Who am I to judge?
A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to judge a woodworking show. Specifically, the Excellence in Woodworking show in Mesa, AZ. It was an honor and a privilege to be a part of the event and I’d like to thank the AZ Association of Fine Woodworkers for including me. The variety of projects on display were incredible. From toys that looked like scale models to a wall-hanging jungle-themed intarsia, it was a sight to see. I’ve included a few pictures with this article for your enjoyment.
I scrutinized each and every piece and tried to decide what might make one thing “better” than another. Not an easy job! So my strategy was to begin by looking at all the positive attributes each creation had to offer. In many cases, there was a clear winner. But sometimes, looking at the positive will only get you so far. Should a “tie” result, you have no choice but to really start to hammer down on the negative aspects. As I began to point out errors in construction, gaps in joints, and the flaws in the finish, I realized there was a valuable lesson in this process. By looking at someone else’s work and identifying every little flaw (something I rarely have the opportunity to do), I started to realize that being able to identify them means I should never allow the same errors to occur in my own work.
I applied this thinking to the current end table project, which is resting happily in my living room right now, and I truly believe it made a difference. You would be hard-pressed to find a gap, a dust nib, a sanding mark, or a glue stain anywhere on this piece. I gave each operation the time it deserved during both the building AND the finishing phases. From my perspective, it was well worth the investment. So I encourage you to look at woodwork with a very critical eye. Then, log away your observations in the back of your mind. And the next time you are building a project, bring that discerning eye to the party. Think about your piece being judged in a competition. Maybe even envision yourself as the judge and your project as an anonymous submission. And when you reach the point where you have nothing to fear and the piece passes your own critical judgment, it is safe to sign your name and let your creation see the light of day.
All this being said, obviously mistakes are going to happen and not every project is going to be perfect. But if we always strive for perfection, falling short of the mark will still yield decent results. My personal goal is to simply eliminate the cause of most of my errors: impatience and laziness.
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Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. “Good enough,” is the enemy of perfection.
The pursuit of an unattainable perfection, even though it consists in nothing more than the pounding of an old piano, is what alone gives meaning to our life.
Welcome to the 12 step program Marc.:D My name is Vic and I’m a
lazybutt. I try not to cut corners, but it’s hard. Every time I fall off the wagon and hear the phrase enter my mind, “eh, that’ll work”, I know
it’s something that will bug me forever.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! its as true today as when it was first uttered. We are not all Rembrandt’s, but when we take that piece of wood and change it from a splinter filled hunk of wood, into a smooth table top or table leg that’s the beauty of it.
just my two cents.
Mike
start with 10 end with 10
I’ll add my 2 cents to an interesting post.
The Greeks by way of Plato brought us the notion of perfection. I prefer the creative joy of the Divine Craftsman’s “very good” over His creation in Genesis. I recall listening to a recital by Andres Segovia, the master classical guitarist, near the end of his life. Segovia did not play pieces perfectly but beautifully. Even his mistakes were exquisite.
The use of machinery, and especially modern abrasives, have enabled woodworkers to achieve an unsurpassed level of “perfection.” I have come to admire the tool marks that are the craftsman’s signature on pieces from prior centuries. Handcrafted work always has fingerprints.
Sometimes, in my pursuit of “perfection,” I ruin what would have been an otherwise very good piece. The creative challenge is to recognize when a piece has come to the best it is going to be, flaws and all, and then enjoy it for the creation that it is.
Well said fellas! I think this is going to be the “deepest” conversation we’ve ever had. :)
I always just try to do my best. That is never perfection. I usually have a few mistakes to fix on any project. I seem to get a little better fixing them over time. The ones I can’t fix, I call character. In my shop character begins with the builder. Claude
Well said. This principle can be applied to almost everything in our lives. Whether it is judging someone’s actions, efforts, intentions in woodworking, on the job, or in life, we learn the most when we look at ourselves more than others. Human nature is to judge others by their actions but ourselves by our intentions. That must have been a fun but challenging experience. No wonder it caused some internal reflection.
Side note – those projects were amazing. I would love to see more pictures if you have them. This reveals to me that I have a LONG way to go.
I’m impressed by your insight. You seem too young to be so wise.
Attention to detail always has been my weakest point, and I always seemed to be proud of the wrong things, like finishing a project quickly. Nonetheless, I love woodworking because even I can make something beautiful, although flawed. And as I continue the hobby, I am getting better. I take more time with finishing. But I never have been able to look critically at my own stuff the way I can see others’ stuff.
