What is Craftsmanship to You?

[Cedge]

Dean...
Trust me it was not insulting... AT ALL..... LOL. I was just a bit taken aback that anyone would toss my name anywhere close to that heady bunch. I'm very much of the mind that they are among the heros of this particular hobby. I still consider myself to be a relative newcomer and very much the novice.... a novice with more balls than brains.... but a novice, none the less...LOL

I'm always pleased when my work is considered as showing my "craftsmanship" and making something truly unique has its own thrill. The problem with the pursuit of craftsmanship is that I'm not sure I'll ever really know when I get there, in my own mind. It seems to be a constant chase to do better, next time. Maybe I'm just confusing the goal of perfection with craftsmanship, but it does keep me going.

Hint...
Never adopt the mental mantra "One perfect part at a time" unless you want to become a bit obsessive with your own personal performance.

Steve

 

[Powder keg]

So you don't build things for results? I'm confused. What does buying an engine have anything to do about what craftsmanship is to me? If I'm using the tools I have on hand to create something beautiful, in my mind. Pushing myself to figure out how to make an oddball part. Be it on a CNC or manual or with a file. I think that would make me a craftsman? Maybe not? I love doing it and that's what counts for me.

Later, Wesley

 

[GWRdriver]

With respect to CNC, and accepting that CNC has a place and is one of several ways to do it, and that each of us will choose our own way . . . here is how I look at it. Let's say you have two guys building the same project, and those two guys show up at a meet with their latest component, also identical and of approximately the same quality of workmanship. One guy has done his CNC, and other one has done his all-manual (ie, hacksaw, plain lathe, files, etc), and both are asking me to lookie here at my work. All else being equal the guy who has done the work manually gets my admiration. The CNC guy, well . . . not so much, because although I acknowledge his work took skills, they aren't skills I admire as much as I do manual skills and I get to choose what I admire, for my own reasons.

Right about here is where someone usually jumps on me and throws in a red herring about CNC and manufacturing and of course CNC is essential in manufacturing . . . but the conversation is about amatuer shop craft, not manufacturing. Different kettle of fish entirely.

Otherwise I also kind of like black85vette's list of four issues for craftsmanship.

 

[Deanofid]

So you don't build things for results? I'm confused. What does buying an engine have anything to do about what craftsmanship is to me?

Later, Wesley

Wes, I didn't mean for it to be taken as a confrontational statement, but rather, an observation. I'm sorry if it sounds otherwise.
You're right, what craftsmanship is to you, is what you decide it is.

I do happen to think that how the final result is produced dictates the difference between quality, and craftsmanship, and that I can't be the judge of whether I'm a craftsman or not.

Dean

 

[Powder keg]

No worries Deanofid :bow:

 

[mu38&Bg#]

I think craftsmanship involves at least 4 issues:

1. The mind. It must have acquired the knowledge of how to do things and solve problems.
2. The hands. Must have acquired the skill of doing the tasks.
3. Artistry. Using the first two to not just replicate but to create.
4. Excellence. The high standard to which the first 3 are done.

I have to agree. The toughest part for me is artistry. I can come up with functional mechanical design, but making something look just jawdropping is not my thing. My designs are rather agricultural( a mid 90's BMW is much more my style than anything since) but that suits me fine. Gail's V-twin project just blows me away. I can see art and beauty, but can't create it and won't copy it. A photograph is the only art I can create.

CNC is just another tool. I love it. There is plenty of mental challenge involved. It makes some tasks easier. It can also make scrap very quickly. It always boggle my mind how some things were made 50-100 years ago by hand without it.

 

[phlegmatic]

Lots of good input here! I really got alot food for thought now!!

I dont think that its the result we´re after; its the road there that counts! Kinda like like cycling though Patagonia Vs. Driving a Tank with air support. If we look at what HSM/ME ppl produce, its not general machinery, they are display items, used as ornaments (E.g. art). Producing art with automation is not interesting to me... :-\

I´ve had many guns, the ones that showed what we call imperfections from the use of hand tools have allways been the ones most dear to me! It just a personal sentiment! 8)