The Future of Woodworking?

I guess I don't share the "doom and gloom" view that Bill Lantry has. The climate of the earth has changed tremendously over time. Those changes destroyed some ecosystems but new ones replaced the destroyed ones. The British Iles were overrun by ice at one time which wiped out most of the trees. But when the ice retreated, the trees returned. And as the climate changed, the kind of trees changed.

We're seeing the same thing happen today. If the earth is warming, some trees will die but others will take their place. And as for forest land in the United States, the area of forest has been growing, not shrinking, as farm land has been converted to forest.

As a species, we face many perils, one of which is climate change. I have no idea whether we'll be able to survive the perils we face, but I know that our species is highly adaptable and ingenious. I wouldn't bet against us.

Mike
 
There is another outlook to to this whole wood thing that scares some people, but really does not scare me, and that is highbred trees.

In 1994 I planted these trees, some high bred hackmatack that was given to me via a program with the local paper company. They are designed to grow extremely fast, even in our tough Maine weather. I planted them when they were about a foot tall in 1994, and you can see how fast they grew in 9 years. Here is a picture taken before they were planted in 1992, and here is a picture taken in the same spot in 2003.

Its hard to see in pictures but in a nut shell these trees grew from a foot tall to 35 feet tall in 10 years, and became about 8-10 inches on the stump. That is amazing growth for such a short time span as far as trees are concerned.

High bred trees are only going to take on a bigger role, such as that as corn. Corn today is all high-bred, which again scares some people, but its only because they don't understand the science and the unknown always scares people. All high-bred means is, taking the best of one type of tree and mixing it with the best parts of another tree. Together they are better then the "parents" they were taken from. By combining the species they can achieve fast-growing forests ensuring woodworking for generations to come.

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The other thing that hybrid means is that they do not breed true, so you need to keep buying seed if you want the same kind. That may not lead to long term stability compared to trees that can replant themselves.
 
The forest are indeed undergoing change, and have been for thousands of years. On a much smaller timeline, my woodlot here is going through change.

When the settlers first landed here and began to clear the virgin forests of Pine, Spruce and Fir, these type of conifers stretched as far as the eye could see. After a few hundred years of being in farmland, about 100 years ago the woods began to take back the abandoned fields. What grew back was the sun-loving trees like Black Cherry, Hackmatack, the birch varieties and white pine of course.

As these trees matured they were harvested, and the resulting log skidding unearthed the soil, and broke up the leaf-litter on the forest floor. Species like hemlock, spruce and fir need bare earth to reseed, and grew back in bounty. So for the last 50 years or so, these softwoods ruled once again.

Now as the woodlot is getting used to selective harvesting instead of complete change, its taking a diversified path. Areas I have harvested (and unearthed the leaf-litter) have sprouted back to softwood trees like hemlock, spruce and fir. Areas that I have left alone are starting to revert to hardwood species as that is the natural progression of the dynamic woodlot.

Guys I am truly amazed at how adapting the American woodlot can be. Perhaps it helps that my family has been here so long and that I know the history of the place since it was literally virgin forest when my family got it. Either way nothing soothes my soul like taking a long walk in the woods,with Alyson in tow, or alone. I just wish I could put it into words. Either way I am VERY proud to say I have a WORKING FOREST, a great mixture of ethical harvesting, and sharing the bounty with other (for a little profit I must admit though).

http://www.railroadmachinist.com/Woodlot-One.html
 
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As said, change scares folks. That's just human nature. But nature does have a way of taking care of itself. As for woodlots, here in the Ozarks the land was grass prairie before Europeans came and settled. Now it is all forest except what has been cleared for farming. The most feasible theory as to why this happened is that the Europeans brought honey bees with them to pollinate crops. Of course, the bees pollinated everything and the trees thrived where they hadn't before. Is this good or bad? I dunno. :dunno: But it is what it is and we now have millions of acres of trees to make 'stuff' with.
 
Back to the orginal question...

Getting back to the original question here, personally I see some fundamental changes coming to woodworking. For instance for 200 years woodworking machines have been made out of cast iron, yet Steel City ironically enough has developed a granite topped tablesaw. Gimmick? Perhaps, but this might be the start of some new material choices that have always been based on tradition.

I see a big change coming in blade designs. Carbide and cryogenic treatments are costly and brittle, but today a lot more metals are "cladded". That is where they use explosions to bond two unlike metals to get a hybrid of metals. Aluminum for light weight and a layer of AR plate on top for wear resistance is an example. Japanese planes have had laminated steel irons for years, and now I see more cladded type cutting irons and blades coming into the picture. With todays super adhesives and use of harder and harder ceramics, I can see a day when we use a hand plane impregnated with ceramic powder on the edge of the cutting iron to give it the resilence of tool steel, and the hardness that surpasses carbide, all in a package that looks the same as the irons we now have. Look for these new impregnated ceramics on router and drill bits too.

I also see a parting of ways for many companies. With the extreme downturn in the housing market, I see those "flip this housers" and DIYers getting their own line of tooling, while other lines of tools are given to the craftsmen such as us. The DIY market will flatten out sales wise, where as the people that literall invest in tools for the long term, will be the stronger market. This is certainly nothing new. Black and Decker and Dewalt are the same company, yet they make two distinct product lines and have for years. Over the years those product lines have come together and now I see them splitting apart to catch up with the quality of the Lee Valley and Lie Nielsen type tool companies to catch that profitable side of the market.

I believe router and shapers have the best potential for change; they are to versatile to be left in the neglected state they are now in. I foresee reversible spindles so that directional and rotational cutters can be utilized. This is where a bit is designed to take a certain cut with clockwise rotation, yet flip back and set out a new cutting edge with reverse rotation. Think of the possibilities. You pass the wood from right to left on the shaper and make a stile type cut. You stop the machine, reverse rotation and pass another board through going from left to right. You just made a stile and rail joint and never had to change bits, adjust settings or mess with shims. Sound far fetched, these bits are now entering the metalworking industry....

Finally on the lathe end of things, I see more CNC machines entering the market. Again there is way too much potential lost with the current offerings of conventional machines. I envision hybrids of lathes and routers working in tandem with each other to create the most unique turnings ever imagined. With 4th axis rotation and other computer aids, I see some amazing wooden items emerging from talented woodworkers. Yes in their basements and garage shops because these cnc machine will run off home computers and cost a fraction of what cnc machines cost today.

I also see the days of buying gouges, skews and other tools as antiquated. I see lathe users buying less costly, throw away, bolt on carbide and ceramic impregnated cutting edges for these tools rather then the entire too itself.

Then with all these computer changes and whatnot, I see the old hand tools coming back into vogue too, so if you have stock in companies that make only hand tools, don't be selling it just yet to jump on the CNC bandwagon. The market for hand tool only furniture has not even reached it infancy yet, but it will. The return-to-hand-tools only has just begun.

Okay so thats how I see the future of woodworking. Any thoughts, and by all means, feel free to poke holes at my predictions, getting people to think about the future was the original goal of this thread. Hopefully I have jump started it again.
 
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