I think I have an addiction

[Mike Davis]

There was a great photographer, I forget his name at the moment. He started his professional career with a simple Brownee camera. As he grew in skill and fame he moved up to newer, more complicated, and more expensive cameras and associated equipment.

At some point he decided he was so skilled and experienced he didn't need all the gimmicks any more and went back to the simple no frills camera he started with. Most of his most famous and enduring art was made after this point.

A great friend, photographer and luthier told me this story when we were working together on building cameras, making pictures and having lunch cooked on an open grill burning old violin parts.

 

[Willemjm]

Time to build a bigger shop then dont you think?

Calm seas never made a good Capitan

When I win the lottery, I will become a Professional Woodworker, and it will last until I am broke again.

 

[nn4jw]

There are many valid points to be made by both sides in the constant debate between old methods using hand tools and new methods with power tools. Toss in CNC machines and we can debate endlessly.

But for a tools addict it just means more more tools to buy.

 

[Hmerkle]

There was a great photographer, I forget his name at the moment. He started his professional career with a simple Brownee camera. As he grew in skill and fame he moved up to newer, more complicated, and more expensive cameras and associated equipment.

At some point he decided he was so skilled and experienced he didn't need all the gimmicks any more and went back to the simple no frills camera he started with. Most of his most famous and enduring art was made after this point.

A great friend, photographer and luthier told me this story when we were working together on building cameras, making pictures and having lunch cooked on an open grill burning old violin parts.

Quite a story Mike,
The story and the story behind the story!

 

[Mike Davis]

That's how I ride...

 

[ehpoole]

There was a great photographer, I forget his name at the moment. He started his professional career with a simple Brownee camera. As he grew in skill and fame he moved up to newer, more complicated, and more expensive cameras and associated equipment.

At some point he decided he was so skilled and experienced he didn't need all the gimmicks any more and went back to the simple no frills camera he started with. Most of his most famous and enduring art was made after this point.

A great friend, photographer and luthier told me this story when we were working together on building cameras, making pictures and having lunch cooked on an open grill burning old violin parts.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you are referring to Ansell Adams, but I may be wrong.

I still have my 1968 Mamiya Sekor 35mm camera, originally my grandfather's (it predates me by 3 years) -- it's one great claim to fame was being the first 35mm camera to include in integrated spot (light) meter (IIRC) -- otherwise it is 100% manual in every sense except needing to carry around your own light meter. Growing up, I did nearly all of my photography on that camera, only borrowing my mother's nicer Canon for special occasions where I needed a faster camera. Eventually I replaced it with a Canon EOS Élan IIe as my older camera needed more TLC than I had time to give it (but I still have it...and many fond memories).

Now I have a Canon EOS 5D (a full-frame, 36x24mm, sensor) which I also love. It is an older digital camera but with a 36x24mm at 12.8Mpx sensor it has more light gathering area per pixel than any other DSLR ever manufactured (great for tricky night shots and effects)...even if it does lack a few of the more recent bells and whistles.

 

[nn4jw]

I too had a Mamiya Sekor 1000DTL black body camera (rare today). It was the first to have switchable spot and averaging meters built in. I bought it new when they first came out. Then I had (and still have) a couple of Canon A-1's. My current go to camera is a digital Sony Alpha 580. I used to have a darkroom setup but now my pc is my darkroom. I can do things in software that I could never do, or afford to do, in my darkroom. That said, if I hadn't learned darkroom techniques I wouldn't have a clue what most of the software options are for.

In that respect I believe that woodworking is similar. The more you know about and have developed your skills with handtools the better you are likely to be with your power tools. For example, you have to know about and pay attention to wood grain and its characteristics when hand planing. While you can put almost any wood through a power planer without regard to grain, you'll get better results if you pay the same kind of attention to detail that you would hand planing. And so forth.

 

[Mike Davis]

Ansel used a 4x5 and an 8x10 view camera, he liked large negatives and total control over composition and exposure. But, his real genius was in the darkroom. He could pull tones out of a negative that were barely there.

I think the other guy was married to Georgia O'Keefe.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/stgp/hd_stgp.htm

Alfred Stieglitz

 

[Pop Golden]

I have (almost) (need that mortise machine) one of everything and 2 of somethings, buying it took me around 50 years to acquire my tools & machines. I started with a Craftsman RAS then added a Shopsmith. It was off to the races after that. The point is: You can't buy it all up front.

On the guy with the box camera. If I recall from art school I'a thinking it was Edward Weston. Ansel Adams used a large view camera.

Pop

 

[Canuck]

Interesting discussion.

One place a lot of my retirement "play money" goes is the expense of all of the "woodworking accessories". Things such as upgraded blades, router bits, routers, jigs, fences, miter gauges, set up blocks, dial calipers, drilling accessories....it goes on and on.

If you are into turning....tooling, chucks, faceplates....that list can get long as well. Then there are carving tools, planes ...t h e list seems never ending and can get pretty pricey.

WGD isn't cheap and that's even before you buy WOOD.

But then again, I just keep remind LOML that I don't golf!:wsmile:

Wayne

 

[CrealBilly]

Interesting discussion.

One place a lot of my retirement "play money" goes is the expense of all of the "woodworking accessories". Things such as upgraded blades, router bits, routers, jigs, fences, miter gauges, set up blocks, dial calipers, drilling accessories....it goes on and on.

If you are into turning....tooling, chucks, faceplates....that list can get long as well. Then there are carving tools, planes ...t h e list seems never ending and can get pretty pricey.

WGD isn't cheap and that's even before you buy WOOD.

But then again, I just keep remind LOML that I don't golf!:wsmile:

Wayne

Good friend of mine said the only reason he golfs is because its the only place he knows where they actually encourage you to drive drunk.

Maybe the Fountain of Youth isn't a fountain at all. Maybe it's a way of looking at things. A way of thinking.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

...While you can put almost any wood through a power planer without regard to grain....

I did not find that to be the case with straight blades on a planer and jointer. I did find that to be true with a spiral cutterhead though.

 

[pviser]

I appreciate Ethan's thoughtful response. Tool addiction is often a lighthearted subject and I could certainly share my own funny stories, but Ethan approached it differently. I can relate to his sentiment that I currently find myself daydreaming more about project designs and techniques, and less about the tools.

 

[toolman]

Well I certainly wouldn't know anything about this topic...


Scott

:rotflm: You just crack me up.. :rotflm:

 

[Rwe2156]

Not me.......

 

[mariongee]

As you get older, the good tools you have become old friends. You rely on them, you know them, and you begin to realize those tools not only built a lot of projects, they also built you.

 

[Ken Kimbrell]

Sometimes, as I walk through my Studio...err, ummm, walk through my shop, a tool will be lying there prompting me to say, "Umm, where did that come from?" or, "Which shelf dose that belong on?" or best of all, "What is that tool used for?". Of course if I purchase a custom hard shell case for the tool it would be ever so much easier to remember it's proper function.

 

[Mike Davis]

If I had cases for all my tools I would never see them again.

 

[Michael S.]

I tell my wife all the time, "I'm not a auto mechanic; I'm not a woodworker.... I'm a tool collector!" Embrace the affliction... It's easier that way!

Mike