I’ve had the good fortune to have work with some master craftsmen-
a practitioner of the disappearing art of hand carving wood in Italy.
A master of what he called “Kunstmobil” or art furniture ( he has a music stand included in the design collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art).
The Italian wood carvers kept telling me, “Do this. In a few years we will all be gone… and there are no young people who want to learn this. YOu will be able to charge whatever you want.” My first job was to carve little rows of half spheres you see on baroque style furniture. I was trying to get them as perfectly round as possibile. One of the carvers stopped me and said, “Don’t make them too perfect. You have to be able to see that it is hand carved and not machine made.”
The other craftsman, the furniture designer, would always talk about “museum quality.” He meant that the work would have to last 100’s of years if not more. He was into a kind of visible perfection. He would have me change the kerf width of his dado blade 1/100" to get a better fit between two pieces. And he was also into making technically difficult pieces. Once we did a cabinet assembly where we needed three people holding various pieces in various positions with various clamps, in a 5 step sequence, in order to complete one glue up. I asked him, “Have you ever designed something you couldn’t build?” His reply, “No. If I did that I would be an architect.” I should mention we did a lot of work for architects
He said wanted his work- the joinery, the finish, the construction- to make people who saw his work to go, “How the f…k did he do that?”
Precision and deliberate imprecision. Both highly skilled craftsman. What kind of craftsman are you? Should a board look hand made?
ps. I didn’t take the woodcarving job in Italy because you had to stand in one spot all day long, everyday. You can’t sit dowm and carve wood. After three months I was worked. They said I was a soft American.
there’s a fine line between craftsman and artisan. often blurred.
i spent 7 years as a hardwood staircase guy. often people mentioned what we did was a ‘work of art’. i always disagreed. certain levels of aesthetics are often required to make your craftsmanship fully functional. beyond that is wasteful IMO.
Yeah, artisan is the best description for me. Not master craftsman, i guess a Jim Phillips would be a master craftsman.
We all design our own boards and make them. When you start making em, you prefer them to ride good. But more down the road, you want them to look good too. So you are on your way to master craftsman, if you make enough boards, and aim high w.r.t. cosmetics.
Art is always debated, so in a sense, our surfboard making is art!
The guy I work with is an artist (a painter by trade…does a lot of cabinet work) and board builder. One day several years ago I scratched a finished blank. “DAMN!”
He looked at me and said, “That’s OK… it’s the Iguana’s footprint.”
“What do you mean, Iguana’s footprint?”
He said… “You know when you buy that really expensive Mexican tile, and the guys down there that make it… they put the wet clay tiles out in the sun to dry. Well… sometimes an Iguana will run across it, and leave a footprint. People love that shi#. Proves it’s authentic.”
Similarly… I was given a gift from a friend who just got back from a few years in Japan. It was a clay vase. The artisan who made it took strips of clay and pinched them together, side by side, to make a sheet, which he then rolled into a cylinder, then joined and flattened the bottom, and pinched the neck. If you looked really closely, you could actually see the fingerpints of the maker.
For me… I like to see a piece of art… including a surfboard… that has character. What some call imperfections gives me a little window into the maker. I dig that. It makes me think about the worker, not just the work. It adds another dimension to the piece.
So now… I don’t freak out about a fingerprint here, or a scratch there. That’s just me… and you may simply overlook it… or inspect it… and imagine.
Great post. I love stories like that, because it gives insight into the mentality of another culture, and shows us another standard that other people live by.
I worked in a custom woodworking shop in Germany for two years. But they are more into the perfection of the technical side of furniture and cabinets. Not so much art. Although I’ve never seen better work technically than I saw there. Like lining up screw slots that were on the underside, bottom of a cabinet…never to be seen.
In my opinion, discipline and the striving for perfection are like going to school. It’s good to learn and be able to do it. But it can be restrictive, because there is a tendency to stay inside the box. At least that’s what I experienced in Germany. Art takes the ability to make a leap of the imagination and do something that may have no acceptance or merit to others. That’s the risk an artist takes, and he does it out of a need to express something in himself.
I think we like to make surfboards because it energizes us. There has to be some striving for perfection there, but there are so many opportunities for expression and art that the journey is always a little bit new. We are sort of artistic engineers.
Some antedotal information on the discussion of perfection vs. art: The Navajo weavers who make extremely intricate and beautiful wool rugs, always put a small imperfection into the rug. Their reason is that Man is imperfect, and only God can make something perfect.
While striving for perfection, I think it’s good to be able to accept a little imperfection in what we do.
Good subject for any endeavor, but strikes a special chord for those of us who work with their hands. I remember my first boss as an apprentice carpenter would always say “Learn to do it right, then learn to do it fast”. That has stuck with me and has helped with the learning process in everything I’ve tried since. And I’m still really slow at building boards.
