Italian Food and Woodworking
An amazing and groundbreaking thing happened in my neighborhood this week: The Olive Garden opened its doors! Nicole was very excited. Me? Not so much. Where Nicole grew up, Italian food WAS Olive Garden. Where I grew up (in a predominantly Italian area known as “The Burg” in Trenton, NJ), Olive Garden was the punchline to a joke. But despite having access to all of these small, ambiance-rich, high quality restaurants, our local Olive Garden was always packed. And many truly considered it to be “fine dining”. As far as I was concerned back then, it was all just food and I ate where my parents told me to. If they had Chicken Parmesan and French dressing, I was a happy boy. But as I got older, I developed an appreciation for the true difference between the mundane consistency of Olive Garden, and the punchy, fresh, and vibrant flavors delivered by a thoughtful and prideful chef.
Well today, Nicole finally got her wish as we headed to Olive Garden for lunch. The meal was everything I thought it would be: one-dimensional and heavy on the oil. But as we were eating, I noticed that the trim on the walls was nothing more than construction grade douglas fir. Upon further inspection I could see oodles of nail holes and even the tell-tale ridge that develops when your round-over bit is set too low. Nicole laughed at me as I pointed out the lack of care and attention given to the finer details. Douglas fir or not, the wood deserved a better fate than that! Now don’t get me wrong. I realize that this is a commercial chain restaurant. I am just illustrating a point. Just as refined taste buds and an appreciation of quality ingredients helped me realize where Olive Garden stands in the world of food, an ever-increasing knowledge of quality wood and refined techniques allows me to discern the difference between good woodwork and bad. Believe it or not, it wasn’t long ago that I would walk through IKEA wishing I could build some of the cool modern furniture I saw there. Today, needless to say, I see things with a different pair of eyes.
So this brings up a thought-invoking question. Does enlightenment bring with it responsibility and obligation? That is, making sure your projects live up to the standards you are aware of and are capable of. As a lover of great food, should I kick and scream as Nicole drags me by my ear into the Olive Garden? Or should I shut up and just eat my oily pasta dish? As you progress as a woodworker and learn more about creating quality work, do you feel guilty if you stop short? Do you ever say “good enough”, even though you know you could do better? I am curious to hear where you draw that line.
I’ll go first. I definitely feel a sense of guilt if I don’t do something to the absolute best of my abilities. But there are times, as a business, that I must come up with cost saving solutions that frequently mean lowering my standards. When making my own personal pieces, however, I really do try to make everything as good as it can possibly be given the tools/materials on hand and my current skill set.
And just an FYI, after years of taking Nicole to what I consider “good” Italian restaurants, she walked out of the Olive Garden slightly disappointed today. For some reason, she just remembered it tasting better. Haha! My evil plan is working!
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Hi Mark,
As a fellow Italian, I know what you mean about the Olive Garden… My dad had a name for Americanized ‘Italian’ restaurants but only one of the two words is worth translating (the word for dog) :)…. Actually, it’s ok I guess, but nothing compares to mamma’s…
It upsets me too when I see workmanship that is poor, especially when the contractor was probably paid top dollar to do it. I’d love to have my own business someday, but in the case of my own work, I’m always wondering if my work would be good enough to be in a restaurant for example. And then I go to a place like Olive Garden and see what THEY got paid to do…
I thoroughly enjoy your webcasts! One of these days if I ever make it out to Arizona (I’m in Ohio) I’d like to stop by and say hi.
In the meantime,
ciao,
Sam
I hate olive garden, my wife and my step kids are actually italain and love olive gaden. its weird
That’s a great story. I’ve got to get my wife to read it.
I’m a long way from being a good woodworker but I already learned enough to see the kind of things you mention.
Olive Garden:Authentic Italian as Chi-Chi’s:Authentic Mexican
And look where Chi-Chi’s ended up.
That’s so true. Olive Garden food not being very good and that I find myself eying the woodwork at other restaurants or bars. As a rule I never order pasta with sauce when I go out to eat, I already know what to expect. As for my standards, I do strive to make everything tight and clean. Unfortunately it doesn’t end that way sometimes. What I see and what others see are two different things, I know that tenon was loose but the recipient just thinks its perfect. And then there’s the occasional “swearing and trying to beat the damn thing in with a hammer” session. After one of those it’s very tempting to say “good enough”. And if I do give in I too feel guilty. But in the end I am my worst enemy.
