Tool or Talent!!!

How many times have we heard someone saying, “How it is because of the camera the picture is beautiful”, “It is because of the tool, someone’s painting is great”, “It is because of the violin he/she is able to produce such sweet music”, etc., etc.

Is it really the tool that makes the difference or is there some marks for “TALENT” as well!

Well, the answer is easy to find. Give a state of art camera to someone who is so so in photography and you can figure out if it is the camera or otherwise?

Fundamental to mastery of any art is talent.  And talent can be honed only by practicing and that is a long, testing and tough route, not ordinary mortals can get to and that is why artists are rare.  Of course there is no question that someone has to be “gifted” as well.

So do we conclude that tools, rather quality of the tools are irrelevant?! We cant just conclude that yet.  Good quality tools makes it that much more easier and helps the woodworker achieve what he/she wants to without getting frustrated.  Very important to get the art out of the artist. 

Human beings have constantly created better tools to enable them achieve what they wanted to right from stone age.  Lots of thought has gone in backed with years and years of experience in many fields, to create better tools, and woodworking is no exception to this.

One would be amazed at the shear number of tools that a typical woodworker may need to accomplish his/her tasks, be it hand tools or power tools.  It is surprising to see that the number of hand tools in use today far exceeds the number of power tools, which makes woodworking by hand an important talent one should acquire in order to produce the finest work.

I will probably write a couple of blog posts detailing on tools – one for hand tool and one for power tool.  Stay tuned!

Carpentry

Carpentry is a huge field. There are different aspects of carpentry that one can specialize in. Of course there is no restriction on what one should specialize in.  It all depends on what one wants to do.

Here are a few broad areas where one can specialize:

• Construction 
• Furniture 
• Carving
• In-lay, Veneering & Laminating
• Turning
• Ship building

These are not “the” classifications but just those that I have come across in my little journey. Each one is interesting in its own ways.  Of course, Indians in the past, have excelled in each one of these areas and we see that with the masterpieces that they have left behind for us to see. Where did all those talent go? Why are we not producing anything great in current days? What happened? Well, that’s  a question for many walks of life where this country once produced great men and women.

If gene theory is any true, then we should have it in our genes, but with what we do today puts in a huge question on the gene theory isn’t it? 

Will write more about tools of the trade shortly!

Hand Tools or Power Tools

Personally, given a chance and if I can do it physically, I would go for Hand Tools.  But honestly, I don’t think in India at least in these days, because there is very little value for art as a whole and people want to get things immediately and have lost the “art of being patient”.  (Discovered later that it is the same all over the world after some research with hand tools not having any special consideration or appreciation among end users)

True to every bit, we have living examples of the wonderful Mastery Indians had over not just Carpentry but anything that is under the sun, but today it is very rare to find good artists.  I think the primary reason why we lost is because of the invasions and the serious dent the invaders did to our firm belief of being “truly independent”.  British came to our country and made us believe that our way of living is the worst ( a living where people are truly free, without too much pressure in life, and are serious in what they do with honesty, precision and professionalism) and their way of living is the best (a life where one has false independence but dependent on everything, where one becomes selfish and wants to get the other’s money, where one is shallow in whatever does, and where on feels that hey are independent but is controlled in every way by making them addicted to the gadgets from the west, where one willingly pays in excess of Rs. 50000 for a mobile phone which will probably last for a couple of years, if one is lucky, an dont want to spend half of it which can change the ways someone lives).

That aside, we are in a state where we are dependent on the things that is driven by technology.  And it is probably impossible to rule away the use of power machines, but again like Rob Cosman says power tools has its place and the use of hand tools gives the satisfaction for those who are after that instead of shear thrill of using a dangerous power tool.

As an example, to cut a rabbet typically a power tool that is used is a Router, which is noisy and messy.  The amount of dust it creates and the noise it produces not to mention the power it requires is awful. Compare that with a hand plane which can do the same job with almost no noise, zero dust.  The only difference is in the time it takes to do it.  A power tool can do a job that can be done by a hand tool in almost 200 times quicker.  Is it worth it?! Not sure.

After knowing about what Alan Peters, an excellent craftsman who used nothing but hand tools for his masterpieces, I doubt it.

Where to learn woodworking in India?

Well, I had this question in my mind and I figured out and trying out a few things.  For almost three years, I was searching for any place that will teach carpentry in India, and I stumbled upon Advanced Woodworking Training Center (AWTC), in 18th Cross, Malleswaram, Bangalore.

They were running a 6 week full-time course but I could not spare time. This year, they have reduced the course to 4 weeks full-time and I had a chance to get into the course as I had a few free weeks.  I had been there to their campus which was a beautiful place next to Sankey Tank in Malleswaram.

