpenter-I have too much respect for them. I don't get too hung up on titles. The bar for being called a woodworker can be pretty low, and maybe it should be. Seeing some of a person's work will usually tell the level they are at.
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