OK, so what does "hand made" really mean?

Frank Fusco

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On a recent thread here, reference was made to machine cut and hand cut dovetails. I don't know if this ranks up with the middle east issues in importance but the argumentative among us want to know. When does use of power tools eliminate the braggin' rights to say something is 'hand made'. After all, even the hairy, smelly Neanders among us use tools. It is possible to fashion something with a saw, or chisel and hammer without actually touching the wood with bare hands. I hang out with a few wood carvers. Their definition (not without detractors) is that as long as the cutting tool is held with the hand, it is hand carved. That means even a power cutter. For us, howzabout a dovetail guide and router. Is that 'hand cut'? I think so. Let the barbs fly.
 
Starting us off with the easy ones eh Frank?:D

This is a definition that I am interested in because I sell my products as "hand made" but I use spindle moulders and planers and pin routers and.... to make them. For me they are hand made because the final fit and finish is done by a human (probably!) using hands and eyes to adjust for fit and finish and the entire piece is made at once by one person.

Dovetails is an interesting train of thought. A set of dovetails created using a dovetail template and a router is not, in my view, hand made or maybe more accurately hand cut. But if that set of dovetails is on a drawer in a dresser which is made by one person from start to finish and is fettled by hand and eye to a finished product then the dresser is hand made even though the dovetails aren't.

I am considering installing a CNC router to shape some of the components that I use. These components will make up a smal part of the overall product and will be finished by hand in any case so I will continue to consider my chairs as "hand made" although I will bet that there are as many definitions as there are definers.
 
This is so simple.

If you get an idea in your head, walk over to a "system" and speak in some detail to it and then walk to the other end of the "system" and pick up the finished product, retail packaged....it ain't hand made!

This topic comes up often in comparing crafts such as laser cutting via computer program, a puzzle for an example, versus cutting with a scroll saw. For me, they represent different skill sets. The same person with the talent to cut on a scroll saw, may well not have the skill set to program the design into the computer/laser.

I have a friend that vacuum forms plastic car's, destined for the RC market. He then assembles a collection of different components to make up the finished product...is it "hand made"...not in my thinking. It may be hand assembled but not hand made.

Don't think there is a definitive answer to this one.
 
I define that to mean "Made by one's own hand" as different from production construction where a series of industrialized work stations go together to mass produce a series of look-a-like products. The industrial product might be as good as or even better fitting and stronger joints and "perfect in every way". Hand Made means someone built the project from start to finish. If or not he used power tools and jig and fixtures or scratched it out with a flint knife, he/she still produced the product through his/her skills.

Hand made is not always better, just as Amish made is not alway better made, just it is made by Amish craftsmen. We assume through past negative experiences with production pieces that hand made is better. In many cases it may be, but often new technology can produce a far superior product, Exact fitting joints, excellant surface prep and smooth enduring finishes can be had more redially by production industry (Speaking of top end furniture) than a man (or men/women) working in a small shop. But on the other hand... Hand made will also mean there is a difference in every piece because only machines make flawless cuts and passes.

Is it hand made if a turner makes his four table legs using a duplicator? I have an opinion on that issue but the entire piece may be considered hand made, knowing the legs were machine copied. Personally I would prefer that each leg have that slight defining difference that signifies someone spent hours addressing a lathe and his/her skill was able to produce matching set.

Dovetails with a router or with a saw? Should be defined as hand cut or handmade as the whole piece is the determining factor. By my definition, I believe it still goes back to who started the piece and who finished it, Are they the same?
 
This is so simple.

If you get an idea in your head, walk over to a "system" and speak in some detail to it and then walk to the other end of the "system" and pick up the finished product, retail packaged....it ain't hand made!

This topic comes up often in comparing crafts such as laser cutting via computer program, a puzzle for an example, versus cutting with a scroll saw. For me, they represent different skill sets. The same person with the talent to cut on a scroll saw, may well not have the skill set to program the design into the computer/laser.

I have a friend that vacuum forms plastic car's, destined for the RC market. He then assembles a collection of different components to make up the finished product...is it "hand made"...not in my thinking. It may be hand assembled but not hand made.

Don't think there is a definitive answer to this one.
Indeed, many gray areas are involved. Does your friend buy the molds for the vacuum-formed car bodies or does he make them himself? Does the laser guy buy his patterns or draw them himself? For that matter, does the scrollsaw guy buy his patterns or draw them himself?

