Thread: Mythical Vintage Steel

The whole concept of craftsmen and artisans is a fascinating one.

My great grandfather was a German cabinet maker who came to the US in the 1880s and set up shop very near where he got off the boat in Baltimore. I am fortunate to have a cane seat chair he made, that is still sturdy enough to hold my fat butt without wobbling (or groaning), although the seat was re-caned in the 1950s. When I look at the joinery and precision of the carvings, it is hard to imagine them being done with no electric tools. My father inherited his love of tools and precise workmanship and built many things with a few great vintage hand tools. My brother, who is an electrician, does woodworking as his hooby and has built some beautiful pieces, but has a workshop full of precision woodworking machinery.

Some time back, someone on SRP asked what an "artisan" soap was. When I considered that question I realized that the word floods me with memories of the many lasting things I've seen, touched and used that were created by people who were truly artisans.

I think that 200 years ago, people understood a lot. They certainly did not have such modern devices as they are now. But I do not think that people were no less literate in the manufacture of various crafts. If we take an earlier period and say for the Egyptian pyramids or Indian temples, then we still need to grow those technologies. Not so simple. I think so.