Great topic Marc and yeah Sam nothin beats momma’s!!
I hear ya, Marc. I grew up in “Sopranosland”, Northern NJ. “Italian” was a little hole-in-the-wall place that didn’t take credit cards, and where a small group of swarthy-looking guys would hold court every night at a table in a dimly-lit corner. The owner would belt out a little opera on those nights when he was in a good mood.
BTW, the Irish equivalent of the Olive Garden are what Americans call an “Irish Pub”, or what us Irish call “Irish Theme Bars”. Put a poster of Bono on the wall and have some Harp Lager on tap (yuck!) and you’re good to go.
“As a lover of great food, should I kick and scream as Nicole drags me by my ear into the Olive Garden?”
Haven’t been married too long, huh? Unless you want to sleep on the couch, you go to the OG. ;)
As for woodworking, as a hobbyist I never have to say “good enough”, but a pro has to make that assessment. There’s an old saying in the high-tech world where I’m employed: “at some point, you just have to shoot the engineer and ship the product”.
As far as woodworking goes. I’m kinda a “get er done” kinda of guy who believes that doing a job with a “sense of urgency” ( Army lingo) beats wasting time seaking perfection. With a carving, I believe in giving the folks what they pay for. I used to love people messaging me asking me to take $10-15 off the price. I would respond that I would stop carving or painting the item $10-15 before it was finished. On the other hand, If someone pays me for my time, I make sure I “pay attention to details” more. I guess it is a balancing act that everyone must find for themselves.
That story reminds me a lot of when I lived in the Twin Cities, MN. My co-worker Eugene Spadaccini and I constantly lamented to each other about how much we missed having some good Italian food. He was also from Trenton, me from Philly.
We were actually overjoyed when a Sabarro’s opened up at the St. Paul mall. Sad I know, but it was as close as we could get then.
I have found that I am much more aware of wood craftsmanship (or the lack thereof) than I ever was before I developed an interest in woodworking. Kind of like when my blind friend Lou taught me how to listen to music. Before that, I only heard “songs”. He opened my ears to all the complexities and nuances of the instrumentation, melodies and harmonies.
I’m just learning, but I enjoy checking out the joinery and techniques I see in wood work around me now.
Marc,
How can you even mention the so-called “Olive Garden”, in the same sentence
as “the Burg”? :) i mean when you say the “the Burg”, i *hear* Landolfi’s Pastries, Louis’ Tomato Pies, & Italian Peoples Bakery. i’m certain that when
i die, my *last* thought will be the taste of Landolfi’s cannoli, the sight of a Louis’ “loose” sausage tomato pie, & the smell of IPB’s bread rolling out of the
oven at 5:00am! The connection to woodworking? My grandfather, born
in Italy, lived in the Burg for 40 years and was a carpenter. i have an old
school box plane from him, kinda like the hard maple hand plane Joe Keer
shows on his blog. And Joe Keer, i got one word for you, “Rustang!”.
Oh man, i can’t believe it! I got yer Rustang! How are you doing and where are you doing it?
Marc said some guy named Zuzu wanted my e-mail address but it wasn’t until I saw this post that I knew it was you. Wow.
I asked Marc to pass along my e-mail address. Can’t wait to hear from you.
Joe
Hi.. just came across this site. Are you the Gene Spadaccini from Trenton (Hamilton HS West 1970)? Just wanted to say hi to an old friend.
We have to accept the fact that we live in the IKEA-Olive Garden-Kmart-etc…. era, instant gratification rules and this follows up in the woodworking quality you can expect from the overnight need to produce decor or furniture. Working within the deadlines and specs set by these companies doesn´t lead to quality work (or food for that matter) As a professional woodworker I limit the amount of detail in order to make tight deadlines and still remain within my quality standards.
Marc,
“Long time listener, first time caller.” Anyway, great article. Though I’m not Italian, Olive Garden too me is as Italian as Domino’s. (OK, maybe it is a little more Italian than that.)
I’m 98% complete with my first furniture project. I built 4 stools for my kitchen island. As usual, I over did it. I designed them myself; round with flared tapered legs, upholstered seat and contoured back. Though every process encountered some issue, I listened to your words of wisdom. “Sometimes mistakes are opportunities…” Summary, I’ve learned a lot during the process and a few things I hadn’t planned on. They look nice and I’m proud to say they’re mine.