Personally, perfection is the measure that is only allowed to be given to the creator of the project. If the creator thinks it is perfect, then anyone else’s comments really have no bearing.
Lates
Marc, do you have any more info on the sofa table in the 4th picture? I’m curious what was used for the contrasting wood. It looks like the visible floating tenon where the leg and rail come together is contoured to match the offset since the rail isn’t flush with the leg. Fantastic work and design.
Can’t say I like the flush through tenon on the bookcase though. I’d rather not see them, or have them proud of the surface.
But that’s just me.
Hey Bob. The contrasting wood was ebony if I remember correctly.
As for the book case, the tenons actually were slightly proud. They just appear flush in the picture.
As for more pics, that’s really about all we have. Nicole only had a chance to snap a few choice shots, and about half of them came out like crap because of the wacky lighting. The ones in the post are the pick of the litter. :)
I took a David Marks class last week. Of course, it was excellent, but the most surprising lessons I learned were those of patience and persistence. David Marks is a very patient guy. I watched him take his time checking a simple router setup again and again. He’s also a big fan of test cuts to again make sure everything is right.
If someone as advanced as David Marks can take his time to make things right, by golly I sure can!
The quality of work at that show (judging from the photos) looks amazing -
Part of becoming a professional is to learn where it is OK to cut corners. But most of us have to learn on the job. I think if woodworking is your livelihood and you tried to achieve perfection before you are skilled enough to still work fast, you would die of starvation. I know I would, and happily it’s not my profession.
Not trying to make an excuse for laziness, but a predefined/measured amount of imperfection. That can be very little imperfection if you so choose. Not sanding between coats is a great example of laziness that pays poor dividends. Gluing in a shim instead of recutting a bunch of dovetails might be a pretty good tradeoff, not because it’s lazy but because it’s cost effective.
Very interesting topic
Gosh! Whatever happened to just enjoying woodworking. Striving for perfection sometimes leads to nothing ever geting finished and trying to go beyond what you are capable of at the moment can lead to fustration. Just do your best and say that this is the best I can do at this time. But most of all enjoy what you are doing.
We always know inside what the right thing to do is yet we try to create ways around it. Stop thinking and just listen.
Marc:
Interesting how this topic has been running around different blogs in some form over the past week.
Perfection is a term of performance that has to be quantified; to just say something is perfect; is purley subjective, therefore open ended.
The issue really is quality not perfection. W. Edwards Deming (quality manager) in some form would say project quality is determined by designing processes that will produce higher quality.
Each of us have different tooling, different processes, and different levels of experience that we build with. Inherently in our garages/basements, we all build to different levels of quality based off the processes we’ve designed prior to construction and execution.
Robert’s post below……….says it pretty good:
Robert Ragland on March 2nd, 2008 6:40 pm …..Said:
Gosh! Whatever happened to just enjoying woodworking. Striving for perfection sometimes leads to nothing ever geting finished and trying to go beyond what you are capable of at the moment can lead to fustration. Just do your best and say that this is the best I can do at this time. But most of all enjoy what you are doing
I will add this…….perfection can be attained if you set quantifiable criteria prior to building……..as Robert states where’s the fun there.
But completing a build to your quality level, evaluating, re-designing your process (new tool, different material, more pre-production thought, same joinery/differnet joinery) then building again to a higher quality, then repeating the process as often as you can, equates to building all the time and having fun as you watch your quality get higher and higher or if you wish better and better.
I’m not into perfection but like all of you, am into designing processes that lead to higher quality.
Build and build often……….Neil
The concept of not being able to see our own mistakes is called scotoma. Have you ever read something written by someone else and can’t believe they didn’t see the typos that jump right out at you?
They don’t see them because they know what they intended to write and that’s what they see when they read it.
Jim
Marc,
If you take “good enough” out of your vocabulary you are precluding yourself from ever doing any government work down the road where “good enough” is the pretty much the mantra. I just don’t want you to pigeonhole yourself to quality work all the time. ;-]
Enjoying the evolution of your site and the network… keeps gettin better and better! Even though it was good enough for me before it started walking upright….. (ehhh, yeah… weak play on the evolution reference and the “good enough” theme… ok, I’ll shut up now)
-Charles
The Wood Whisperer site certainly has developed in the six months I’ve been a fan, though it hardly seems to have evolved on its own. Like all of our creations in the shop, this site is clearly the work of an intelligent designer. ; )