Another facet of the dying hand carved furniture industry in Italy that I think has similarities with the surfboard industry-
At the company where I worked there were two full time wood carvers (they would also hire freelancers). One was the acknowledged master, while the other was good but not considered at the same level (and everyone always pointed out that he was a communist…???). Well, the master did not want to teach me anything. Secrets of the trade? He would only reluctantly show me some technique when the boss came and told him to. The other guy was always freely giving me information and advice. The master would shake his head when the “lesser” guy gave me advice and I could never figure out if it was because he was sharing secrets or because he was giving me bad advice.
It kind of goes against the spirit of Swaylocks, but how many of you have secrets that you won’t share with others??
I think the members of this forum have been very generous in the advice and tips that are shared. However, this IS an open forum and you don’t know what kind of FOOLS log in here. I can see some of the master board builders here reluctant to give information here because of what happened to Paul Jensen; some a$$hole steals the knowledge and tries to sell it as his/her own.
Then, there’s the everyday idiot here who gloms onto some tidbit of advice/technique/material here and rattles on and on like he/she invented the damn thing in the first place.
So, I think some information has to be earned - through hard work, trial and error, experience, apprenticeship, or otherwise. As with other valuables in life, nothing comes for free…
I worked in a custom woodworking shop in Germany for two years. But they are more into the perfection of the technical side of furniture and cabinets. Not so much art. Although I’ve never seen better work technically than I saw there. Like lining up screw slots that were on the underside, bottom of a cabinet…never to be seen.
That’s how the germans are!
Here in Belgium we somtimes say:
“If you want something beautiful, buy French. If you want something that works, buy german!”
I don’t want to offend any french or german people, it’s just something that is being said around here.
My father’s father was a half chinese, half hawaiian master wood worker. He built boats, musical instruments and quite a bit of furniture that my Mother still has. He taught my father the secrets of good work. I think the most important lesson was patience. Taking the time to do the job right. Another was to take good care of your things. Dad would always say to us “if you’re going to do something don’t do it half ass.” Which we interpreted as “do it right”. Dad taught me to feel the tools, and let them do the work. To be patient because good work takes time. Sometimes it was hard working with him, but other times, I’d be beaming with pride. He could do so much with wood and metal. I used to like it when we were done cleaning up and he’d get out Grampa’s fine cut hand saw and a small hammer then start playing music with the saw. You could tell he loved his Father so much when he played it. Just like I loved him. I miss him everyday.
I’ve found that the younger generations are not the same as the older ones. When I started in the film business everyone encouraged each other to get better and actively shared knowledge and techniques. By the late 80’s I noticed that the younger generations would take what you taught them and go behind your back and try to take your job. Luckily knowledge is not everything, experience, and quality of work are what set us all apart. There are also some people that want you to help them learn, but will not show you anything. These are the ones I have the most personal problems with.
The Hawaiian way of learning is to watch over and over. Sometimes the teacher doesn’t tell you anything, but expects you to absorb what’s going on. Don’t ever ask a stupid question because then class is over. Over time you get to do a little then a little more until you can do it all.
I can identifie with both those schools of thought.
I was brought up being told if any job is worth doing its worth doing well. latter in life a mentor passed on the vertue of paying attention to fine details, there was a saying by a famous dsigner “god is in the detail” icraftsmanship is about going beyond the neccicary and spending time getting all the little things right so they form a whole.
My Grandfather was a Mastercraftsmam Cabinet builder (probably one of the last), he made some amazing pieces I can’t begin to understand how some of them were made. Unfortunately he never wrote down any of his secrets, he died while I was still a boy and that knowlege was lost forever. I’m no mastercrafts man, more an apprentice or maybe a journey man, In the age of CNC shaping and sandwich construction I like to think I have a change of continuing some traditional skills so if any one asked I’m happy to tell any ‘secrests’ ive picked up or stumbled upon.
Another facet of the dying hand carved furniture industry in Italy that I think has similarities with the surfboard industry-
At the company where I worked there were two full time wood carvers (they would also hire freelancers). One was the acknowledged master, while the other was good but not considered at the same level (and everyone always pointed out that he was a communist…???). Well, the master did not want to teach me anything. Secrets of the trade? He would only reluctantly show me some technique when the boss came and told him to. The other guy was always freely giving me information and advice. The master would shake his head when the “lesser” guy gave me advice and I could never figure out if it was because he was sharing secrets or because he was giving me bad advice.
It kind of goes against the spirit of Swaylocks, but how many of you have secrets that you won’t share with others??
Personally, I’ll freely share what I’ve learned. But then, I don’t make boards for a living anymore. If I was at the master level that some of the swaylocks crew is, I probably wouldn’t want to share certain ideas/techniques.
I’ve seen it over and over, the grom comes in the shop, learns to work on boards, decides he can make more money at it on his own, and goes off with the knowledge gleaned from the master. It’s common in just about any business these days. On one hand, I can’t blame the guy, but on the other, where’s the loyalty of old???