Back to your point. After completing my project, I can see all kinds of issues with work done by others including professional “high end” furniture. As you stated, this is absolutely part of drawing the line. I work in the consulting business for a big tech company. If there is anything I’ve learned from those projects that conveys to wood working, it’s the old project management pyramid. Time, Money, Quality. It’s a balance between the 3. Typically you can pick 1 with the other 2 as requirements. Example: You can have perfect quality, but it will take time and money. You can save money, but sacrifice quality and time (no money left for either). You can have it done now (time) but it will cost you with no time to fix errors (quality).
Tell Nicole, her memory is right. OG was really good per her memory. Since we make memories based on comparisons and relativity, her new memories don’t rank the ol’ OG as highly. She should remember it for what it “was” and perhaps enjoy the cool niche places your taking her now as she has new standards. (Wish I could do that with my wife…WHAAA, WHaaa, whaaaa.)
Hey Marc! The same finish guys must have done our Olive Garden here in NY – Although there was a couple of pieces of blotchy stained pine in the booth we sat in, the low lighting hid ALOT..I do alot of piece work for a local furniture shop & almost everything gets painted so it gets real easy to start thinking that “good enough” is really good enough – stuff will get hidden under the paint. Luckily I love the look of an exposed joint & really want the piece to stand the test of time..so if I think i’ve done the best i could then thats good enough for me. Love the site! Love the guild!
Marc, if you find yourself in the Cincinnati area again, visiting PopWood or something like that, let me know and I’ll get you to Scotti’s. It’s a Downtown Cincinnati, family owned Italian place that’s been in business since 1902.
Awesome, awesome food. They make an osso buco that will knock you on your butt, if you like osso buco that is.
I function in two worlds, remodeling (my background) and fine woodworking (mostly sold through my contacts from remodeling.)
Anal retentive behavior is a part of my character and even in remodeling there is no such thing as just doing it cheap or just cover it up. I have flat out told people that asking me to do cheap work is the same as asking me to s**t my pants deliberately. It ain’t gonna happen.
It is this simple: my work is my signature.
So true so true.
Your words make me think of a couple things. One, OG isn’t the greatest Italian food, but if you are comparing it to “real” Italian food then it will never compare. You have to compare it to what it is, a big chain restaurant. Is it better than Chili’s? Well, the breadsticks are decent anyway.
As for woodworking in my own shop, I think that we beat ourselves up quite a bit for minor mistakes/quality issues. Typically, I think that I try to do the best I can, but sometimes I have to throw in the towel and accept things how they are when the clock begins to run out. As long as I feel it passes a minimum standard, I can sleep at night.
I think professionals have to assess the situation in a similar way. As long as you are meeting your standards, or at least an industry standard, then you should have no shame. Especially when you balance time and money in the equation. As mentioned before, you see the end result in OG, but you have no clue how much time they had or what kind of pay was given. Maybe they bid the job out to a bunch of companies, and the cheapest won, leaving a cheap bit of craftsmanship to show for it.
Olive Garden is like a guilty pleasure for me, I know what real Italian food is, and I’ve been to some amazing REAL Italian places. (I live in NY) and it’s embarrassing to even step foot in the place but I really like those damn salad and bread sticks they’re always hawking, I probably eat 3 heads of lettuce when I go there.
As far as the woodwork in the olive garden or any chain restaurant, I feel like that is carpentry and what we all like to do is woodworking, and there’s no way some guy who has to do 600 feet of chair rail in a day is going to pay the kind of attention we would, even if he cared enough to I’m sure he’s under lots of pressure to move fast. Of course that goes back to what Marc said about the world we live in today and that’s what’s great about when you go some place really old and you’re like, “this one door must have taken someone 2 years to make”
-Jer
I was laughing out load when you stated you noticed the sub par wood work and you wife just laughed at you. Well my wife laughs at me too when I point out to her the flaws in trim work.
Being Chinese, you’d think that I’d have the same attitude about Chinese restaurants, especially since there are a lot of really good Chinese restaurants here in central NJ. But one of our favorite places is the cheap Chinese takeout place near our house. Why? Well, I love eating a perfectly cooked porterhouse steak, but sometimes I’m just in the mood for a Big Mac. :@)
But I agree, Olive Garden just sucks.
