Un Trabajo Feliz
February 10, 2015 6:57 PM Subscribe
Beautiful, leisurely paced video of a woodworker building with hand tools.
Dude knows how to knoll.
posted by gwint at 7:56 PM on February 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by gwint at 7:56 PM on February 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Amazing. Beautiful.
posted by harrietthespy at 8:15 PM on February 10, 2015
posted by harrietthespy at 8:15 PM on February 10, 2015
Gorgeous!
posted by oceanjesse at 8:23 PM on February 10, 2015
posted by oceanjesse at 8:23 PM on February 10, 2015
1. Is he funded by some EU arts grant? Because he has a gazillion euros worth of perfectly matching tools and the kind of immaculate workshop where you only have to work on one thing at a time, which is not how even high end furniture makers work.
2. Either the bow saw is crazy sharp or that wood is softer than it looks.
3. I'll admit it: this is basically porn for people like me. I want the tools, I want the studio, and I want the time to spend doing everything the hard way when there are machines that can take care of the job in seconds.
4. His shoes look really comfortable.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:48 PM on February 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
2. Either the bow saw is crazy sharp or that wood is softer than it looks.
3. I'll admit it: this is basically porn for people like me. I want the tools, I want the studio, and I want the time to spend doing everything the hard way when there are machines that can take care of the job in seconds.
4. His shoes look really comfortable.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:48 PM on February 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm not trying to take away from the rest, which I also liked when I say this, but: My favorite part was at the 20 minute mark where it's just a close-up of the whetstone as he sharpens the chisel.
posted by aubilenon at 8:50 PM on February 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 8:50 PM on February 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
When he sneezed, I thought, "I told you so."
posted by bricoleur at 8:56 PM on February 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by bricoleur at 8:56 PM on February 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
I know crows are smart that way, but hand tools! Now that is really something. Oh, wait, woodworker.
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:02 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:02 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I clicked at 11:20 and absolutely could not pull my eyes away. At some point I wondered if I should have put music on, but no, the sound of the tools against the wood, the tools against the whetstone, the sneeze, were all that is needed.
Lovely. mesmerizing, tranquil indeed. Best of the web, and why I value this site. Thanks for a lovely respite from a winter's eve.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:09 AM on February 11, 2015
Lovely. mesmerizing, tranquil indeed. Best of the web, and why I value this site. Thanks for a lovely respite from a winter's eve.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:09 AM on February 11, 2015
Can't get it to play. Sorry for the hijack, but is anyone else having issues with Vimeo these days? Recently the videos will pause and stop loading after a few seconds, and this happens both on my home Mac desktop and my work PC laptop. In other words, it ain't me, it's Vimeo.
posted by zardoz at 12:13 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by zardoz at 12:13 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
I just built my bride some obelisks for the garden, for her berry vines. I thought I was doing OK, what with the endless tapered pieces...but I stand corrected.
Using a properly sharp chisel on a piece of decent wood is really, really nice. (That said, don't drop said chisel if you're not wearing steel-toed boots.)
Nice work and great video. Now I just need to learn how to sharpen chisels properly.
posted by maxwelton at 1:44 AM on February 11, 2015
Using a properly sharp chisel on a piece of decent wood is really, really nice. (That said, don't drop said chisel if you're not wearing steel-toed boots.)
Nice work and great video. Now I just need to learn how to sharpen chisels properly.
posted by maxwelton at 1:44 AM on February 11, 2015
This was so great, just what I needed to see for some reason.
posted by amil at 2:19 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by amil at 2:19 AM on February 11, 2015
If you like this sort of thing, here is an AskMe that may be cromulent to your interests.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:44 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by Happy Dave at 2:44 AM on February 11, 2015
Is he funded by some EU arts grant? Because he has a gazillion euros worth of perfectly matching tools and the kind of immaculate workshop where you only have to work on one thing at a time, which is not how even high end furniture makers work.
If you look at their website, they look like a crazy-high-end furniture workshop - they probably just cleaned up the shop for the promo shoot.
posted by Dr Dracator at 3:16 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you look at their website, they look like a crazy-high-end furniture workshop - they probably just cleaned up the shop for the promo shoot.
posted by Dr Dracator at 3:16 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Woodtherapy. If it's not a personal therapeutic or subsidized art endeavor it's someone that markets to the .01%.
