Woodwork Forums is making me lose friends.... and I don't think I mind.

So I've noticed a slow attrition of old connections of late.

The latest was my cousin and my thread on here 'Carpentry isn't just carpentry when it's on a ship.' The debate started when a company in Canada hired Shipwrights from overseas. She was outraged and believed there were 'plenty of carpenters in Canada'. I turned to the forums to educate me on the differences between land based carpenters and trained shipwrights. Relayed the information in a sound peaceful argument... rude ignorant response, no point in communicating further... bye cuz.

High school friend is renovating, which includes pintrest and chalk paint on her wooden furniture. I let end tables and chairs pass but when she received a large wooden sideboard her father made for her mother before she was born, I begged her not to paint it. My explanations on how stains didn't protect wood, how to use oils, waxes and if she was strapped for time varnishes were 'To hard, To much time, Paint looks fine' .... I couldn't watch a family heirloom be destroyed. buh-bye.

"carpenters and builders are such a ripoff. They shouldn't cost so much' .... why bother.

posts of 'this is amazing' for simple dovetails and 'lost arts' get me called all manner of names when I try to talk about what the videos are doing and some of the real 'lost arts of cabinetry and finish carpentry'.

But you know what, I don't think I mind. I think I'm trading up. I think I'd rather understand that a proper french polish takes hundreds of layers dabbed on carefully or that a beautiful glowing wax finish takes years of care. It means I appreciate it when I see it.

I'll try to think of it like food: Smaller, healthier, tastier, and better meals instead of vast amounts of garbage.

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Originally Posted by Skew's_Girl

I think I'd rather understand that a proper french polish takes hundreds of layers dabbed on carefully or that a beautiful glowing wax finish takes years of care

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If you had of gone to the lost trades fair in Kyneton this weekend and watched Steven Wilson do his french polishing demos. You would have heard the clever remarks from the peanut gallery asking "how many layers?" knowing that it will get a rise out of Steven every time and he will frustratingly reply "it's one bloody layer!!!!! they all melt into each other creating ONE BLOODY LAYER!!!!!".

Woodwork has litterally saved me.

I went from 20 years in IT, getting fatter, more stressed and dismayed with every year... Seeing the same old crap recycled as "new" and the same cookie-cutter MBA morons making the same cataclysmic mistakes.... Tooooo....

-- relaxation
-- new friends
-- happy customers
-- civilised hours
-- weight loss
-- a return of my soul
-- waking up on Mondays feeling GOOD about life

Working with wood and making full time in my own business has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Pinterest is a toxic dump of spam and delusion by hopeless social wannabe's, sharlatans and click bait copy-pasters. Anyone who derives inspiration from it is doomed. You can't argue against stupidity and ignorance, they will beat you with experience every time.

We belong, litterally, to a growth industry.

Hey woodPixel. You wouldn't have been known as Evanism in a past life by chance?

Ann I joined a furniture restorers group on FB only to find each h and every piece of antique furniture was being :C painted over. I left the group. Some of those pieces were heirloom.
Now I plead guilty to painting old furniture myself a Tallboy many years ago ........the timber grain was so dark and nothing was going to change that. It became a TV cabinet painted black.:rolleyes:

My sis-inlaw & partner stripped MiL's old kitchen cabinet (the one you've seen) it was originally painted from new :doh: They varnished with estapol I won't go into the damage done.

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Originally Posted by woodPixel

Pinterest is a toxic dump of spam and delusion by hopeless social wannabe's, sharlatans and click bait copy-pasters. Anyone who derives inspiration from it is doomed. You can't argue against stupidity and ignorance, they will beat you with experience every time.

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I need this as a t-shirt.

Pintrest is equally as bad for fiber workers like myself (I'm a novice and going to be for the next 7 years at least). Pintrest gets day hobbyists touting themselves as experts and because the majority are so far removed from history, the hobbyists prevail. I occasionally dabble for ideas but then go on to try and figure out how to do it properly. I'm lucky enough to have fallen in with some amazing people with a real understanding of technique. It's a deep rabbit hole and I'm rather enjoying it. Being married to an aussie keeps me from getting too smug ;)

Oh not everything warrants the care of a fine finish. I freely admit that, but the amount you value a piece should be spent on caring for it, however you care for it. I'd definitely prefer things being revamped than thrown out, but if the only reason to devalue a piece is carelessness then, ... I don't know. I've always had disproportionate ideas of personal expenditure.

That would have to be a bloody big t-shirt...and I'm sure it still wouldn't fit me. I'd also need "(vulgarity for 'go away')...I'm doing wood work" printed on the back :q


Pixel...you and me both, but I only survived 10 years before my soul was literally destroyed. Soooo much happier fart-arsing around in the shed/garden/bush in semi-rural Vic doing much more useful, sustainable and inventive things without a screen.