Oh, on the noticing good and bad woodwork thing: my wife tells me that since I got into woodworking and I started showing her things that I’ve learned to do and look out for, she says that she can’t go to any of her friends’ houses without staring at their kitchen cabinets and noting any terrible use of grain in the rails and stiles of the face frames.
as a new comer and amateur, as are many of your fans are we continually are improving our eye and appreciation at the same time as our skills develop. In the graphics business I was a newbie when I began, but rapidly appreciated the differences that were previously hidden to my eyes. When I achieved some skills and knowledge I began to work for world-class designers (I was the typographer) and became even more aware (and obnoxious when observing the rest of the world’s offerings. Now in wood I strive for high quality, but as the pieces are for myself or appreciative loved ones I can accept “obvious” short comings if the piece feels right. I’ve never deluded myself to expect perfection. But set high standards. Strive to meet them. And learn to love the attempts. I’ve done a number of pieces in my two years at this and with everyone I try to incorporate new techniques and to use previously attempted techniques with the expectation to do them better. I love the process more than some concept of perfection. Push, learn, laugh and wince when appropriate, but try not to burden the world with our own expectations. Being an overaged teenager I can eat anything (well not these days) but anywhere. And for dessert, bite my tongue when someone talks of how wonder The Olive Garden (or such) is. They just better not use that, “Don’t you think so.” Then it is time for a tongue sandwich. Ouch. Rock on. Excellent topic.
Olive Garden is good for one thing, soup, salad and breadsticks. The one near us has all you can eat for $8.95.
As for whether you should go eat that crap, I guess it depends if you want to get busy with Nicole or yourself! ;)
Fot the woodworking part of the question, I don’t know one who doesn’t make a project to the best of their abilities. There are always pieces that i wish would have come out better or that I would have done a better job consealing wood movement but I’ve never looked at a project and said that it was good enough.
Marc and Nicole,
Next week “Chinese Food”
But don’t look at chop sticks!
I like the Olive Garden Salad but does that count as
Italian ?
ms> Today, needless to say, I see things with a different pair of eyes.
And here we all thought the avatar was just a joke.
Loved the memo, Jerry.
Being from NJ it made me laugh when you said the Burgs, I went to Trenton State College and we called it the ghetto. Now as far as the Olive Garden—it is Italian food for the non-Italian. As far as your obligations, just eat their food and quietly chuckle at the ineptitude of the cookie cutter work they paid for.
IMO enlightenment is knowing what battles are worth fighting. If it makes your wife happy now and then to go to Olive Garden then go with a smile and have a good time enjoying her company, even if you don’t enjoy the food. You have no obligation or responsibility to the things you can’t control such as the food at Olive garden or the shoddy crafstmanship of a project in which you had no input. Stay true to yourself when it comes time for you to make the decision (aka. picking your battle). That is your only obligation. By the way, I don’t care for Olive Garden either. Nobody can ruin the authenticity of a food style quite like Corporate America.
Two things: It seems we all agree on OG. It is a place where food is sold. We eat it and like it or not. But it aint real Italian. If you’re ever in McAlester, OK, check out any of the four Mom & Pop Italian restaurants. Or if you’re ever in Newton or Liberal Kansas check out Napolis.
And then this:
It is not just a sense of urgency that dictates the attention to detail. Sometimes a nail gun and screws are the only solution. My point is this: if you have to use metal fasteners to make the job go quicker or because nothing else will work then make sure you use them correctly and neatly. If you have to use a router to shape molding instead of a spoke shave or some other hand tool then make sure you do it right and neatly. If you use your planer to make a surface instead of a hand plane then do it right.
Norm Abrams seems to use a lot of metal fasteners while David Marks hardly ever. Yet Norm’s work has its own quality while David’s work speaks for itself. Both are done right.
Pride in workmenship really only comes after the piece is finished. Sometimes you just got a get her done. But do it right and neatly.
Right now I am building a clock [with a real movement. So cool!] for a church member. Her health has brought on “sense of urgency” if you know what I mean. Yep. I got out my trusty Craftsman brad nailer [which is really good btw] and I glued and then nailed the sills in place. This was then followed by bisquit joinery where the plans origanally called for splines. But I made sure the workmanship was the best I could do.
I always ask myself this question in mind: “Would my 8th grade shop teacher have yelled at me and made me do it over?”
