Vent: My old mentor called a dovetail joint 'a handshake between two boards'

I was cleaning out the shop and found a box of my first practice joints from 15 years ago, all rough and uneven. He saw them and said that line, which hit different now that everything is CNC perfect and clients just want the cheapest flat-pack look. Do you ever miss when the little imperfections told the story of the build?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_joel24d ago

My local hardware store replaced its woodworking section with more plastic storage bins last year. Honestly, that handshake line hits because we're losing the language for craft along with the skills. Tbh it feels like we're sanding down all the interesting grain just to make things smoother to sell.

kelly_hayes8624d ago

Sanding down all the interesting grain" is exactly it. They're not just taking away the tools, they're taking away the whole idea of fixing or making something yourself. Now it's just about buying more stuff to hold the other stuff you bought. Feels like we're being trained out of knowing how things work.