I often see in the trade papers of the day the question asked by young men, “Where shall I go to learn my trade to the best advantage?” To the boy or young man who is in earnest, it is a vital and all-important question, but to the one who has to learn, or go to school, and who chooses the shop rather than the school-room, it does not make any material difference where he goes, so far as he is concerned. And so far as the rest of human race is concerned, I don’t think any of us care. At least I don’t, so long as he takes care to keep away from my shop.
To the boy who is interested in mechanical work, and whose talents naturally develop in that direction, I would suggest that his time of apprenticeship be served in a small shop, for the following reasons: First, in the small shop there is generally but one “cub” or apprentice at a time, and he grows to have more of an interest in the place than if it was large and employing many hands. Second, not having any other boy to play with or to divert his mind from the regular work of the shop, he will get along faster and will grow to be more of a man in his thoughts regarding the reasons for the ways and methods for doing things. (more…)
In one of the Timber-yards near the City Road, in London, there is a carter who is noted for his kindness to the horse which is under his care. He is deeply attached to it, and the handsome creature appears to be equally fond of him.
Such is the command that this man has acquired over his horse, that a whip is unnecessary. He has only to walk a little in advance, when, after a kind word or two, and the simple pointing of the finger, the noble animal will draw his heavy burden, much more readily than those which are cruelly lashed with the whip.
Oh that more kind words were used in the management of horses, and fewer lashes of the whip! Horses, like human beings, are more easily drawn by kindness, than driven by cruelty. (more…)
The good workman will never use poor tools when he can obtain good ones. The careless workman may, but such choice is an evidence of inferiority, and brands him at once as a man who takes little pride in his calling. A selfish consideration, if no other, will ordinarily impel the workman to select the best tools, because with them he can perform his labor with much greater ease, and with better effect, than with inferior ones.
Exact work can hardly be expected from the mechanic who uses inexact tools, although sometimes very excellent results are obtained where poor tools are employed. But this is always at the expense of greater labor and greater care. Rapidity of work often depends upon the character and condition of the tools employed. This is frequently illustrated in a vivid manner by the attempt to employ a dull saw or a dull plane. Even a trifling defect sometimes causes no end of trouble. To do the most effective work, tools must be of improved design, made strongly for use, and kept in good order. Then the conditions are ripe for executing work under the most favorable circumstances.
It is only the slipshod workman who will be content to use rusty tools, of antiquated design, and out of order, or verging on a state of dilapidation. As well might one expect to find a really superior musician drumming away on an old and worn-out instrument, whose every note gives forth a discord, as to see a bright, active and expert mechanic employing poor and badly-used tools. The good workman will insist on having good tools, and these he will see are kept in fit condition for work. Any other course would be prima facie evidence of his lack of superiority in his calling.
One of the greatest evils of the present day is the unfitness of the average workman for anything but mere routine work. Such a thing as a knowledge of the general details of a craft or trade, is almost unknown. The workman, from boyhood up, has become so accustomed to the pursuit of one idea; one branch of the trade, that he strives only for mediocre excellence in that one branch, and has no ambition beyond that of acquiring a sufficient knowledge of the particular line of business in which he is engaged to insure him the maintenance of his situation.
The average workman, if he has the intelligence, has not the ambition to perceive that the skilled and careful man, familiar with all the details of the business, is the one who is most likely to retain the good will of his employer, and fails to perceive that when the hard times come, the man with the limited knowledge of his business is the first to be dropped from the payroll, while his more competent brother, when work fails in one branch of the business, can be profitably put at work in another.
Every man should thoroughly master all details of his business, and some day, he can not tell how soon, the opportunity will come for him to better his condition and take advantage of those acquirements which have come to him in the days of his apprenticeship.
American Machinist: “ ‘Hard times’ are apt to be hard on nice, delicate workman. Perhaps business gets so dull that a nice tool maker must go to work repairing old engines. For a time he uses tools tenderly. He is as careful with them as of old. It makes him wince to see the boys throw nice tools into a box, and then dump into a drawer or on the bench. Soon our man gets hardened. He begins to ‘don’t care,’ and quickly gets as bad a tool smasher as any of the gang. ‘Hard times’ not only spoil business, but they sometimes spoil the mechanic as well.”