Gary
Marc,
Whatever you do DON’T go to a furniture store. You think Olive Garden is bad…LOL Olive Garden is instant Italian straight from the can [Grin] and obviously so is the work on the building. Instant building as fast as you can. Unfortunately the average American anymore doesn’t know the difference between good craftsmanship and not. Sad, but true. Places like Olive Garden I just ignore the poor work, but go into a furniture store…no one likes to be there with me anymore…especially the salesman…LOL
Marc…welcome to my world! I work as a general contractor and oversee commercial projects from start to finish. Everywhere my wife and I go, I’m constantly looking at the quality of craftmanship. I look at everything: grout spacing in tile floors, margins around doors, joints in trim, crooked electrical outlets, etc., etc., etc.
It’s great to see something done right, and not when it’s not.
“Perfect” is a relative term, and saddly, it often depends on what the customer is willing to pay. As the GC, we can’t always hire top-notch subcontractors simply because they charge more than the customer will pay. I can’t afford to get the project up to MY standards, and it is a diffucult pill to swallow.
For me, if you (all of us) feel quilty about your craftmanship every now and then, that is a good thing. It should motivate to do better next time around. If you DON’T ever feel guilty, you are perfect (highly unlikely) or you are cheating the customer.
That is what keeps me motivated. Because as long as the customer is happy, I know there will be another opportunity to do just a little bit better. When those feelings (striving for improvement) are gone, it’s time for me to do something else.
I recently completed my first furniture project, a bed for my 2 year old son.
Despite limited knowledge, tools and funds I tackled my first mortise and tenon joints for the headboard and footboard, then for the rails I used dowels.
Well everyone who looks at it says great job, but, I see the flaws, I realize it was a great learning experience and for now I will live with the flaws, but in the future with more experience under my belt and hopefully more tools I will build another one.
So, sometimes we have to accept how the work turned out, and do better next time.
Thanks for all the great tips on your site.
Olive Garden… great metaphor!!!
Just like any learning process, it takes experiencing the bad to truly appreciate the good.
I join you on the Olive Garden train… but I do think Ikea gets a bad rap.
While their furniture is cheaply made and mass produced, the design aesthetic is
steeped in one of the most creative and innovative furniture movements in history. Many modern woodworkers like Sam Maloof, developed their unique styles by inspiration from designers like Aalto, Wegner, and Juhl whose designs are all represented at Ikea. In other words, while they may be built like poo, the idea is there.
I believe their are definite sociopolitical parallels between OG and Ikea. The premise for each is the same… mass produce. However, this is the intent, no? There is art in everything. Is it detrimental to the population that food, furniture, or anything for that matter be available to the masses inexpensively and efficiently? I know I am glad that it is. I dislike the homogenization of society just as much as anyone… but it makes me appreciate the finer subtleties of life.
So I can live with OG and Ikea, they inspire me just as much as Batali or Maloof, Krenov, and Nakishima. OG and Ikea Inspire me to do better…. I Aspire to the likes of the latter.
So…. I guess any potential sponsorship by Olive Garden we can kiss goodbye…… or even the remake of the trim and molding…. LOL
Point taken about fine workmanship!!
I have to say that I fall distinctly into the group that shoots for a balance between quality and expediency. I have two main problems with modern factory-made furniture: first of all, design, and secondly, construction. I have never seen a piece of furniture in an Ethan Allen catalog that I found remotely attractive. Modern furniture companies produce items that are a shell of the historical examples upon which they are based . Design is one point of furniture construction in which I will accept no compromises. It must be timelessly beautiful to be worth building.
I think any woodworker can spend all day criticizing the joinery techniques in a piece of factory furniture. Things are simply not built to last hundreds of years. This is a second point at which I will not compromise: my pieces are built using the best and strongest joints that are within my capabilities. I will not use a dowel or a pocket screw where a dovetail or a mortise and tenon should go.
Beyond this, I look at the work of the old masters to determine when it’s acceptable to cut corners. The backs and undersides of my furniture are not finished to perfection, there may be small gaps in my dovetails, and my drawers don’t always slide with the piston fit that woodworkers go crazy over. However, I sleep well knowing that I build beautiful furniture that will still be around long after I am not.
I am German, so
I don’t qualify to your Olive Garden ? and I have 2 little ones, so I am happy when I get to go to BK instead of McD’s.
As far as the quality, I am always striving to do better, which irionically means trying to do things more the way they used to be done. The only time I (cheat) is when it is a shop project, and then it is not often at all, and when it is it’s because of trying to save money, like settling for boards that I normaly wouldn’t due to the appearance and things like that. If I am going to put my name on it, it’s going to be the best that I can do. That is just me and the way I am.
