twelve painting stretchers.

[duccio]

Here is what I made yesterday for my painter friend Dennis up in Shasta. He'll come pick them up in a few weeks. We go back a long time. The smaller ones are 24x36, the larger ones, 30x40.

It looks like I will have to get a new chop saw. The safety guard that closes on the blade underneath, somehow got totally screwed up and I had to disconnect it. Then a small black screw fell out from somewhere. It seems to work fine as far as cutting, but after using it, about a half hour later it suddenly turned on by itself (once) and I had to hit it with a stick to make it turn off again. Now I unplug it after every use. I guess I will run it through a power strip along with the light I put above it, so I can turn it off there with the switch after use. The light off will make sure the saw is disconnected after I am through for the day.

I don't want to buy another chop saw. If I did, it would probably be an affordable Chinese one from Harbor Freight, which might be as equally dangerous to use as the big heavy Delta one I have now with the screws falling out - or that is what one is made to fear all the time. I'd like to buy something American made, but... I got a Chinese pneumatic nail gun there about 5 years ago that continues to run perfectly - it only cost about $25. Before that one, I had a yellow DeWalt, and before that, a Porter-Cable; both renowned brands. They both broke down after about 3 years or less. Each cost over $135. I had wondered about buying the cheapie no-name Chinese one, but began thinking that maybe I could buy 6 of them for the same amount as the DeWalt had cost, and if each lasted more than 6 months, I'd come out ahead. So, I decided to buy one and try it out.

It's funky and basic, easy to clear, nothing fancy. It leaks a lot of air, but so did the others after they were a few months old. That's no big deal, except that the compressor turns on more frequently, disrupting my music listening at closer discordant intervals. It's dark blue, like in Chinese ceramics. I give it a few drops of 3 in 1 oil, just like I did with the others before each session. The Chinese nail gun has outlasted the DeW and the P-C both together, and for 1/12 the cost. Gee, what should I do about the chop saw?

Comments

[shinsetsu]

Go back to the days before electricity! What did people do then? ;)

[duccio]

Well, they did all the work by hand, except for the interim period when they used steam at the beginning of the industrial revolution. They were craftspeople before that, made things from start to finish using their mastery of the necessary skills and their experience; they didn't have to compete with assembly line production techniques where each worker only does a tiny part of the whole, over and over again, like a machine. Now, I do most of the work by hand but for some repeated things which a machine can do faster and better, I use the machines. A machine only does one thing, and only more or less well though, so for the stuff I do, a certain amount of machine to speed things up, and a certain amount of hand for care, and versatility are necessary. I would say that I am a cross between what is now, and what was done before electricity and industrialization.

I think the hand made approach of the things I make are important to the artists for whom I make them too, since their work continues the handcrafting of their ideas on the supports that I have provided for them. So, there is a line of hand craft work that begins with the canvas or panel and continues in paintings from start to finish - not always, but most often enough still. They trust me... and I trust them.