Leaving aside the rather knotty question of artistry vs craftsmanship, I have a fundamental issue with people determining the worth of a product by the technology level of the tools used to produce it. In the end, the mind drives the hand and the hand drives the tool...if the mind and the hand and the tool belong to the same person, that's "hand-made" by any definition that truly matters.
 
If you plug it in or turn it on, is it made by your hands or a machine?
Sounds to me to be one of those personal conviction things.
 
I too sell my furniture as 'hand-made'.

I too use power tools and machines to help me do it.

I don't see any contradiction in this; the machinery simply aids me in producing the componants I need for the piece of furniture - everything is then assembled completely by hand and then finished by hand.

Where do you draw the line? Does 'hand-made' mean that you don't use a jointer or table saw to dimension your timber? No. So what is the difference between that and using a router to cut dovetails?

At the end of the day it makes no difference anyway. There is nothing intrinsically better about a hand cut joint than a machine cut one, and a client is certainly not going to pay more for it!

To me, 'hand-made' simply means that a piece is made by a person rather than popping out of a big factory on a conveyer belt.
 
This is a very good question and one that I could not easily answer when I first read it.

However, most responses to the question have been very good and I think that I now have an answer. That answer is best summed up by Duncan in his sentance: "To me, 'hand-made' simply means that a piece is made by a person rather than popping out of a big factory on a conveyer belt."
 
I have a whole shop full of machinery, and also a lot of hand tools. Overall, I think I use one type just as much as the other.

I consider all my 'stuff' hand made.

I may use the jointer and planer to prepare the stock. My hands guide it thru the machines.

I may cut the pieces to shape/size on the table saw, band saw, or with a Disston D-8 or a Japanese pull saw. In each case, though, my hands guide the piece, the tool, or both.

And the joinery... Whether I nail (with hammer or air nailer), screw (by hand or with a power driver), or glue (with or without biscuits) a joint together, it's my hands that fit and align the pieces for the joint.

and finally, whether I spray, brush, or wipe the finish on, it's my hands that do the applying, rubbing, waxing, etc.

So, yeah, everything that comes out of my (well mechanized) shop is hand made.
 
Let's see . . . I made a small box pretty much without burning electrons but, I did use a dado blade to hog out the bulk of the material in the G&G-like finger-joints. A wall hanging jewelry cabinet entailed a lot of hand work but, I did use a TS to rip the boards and I did use a lunch box planer to thickness them.

I would still consider them both hand made as I made them doing something other than just pushing a "George Jetson" style button on some magical machine and having whatever I had envisioned in my mind just pop out the other end. If I did it all with hand tools, would those tools have to have been made by hand as well? Hmmm, a very interesting question and not one that I can see a black and white answer for. I did enjoy the mental exercise though ;-)
 
So, are the projects of Roy from "The Woodwrights Shop" handmade? After all, he does create wonderful items without the aid of any electric tools, but, he certainly is skilled at many non powered pieces of equipment.

After all, he is not digging out those dovetails with his fingernails.

I think the idea that handmade is indicated by the non-conveyor line, non-production plant is pretty close. We do use considerable skill and practice to use our powered machinery that we usually guide by hand.
 
I think that power-feeders are the highest level of automation that I would use and still consider my work hand made.

Originally I thought that using power feeders was too much automation, but then remembered that power (thicknessing) planers all have power feed.

However, that clever guy that lines up his saw and shaper (each with a power feeder) along the same fence, takes the time to perfectly synchronize the two feeders and then rips and shapes all in one pass just maybe has crossed the line to no longer be hand-made. But I think I'd still let him call it hand-made to give him credit for all that cleverness!
 
Frank,

I wonder if we've really framed the question? Most of the answers have focused on process, with a few on product. But what about the goal of the work itself, or the "goal" of owning the result of that work? Then there's the question of motive: why do we want the label? Because it will sell better? Because it will be cooler to own?

Then there's the question of agreement: since there's no higher authority (as there is with, say, french wines), does the term have any shared meaning beyond individual marketing? And what does it say about us, or the potential owners of a piece, that we desire the piece to be called handmade? Isn't it odd that both ends of the political spectrum desire the term, while the middle rests safely (and absolutely depends) on the mass-machined? Is it possible that Ruskin was right, and all possibility of self-expression ended with the introduction of manufactured wrought iron fencing (or machined dovetails)?