Nate
Hey Marc,
Lately I have been asking myself this same type of question. I have so many projects, I end up using pocket screws where if I had more time, I would have used a more elegant joint. Or shoot a brad to hold a glue joint together and move onto the next step instead of waiting for the glue to dry while clamped… to me this is a sacrafice in quality… to my wife, I’m a hero because I got all this stuff built so quickly! Most people don’t miss the dovetails and can’t find the pocket screws… so it’s just my conscious that takes a hit… I think I’ve decided that not every piece has to be fine furniture… somethings just need to be furniture, and to me, they will still be better that what I would have bought at pottery barn or other furniture store.
Say what you want about OG but in my opinion you can’t beat the lunch all you can eat soup and salad. Love the Zuppa. Enjoy Nicole..
Hey Marc – I know what you mean by the sub-par workmanship. My wife & I just recently went into a remodeled Starbucks – those long lines gave me ample opportunity to pick apart their “new” counters, cabinets and trim work. I dare say that Ikea stuff would have been a big improvement. Oh well, I just point these out to my long suffering wife as she drags me off to the Olive Garden.
I have been trying my best not to allow “good enough” work on the pieces I build. With all the resources and info available to us average woodworkers (your site is a big part of this equation) we can and should strive to make the very best things we can.
Mike
I think all of my points have already been covered, but I relate to the topic and thought I’d share.
As most of us amateurs can and have attested. We are still growing and limited by our knowledge, skill and experience in the craft. Knowing that something didn’t work out the way we thought it should and knowing exactly where that shortcoming is provides valuable experience. That provides a benchmark of what we need to work on or avoid in the future. Each piece of furniture is like a test. You can gauge what was successful and what wasn’t.
As far as business or professionals go I’ll offer advice from two sources. First is from my boss who often reminds me if I’m doing too much by saying “We’re not getting paid to do that.” The second is from my dad, who was also my boss from the ages of 12-18, who liked to comment “Good enough for who it’s for!” Apparently, nail holes and poor trim are good enough for OG.
PS. I loved Marty’s comment! It was a colorful way of stating what all husbands should know. :)
It all depends on what you’re after. I know the difference between the Americanized Italian of the Olive Garden and my favorite place Bella Italia. If I want a good burrito, I go to a taco truck. Ikea is for people starting out. Where they excel is in innovation. I like going there for ideas about how things can function. The engineering that goes into their products is phenomenal! It’s all made to be able to ship in an ocean going crate, leaving zero or very few voids. It’s extremely easy for Joe sixpack to assemble and it doesn’t cost an arm an a leg. It’s pressboard crap, but they couldn’t sell it for a better price if it weren’t.
HA! I’m always entertained when I stop by.
To the Beautiful producer of the Woodwhisperer:
I to grew up in the Midwest, so I can appreciate the Olive Garden what what it is. I remember taking a field trip to the Olive Garden in 4th grade as apart of learning about other cultures. Also don’t let Marc give you to much of a hard time, after all it wasn’t that long ago that Marc thought his Craftsman table saw was the greatest thing ever.
To the Great Woodwhisperer:
The majority of my limited woodworking skills are used on simple wood trims, moldings, and cabinetry items.
No matter how simple the project I’m working on is there is always a point in the project that offers me a shortcut, or I might just make a poor decision and I won’t like the out come. I believe every wood worker encounters similar problems from time to time. When I first started wood working and if I would encounter this problem it was easy to just say “Good enough”, or “No one will ever notice”. But still to this day I’m embarrassed seeing or driving past those project because I know that it’s NOT good enough, and I notice every time I see my see my mistakes.
With knowledge does come the personal responsibly to do better to do job. I will happily work twice as long to produce a better product that I feel good about, rather than say “Good enough” ever again.
Also, I couldn’t sleep at night if I ever used structural lumber like that! Gross!
Finish carpenters used to all be highly skilled craftsmen, but now more often then I like to see, they are just your run of the mill framer that uses a worm drive saw, and a waffle head hammer. Plus they are taking work away from skilled finished carpenters like myself.
So you have under qualified workers doing the work that should take 4 weeks, trying to get it done in 2 weeks because the job is behind schedule. That = really bad work.
Olive Garden is upscale if you think of McDonalds as a “mid-market” eatery, rather than a purveyor of inedible sludge.