But not to worry, 3d printers and robots will soon bring stuff like this to Ikea or Target.
posted by sammyo at 4:09 AM on February 11, 2015
But not to worry, 3d printers and robots will soon bring stuff like this to Ikea or Target.
posted by sammyo at 4:09 AM on February 11, 2015
I can't be the only person thinking this was gonna be about Ron Swanson.
posted by Sphinx at 5:52 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by Sphinx at 5:52 AM on February 11, 2015
Everyone is mentioning the sound but the lack of noise reduction destroyed my otherwise soothing viewing session. If you are going to turn the gain up that high learn how to do noise-print noise reduction.
posted by Infernarl at 6:04 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by Infernarl at 6:04 AM on February 11, 2015
gwint: Dude knows how to knoll.Knollers gonna knoll.
posted by IAmBroom at 7:33 AM on February 11, 2015
maxwelton: Nice work and great video. Now I just need to learn how to sharpen chisels properly.Pro Tip: Go buy yourself the highest-magnification magnifier you can. During the process, look up close at what the edge looks like.
Soon you'll be able to read the edge better without even touching it - occasional glints as you turn the blade indicates a flat spot, for instance. And you'll get a much better understanding of what "sharp" really entails - better than talking about it, or idealizing two planes meeting at an angle, or shaving arm hair after using a $100 diamond blah-blah. 3x is good; higher will be better.
I had a friend "sharpen" one of my blades for me on one of those $100 blah-blahs. It came back less sharp than it left. I am convinced I could make things sharper on the bottom of a porcelain teacup than he could with all the tools he owns.
Also, the fingernail-catch test allows you to roughly quantify how sharp the blade is: the further off the perpendicular that an edge will catch on your fingernail (the back, not the nail edge), the sharper it is. A blade that at no point on its edge will slide down a 20-deg fingernail surface is pretty sharp.
posted by IAmBroom at 7:40 AM on February 11, 2015
don't drop said chisel if you're not wearing steel-toed boots
Or if you have concrete floors and don't want to spend an hour regrinding the bevel. Ask me how I know!
posted by echo target at 8:04 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Or if you have concrete floors and don't want to spend an hour regrinding the bevel. Ask me how I know!
posted by echo target at 8:04 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you like this sort of thing, check out Doucette & Wolfe on YouTube. Pretty incredible stuff.
posted by drklahn at 8:26 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by drklahn at 8:26 AM on February 11, 2015
...$100 diamond blah-blah... = (inevitable) ***SHARPENING FLAME WAR***
If you're a beginner, do yourself a favour and invest in a coarse diamond stone to establish the primary angle of your plane cutter or chisel. It's much easier than trying to get it straight and square with a grinding wheel. Also, no worries about over heating the metal. The two-sided, perforated diamond stones are pretty economical. Follow up with finer diamond stones, or sandpaper, or water stones or whatever you like. After starting with the coarse stone, you don't need a magnifying glass, just rub your thumb off the edge of the blade and feel the lip of the "burr" across the entire width.
This guy explains it pretty well.
If you can easily shave arm hair with it, your plane will catch the wood without undue pressure and your chisel will cut rather than crush the wood fibres. Achieving levels of smoothness beyond that is just wanking.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:23 AM on February 11, 2015
If you're a beginner, do yourself a favour and invest in a coarse diamond stone to establish the primary angle of your plane cutter or chisel. It's much easier than trying to get it straight and square with a grinding wheel. Also, no worries about over heating the metal. The two-sided, perforated diamond stones are pretty economical. Follow up with finer diamond stones, or sandpaper, or water stones or whatever you like. After starting with the coarse stone, you don't need a magnifying glass, just rub your thumb off the edge of the blade and feel the lip of the "burr" across the entire width.
This guy explains it pretty well.
If you can easily shave arm hair with it, your plane will catch the wood without undue pressure and your chisel will cut rather than crush the wood fibres. Achieving levels of smoothness beyond that is just wanking.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:23 AM on February 11, 2015
bonobothegreat: ...$100 diamond blah-blah... = (inevitable) ***SHARPENING FLAME WAR***Heh, valid point.
OK, let me rephrase that all:
IF you want to sharpen things, and you know you don't have a lot of skill at it, and don't want to become an expert so much as get this here knife real sharp today, buy those fancy sharpening gadgets and use all the "cheats", like angle guides. They work.
IF you want to become genuinely good at sharpening and evaluating edges, THEN being able to discern what causes dullness, and how to measure sharpness on-the-fly, are much more useful teaching aids.