I've seen exactly this question devolve into 60 response threads, a morass of determinism and process oriented derivations, usually ending with appeals to convention, like, say, someone dragging out some foolish dictionary. But I've only ever seen one really good answer:

So, there's this guy. Let's call him, for the sake of argument, Travis Stinson. And he makes stuff. And it's not that nobody else can make stuff, maybe even exactly the same thing. But when you and I both see a piece he's made, we both say to ourselves: 'Oh, that looks like something Travis would make." Yes, he has tools, but what the heck, birds and monkeys have tools too, and make tools to make other things. But we can both agree that we 'believe' that Travis himself makes things. On an individual basis. Even if he makes three of them... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
I think everybody knows what hand made is. It really is not that much of a mystery is it?

I think the most discouraging thing I have ever read was in one of Chris Stott's (a famous English woodturner) books. Apparently he smokes and while at a craft show he was outside the large tent where several craftspersons had their displays including himself taking a smoke break. Two old ladies walked up to the entrance and peered inside. One said to the other." No need to go in there, that is just stuff they made themselves."

I hope there are not too many people who feel that way about what we do. It is uplifting to see the wonderful work that people are capable of doing. I know Steve Clardy no longer participates on this forum but I remember a while back when he posted a wonderful bent stair rail he fabricated. It was such a thing of beauty to me. Just like when I was able to see a Jacques Vesery carved, decorated and detailed hollowform. Such a thing of beauty and it was made by people like me. People who have more talent than me and more creativity than me but people like me nevertheless. And just as my spirit is lifted by the beauty of the things made by their hands so are all of us elevated to greater heights; even those of us who don't want to go into the tent and look at what the most talented and creative of us have done.
 
Depends on who your trying to impress . . .

if at some point in the process I use handtools or sandpaper OR manipulated, assembled, glued, fidgeted with or broke skin on I'm claim'n hand made. And I'm OK with it too ! " Other than " hand made might include purchased majior components that one would " put together " or are the " focal point " of the project. On the other hand . . . if I bought an oak plank, ran a plane over it for ten minutes then hung it on the wall do I have a " hand made " shelf ?

( The Gods are laughing their butts off right now, aren't they ? )
 
I think everyone pretty much feels the same about what hand made means, so I am not even going to there.

On the other hand, I think that dovetails are a little different. When people say hand cut dovetails they generally mean with a hand saw and chisels as opposed to machine cut dovetails which can either be done with a table saw, band saw or router jig.

Not that machine cut dovetails are any less hand made, just that "hand-cut" means something a little more specific.

That said, I don't use the term "hand made", not because I disagree with the term, but because my customers don't speak English, haha.
 
Well, if you really want to get deeper into it, on the argument of powered handmade verses Neander handmade, I have to say that unless the Neander guy or gal walked into the woods and cut the tree down, using an axe and a hand saw, then cut it up into lengths and carried it out by hand then, they cut the log into boards with a pit saw, and let them season then surfaced the boards by hand................:D

If you get my drift, handmade, might be a little hard to pin down, but I think we all have a good idea of what is acceptable to us as handmade.

Cheers!
 
I actually really like the thought that has emerged in a couple of posts that , if one person takes something from raw material to finished product then its probably worthy of hand made as a moniker. Interestingly, the perpetual stream of unsolicited emails that I get from far eastern manufacturers offering to sell me my own designs now seem to be emphasising "100% machine made" as a selling feature.:huh:
 
Very good point Ian!

Somethings I want handmade, some I want machine made.

I'd like a machine made heart valve, thank you :D

The other thing is I'd rather have a well built machine made piece of furniture than a poorly built handmade piece of furniture.

Great discussion. :thumb:
 
good thread!
i consider dovetails one of two ways, hand cut or machine cut....if a tool not powered by me is used i`ll call `em machine cut.....if a tool powered by me is used i`ll call em` hand cut.
now for the drift to "handmade"....i can only offer my viewpoint....the stuff i make for others i do as expediently as possible using my entire powertool arsenal whereas the stuff i build for family that i wish to be considered an heirloom i`ll build using handtools, plane the wood by hand, cut the joinery with a backsaw and chisels, scrape instead of sand the surface, brush schellac instead of spraying lacquer....
i suppose both items would be considered handmade? but myself, i`d look at the one created with handtools as having more of me invested in it.
 
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