The OG chain seems to have failed in Canada, there are few left up here. We have a lot of franchise “casual dining” places exactly like O.G. up here. Montanas. The Keg. East Side Marios. We don’t seem to have any T.G.I.Fridays or Applebys though. T.G.I.C. (… I’m Canadian.)
You want good food, and inexpensive? We have lots. The authentic Asian restaurants up here are varied, every country, province and cultural group are here in Toronto.
My brother is a professional woodworker and he would have the same kind of thoughts as you. He hates to see good wood treated badly.
Warren
I agree with your philosophy of not accepting “good enough” as an acceptable answer for woodworking or anything in life. I also believe that the quality of one’s work reflects on that person.
Regardless of the industry there are craftsmen (women) and those that do the same job. I endeavor to be a craftsman my career and enjoy watching you be a craftsman in yours.
-Mike
It’s all about education.
The more educated you are, the higher your standards, the more you expect. The less educated you are, the more you’re willing to accept an inferior product… because you don’t even realize it’s inferior. And of course a person can be highly educated in one area, yet completely ignorant in another.
Unfortunately, education is often expensive, and ignorance is often cheap. You can outfit a whole house with Ikea-made furniture or fill your belly with Olive Garden food for much less than it would cost to buy well-made handcrafted hardwood furniture and four-star-restaurant-quality Italian food. Although the cheaper furniture will (probably) last for only a few years and the cheaper food is (probably) worse for your health, these drawbacks are uncertain and difficult to quantify, and anyway the people making that initial purchase decision are unlikely to amortize the costs over a long term.
Consumers and businesses in general both seem to benefit from from faster, cheaper, mass-produced results. Ikea surely profits more in a year than all the one-man woodworking shops combined.
So quality becomes a limited-quantity luxury for the most educated, those equipped to take the long-term view, those who expect more and are able to pay for it.
Quality is in the eyes of the beholder. To the trim carpenter who did that Olive Garden, his work may have looked good to him because that’s the only level of quality he’s ever seen. Same with the food…if one has only been exposed to places like Olive Garden, then that’s what they’d consider to be good food. Those of us who have ever gazed at a Stickley Morris chair or have eaten at that little family run Italian place around the corner that’s been there forever have been exposed to a different level of quality, so we see things differently.
I only make furniture for myself as a hobby, and I have a standard that my stuff needs to meet for me to be happy. Whether that standard is higher or lower than the “average” woodworker, I don’t know. All I know is that I do the best I can and make the extra effort to ensure that everything I build will easily outlast me.
I guess I’m one out on Olive Garden, as I really like it. But then my I wish my wood working was as good as the fit and finish in our local Olive Garden. It is miles better then it was a year or two a go but… I really like your sight Mark, the Wood talk is a little raw for my taste sometimes but still usually okay. God bless Bob
Olive Garden is always packed here…3pm in the afternoon. Not the greatest food, but if they franchise, i’m buying one.
I also second Scotti’s in Cincy…
I used to work at a nightclub with a kitchen. Their marinara came out of a can. I assume OG has the same tendency. Being half Italian, I *KNOW* real marinara takes fourteen moms and aunts cooking in the kitchen for most of a day.
But there comes a point when, as with movies, I shut the brain off and appreciate what’s in front of me. Does it mean I think it’s the greatest thing (food, trim work, needlepoint, whatever) since sliced bread? Hardly. But consider the whole, and the atmosphere.
I have good memories about OG. (Like being able to eat one Tour of Italy and single handedly asking the waitstaff to bring more breadsticks and salad, in a time when they did not like to do that.) But the memories are for the company I was keeping more than the food. While the analytical side of the brain can categorize all the faults of the work in front of you, remember sometimes you just need to accept and move on.
Just know where your *personal* standards are, and act accordingly. Time, money, quality? works for me.
Got it. I understand you don’t like the offensive mediocre display at the OG, but don’t the galoots just say, build something. I mean, seriously, just deliver. I like OG, its not what my Italian mom can make, but it ain’t Mc@#$#@!s either. Remember that delivering is a quality too. They deliver Italian food every time I order it. Most of the time, its edible and I like it. You ever hear that perfect is the enemy of good. I guess I’ve been reading too much arts and mysteries on popularwoodworking. If you try to be perfect every time, you may never deliver anything. As a new woodworker my furniture is, well, not even OG quality. But, if I give up, I’ll never get to the burg. Oh Well, I’ll keep at it, cause I don’t know any better.