Every word of the foregoing is true. The “hurrah” and “rush ” of American practice in the workshop or on American buildings, is surely destroying skillful workmanship. To do good work requires time, and no man can make a good honest piece of work with the lash of the foreman pressing him on to “hurry up,” “hurry up.” The writer of this has known of more than one case, where first-class workmen have been elbowed out of existence, by men who did not know half so much, but who have the fatal knack of always appearing to be in a hurry.
In these days—in the building trades at all events—there seems to be no incentive to become a good workman. It is not the quality but the quantity of work a man can do that gives him value in the eyes of his employer. All this has a tendency to make indifferent workmen, and to fill up the ranks of the building trades with half trained men, botches and pretenders.
The Builder and Wood-Worker – October & November, 1885
Suzanne “Saucy Indexer” Ellison was digging around in the digital archives of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and turned up some fantastic images you might enjoy exploring.
The Rijksmuseum provides high-resolution images freely to anyone who creates an account and encourages users to use the images to make T-shirts or some other art form. It’s a surprisingly refreshing approach compared to the locked doors of other museums.
Some notable details: The workbench has angled legs with only two stretchers. It’s a bit like a modified Roman workbench. I cannot see any vises, but the benchtop is obscured by the subject and his tools. I think it’s clear the benchtop is 38” from the ground, however.
At the carpenter’s feet are more tools: the curious Dutch sabre saw, a hammer with a nice handle and a cross pane, a plane, a box of nails and some other stuff that’s unclear to me.
Flight to Egypt and Joseph as a Carpenter, Wheelwright and Cooper The second image is a lot like the famous Stent panel in that it was created by someone who was a woodworker, so the details are likely to be more accurate than a drawing or painting.
This panel, circa 1600-1699, has lots to see. In the top left, Joseph is shown at a bench that is almost identical in structure to the first plate in this blog entry. Again, no vises are evident, nor is a planing stop (though there has to be something there). Again, a 38”-high workbench.
Behind him are tools: a bowsaw, bench planes, compass, rabbeting or moulding planes, a brace, miter template, perhaps a second template and a rack of chisels.
Love the hat.
In the carpentry scene below, Joseph has a try square, a level, mallet and a chisel.
In the wheelwright scene and cooperage scenes on the right we get to see a drawknife make an appearance in both.
In the center of the panel we have Joseph holding his basket of tools with his sabre saw over his shoulder.
From The Four Times of Day, John Saenredam, Cornelius Schonaeus, 1675 – 1607 This engraving shows a carpenter crosscutting a board with a sabre saw while he kneels on a a beam. Behind him a woodworker planes what looks like the top of a table (I think that’s a drawer below).
Oh, and that’s Apollo on the cloud.
New Year Postcard from the carpenter’s guild in Haarlem, circa 1600 This image is one I’ve been studying for some time after Jeff Burks first pointed it out to me. It pictures Joseph in his workshop at a 38”-high workbench that clearly is built in the Roman style. And it has what looks like planing stops.
At Joseph’s feet is a sabre saw and a bowsaw. Plus the baby Jesus striking a chalk line with the help of a cherub.
I’ve been studying this plate (and a bunch of others) as a way of sorting out the culture of tool storage – who uses racks, who uses chests etc. That’s a topic for another day.
Suzanne sent me links to many more images, but I have to get my butt into the shop. I’ve got blind dovetails to cut and pine to process for a demonstration next weekend in Alabama.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. All the stuff above about 38″-high workbenches is just a joke to amuse myself. Ignore it.
I often see in the trade papers of the day the question asked by young men, “Where shall I go to learn my trade to the best advantage?” To the boy or young man who is in earnest, it is a vital and all-important question, but to the one who has to learn, or go to school, and who chooses the shop rather than the school-room, it does not make any material difference where he goes, so far as he is concerned. And so far as the rest of human race is concerned, I don’t think any of us care. At least I don’t, so long as he takes care to keep away from my shop.