AWTC comes under Ministry of Forestry (MoF). Initially it was funded by Italian woodworking machine manufacturers, who I think wanted to sell their products in India, and funded the facility and started a course on Advanced Woodworking Techniques. Couple of years back, they pulled off the support and MoF is conducting this.  The course fee is Rs. 4000 for Module 1 and 2.  The campus has a hostel facility which is good as well and the hostel rates are very nominal (Rs. 740 for 4 weeks), with two persons in a room.  Food is also available in campus at extra charge.

For someone who wants to start from scratch in carpentry, the course may not be very useful, and no 4 week course can be full in any case.  They provide good overview of what it is all about carpentry, but the focus is on “huge” machines which probably no one individual can afford!  Probably it is designed to create jobs in such wood industry where people are required to operate the equipments. 

In spite of that, if one is keen to learn the basics and get a real hands on experience, this is a good course.  By the end of the course, you will know if this is something that you want to pursue or otherwise.  In other words, it is a good test bed, to see if you like this or not.  

We get exposed to hand tools in the first week and rest of the 3 weeks we are exposed slowly but steadily to power tools.  I would say that the emphasis is more on power tools than on hand tools probably because of the nature of funding when it started.

Being there I discovered there are ITIs which have 1 year full time course on carpentry which will probably be more apt for youngsters who want to get formal education, some institutes which teach you to sculpt in Bangalore.

But, like I said, these courses will not help you learn how to make a chair or table or similar things, but will expose you to basic joinery, use of hand/power tools.  To learn how to make  chair etc, in India, probably the trade itself was passed on from one generation to another (till probably 1970s) and was a family business but there are no other info available on any training that I have seen so far in my interactions with people as well as my research on internet.

But there are tonnes of sources in the Internet to help one learn many things in carpentry and one has to spend considerable time sitting in front of the computer to watch the zillions of YouTube videos that are posted by carpenters from all over the world, exhibiting their skills, helping others to learn the trade.

Initially, I was impressed by the grace of use of power tools by Norm Abram, who is one of the finest carpenters in USA.  He ran his TV show (Sony sponsored if I am right) which ran twice a week for 21 long years without a break.  Norm is a very pleasant person who explains what he does, and watching his videos, will introduce one to learn the various power tools that are available and possible options, the “vocabulary” of carpenters and this will be a good start to someone who wants to watch how someone does.

For someone from India, this is a great attraction as the power tools are so easy to use (it appears but not sure if they are really easy) so dangerous, and how simply one can create things out of raw wood.  

There are other woodworkers who have a YouTube Channel – Steve Ramsey, Matthias Wandel, The Wood Whisperer, Matt Vanderlist, ThisWoodWork, Laney Shaughnessy, AskWoodMan. These guys are gracious in what they do and are worth mentioning as they take the pains to shoot what they do, and take us through the journey of doing something from start to finish. 

I am sure I have missed a few others, and will have a separate post on all the YouTube channels that I visit sometime later.

When I visited AWTC, I came to know about Rob Cosman, a Canadian woodworker, who teaches hand techniques. I was impressed with a few videos available in his YouTube channel.  He has a website http://www.RobCosman.com, where one can enroll on his online courses. 

They cost about $40 Canadian per month, but I thought it is worth it. Particularly, I am somewhat biased against use of power tools and till I discovered Rob Cosman, I thought using hand tools for carpentry will probably be impossible as it might need a lot of physical strength, but watching his videos changed this perspective. 

In fact, like Rob says, hand tools and power tools has their places and to work with hand tools is more rewarding than with power tools.  More about hand tools and Rob later in another post sometime later.

So probably, these are the things that I am currently looking at to learn.

One other thing that is worth mentioning is a software called Google Sketchup, which I discovered again in AWTC.  This is an excellent tool which can be used to design and it is free.  If one spends a few days to understand basics, then one can start designing and  building furniture virtually which will allow one to make mistakes without any expenses. Of course, since it is virtual i twill give you enough knowledge but no hands on carpentry experience. Nevertheless I found it very useful to understand what i should be doing when I start working with real wood.

More to come!!!

A Start

I am creating this blog to see how I am progressing over the days to come in my carpentry skills.  I am yet to start doing anything in carpentry significantly. I am watching videos on the internet, reading articles about woodworking, understanding the tools that are available – both hand & power tools – understanding the techniques, tricks of trade and doing research on things around wood, tools that are available in India.

The other reason why I am starting this blog is to figure out if there are any other Indians who are interested in carpentry and try to create a forum where knowledge can be exchanged and enhanced.

The final reason would be to help those like me who are starting fresh to figure out what is required, what is available in India, how to procure the tools, and where to go to find out information.

I will start posting things that I have learnt so far and lets see how it goes.

Happy Woodworking! Wood is Good!!!

PS: Hope I will continue writing without becoming lazy!!