Regardless, you can sharpen things well with those fancy, expensive tools. They aren't shit; I'd rather use a diamond grit than a teacup, anyday. (I actually use an old-fashioned stone, because I'm cheap, but I wouldn't refuse the fancy stuff if given to me.)
Or, you can believe that the price tag guarantees quality, ignore the guides, refuse to learn the basics, and get random results.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:58 AM on February 11, 2015
bonobothegreat: After starting with the coarse stone, you don't need a magnifying glass, just rub your thumb off the edge of the blade and feel the lip of the "burr" across the entire width.Nope, you don't "need" one, but it's helpful. Before my eye surgery, I had about a 2x-3x magnification superpower, due to my near-point being so close to my eye. I'd take out a contact and eyeball edges as I sharpened them; learned a lot that way.
posted by IAmBroom at 11:00 AM on February 11, 2015
Totally agree with you, IAmBroom. I think a big part of the joy of woodworking is this weird connection between the microscopic properties of tools and wood and how those properties make themselves evident at a larger scale.
I like to push the diamond plates because I found that Paul Sellers' convex bevel technique removed so much of the tedium and frustration that caused me to put off regular sharpening for so many years. I started out with Krenov's books and his instructions (hollow grind with hand cranked grinder > water stones). I used a side clamp jig for a while but then you need to flatten your stones, and remember to soak them but you can't leave them in water all the time because it goes skanky, etc...the diamond plates require zero maintenance, and subsequent stropping on leather or MDF erases almost any inconsistencies in my sharpening technique.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:05 PM on February 11, 2015
I like to push the diamond plates because I found that Paul Sellers' convex bevel technique removed so much of the tedium and frustration that caused me to put off regular sharpening for so many years. I started out with Krenov's books and his instructions (hollow grind with hand cranked grinder > water stones). I used a side clamp jig for a while but then you need to flatten your stones, and remember to soak them but you can't leave them in water all the time because it goes skanky, etc...the diamond plates require zero maintenance, and subsequent stropping on leather or MDF erases almost any inconsistencies in my sharpening technique.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:05 PM on February 11, 2015
bonobothegreat, you're coming on to me, aren't you? 'Cuz that is some sexay Metatalk.
posted by IAmBroom at 12:48 PM on February 11, 2015
posted by IAmBroom at 12:48 PM on February 11, 2015
I'm reminded of a side aspect of Robert Silverberg's Shadrach in the Furnace, where churches have been repurposed into public workshops. The future people go there to relax while wood-working, the only etiquette being leave the workspace like you found it.
posted by Rash at 11:44 PM on February 11, 2015
posted by Rash at 11:44 PM on February 11, 2015
No love for scary sharp in here? I'd personally rather spend time using the things than maintaining them.
posted by mcrandello at 4:07 AM on February 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by mcrandello at 4:07 AM on February 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is he funded by some EU arts grant? Because he has a gazillion euros worth of perfectly matching tools...
If you look at their website, they look like a crazy-high-end furniture workshop...This area of the website says:
Woodworks Buschmann Bella is a project in the form of a workshop which offers a space and a time from which to reflect upon the complexity of a period of crisis which we cannot fully understand from our current perspective. Woodworks Buschmann Bella seeks answers through the recovery of artisan woodworking.So it's workshop-as-performance-art, sort of. The rest of that page reads a lot like an "artist's statement" and leaves one with the impression that he comes from a well-off family and is pursuing his passions/hobbies to a degree only possible when one doesn't have to earn a living at it.
I'm not trying to start some class war, here, but I was curious about the same thing. All the gear, even the bench and sawhorses, looks brand new. The answer to "why doesn't this look like any profitable, businesslike shop I've ever seen" may simply be "it's not profitable or businesslike."
I've recently become interested in woodworking although I don't think I'll ever have an opportunity to pursue it. This video made me jealous as hell, but I also enjoyed it a lot.
posted by Western Infidels at 3:57 PM on February 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
Can't get it to play. Sorry for the hijack, but is anyone else having issues with Vimeo these days?Also on YouTube.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:28 PM on February 12, 2015
I showed a friend this video and he countered with this Japanese parquetry video (YouTube). Pretty stunning. (And only two minutes long.)
posted by The Minotaur at 4:55 PM on February 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by The Minotaur at 4:55 PM on February 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
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