Hand vs machine made

Factual Questions
1

Not sure if this is more IMHO, but here goes. Basic question, in what instances is handmade better than machine made?

Context: my wife has recently begun a 3-year course of study in violinmaking. They do almost everything by hand - I believe the only exception is that they will rip boards on a tablesaw.

As she has described what she is doing, I have repeatedly wondered what benefit there is in doing tasks by hand which (I suspect) could be more quickly and at least as well done with a power tool.

For example, yesterday she cut out the main front and back of her first violin using a hand bowsaw. She was frustrated, as she had a lot of difficulty using the tool, and will need to remove a lot of wood to clean it up. ISTM that a bandsaw would be the perfect tool for the job. And as long as she was finishing it by hand, why would it make any difference whether the pieces were roughed out via machine?

I see a couple of concerns, One, is there some supposed benefit from the maker being more closely attuned to every step of the process, maybe feeling the grain and density of the wood more intimately than occurs through a power tool? Another thought, tho, is what results in the best finished product? If the best violin results from the most precisely worked and fitted components, then wouldn’t machinery be preferred?

Moreover, even handmade lands somewhere on the continuum. I don’t suppose Stradivarius denied himself use of the most advanced tools of his day. And unless you are the guy on that TV Show the Woodwright’s Shop (love that show!) hand craftsmen are using tools made of materials more advanced than several centuries ago. So if you are going to benefit from a modern metallic compound in your plane blade, why not use a power tool as well?

My wife has tentatively raised such concerns at her school, but they clearly are committed to their approach, and have not indicated a great desire to debate it. So I toss it out to you.

I’ll step back and allow folk to respond, and join back in as I can.

2

What follows is mostly speculation, tempered by some experience:

Hand tools force you to pay attention to the grain and figure of the wood, while you can largely ignore that with power tools…except when you can’t and you end up splitting a piece of stock, or taking out a huge gouge, etc. Especially for the front and back of a fiddle, the wood selection is critical, and the piece you scrap might have made the best violin ever.

It may also be related to the schools liability insurance. You can do a lot of damage very quickly with power tools, though you only need to look at Roy Underhill’s hands during any episode to know that cuts, scrapes, and barked knuckles are par for the course with hand tools. I have never hurt myself with a power saw, yet have several scars from hand saws, but if the blade of a power saw had been applied to the same locations, I would be missing a finger and a hand.

3

This would be my first guess–it comes down to money. There is a cost to maintaining power tools and ensuring that you are covered for liability. When you have a class about a traditional craft, there is no need to take on that burden.

4

I’ve taken a lot of art classes over the years, and the best classes were ones in which the teacher had us do things as close to “by hand” as possible, regardless of other methods that may have been easier. If I were teaching a violin-making class, I’d want the students to become familiar with the process, rather than focusing on the end result. This means doing everything by hand until they were competent at every step of the process. Then I would gradually introduce more advanced methods. By then the students would have a greater appreciation for the work the tools had to do.

5

It depends on how good your AI software is. For something like making a violin, every piece of wood is going to be different, and so a machine needs to be able to adapt to the material. That’s something we hoo-mans are really good at.

6

Not an answer, or even an opinion, but here is a related recollection that stuck in my head from a documentary I watched maybe a dozen or more years ago…

The show was about a small company started by two guys. IIRC they built, and maybe restored, pipe organs. Their philosophy was to build the wooden parts exactly as they had been built “back in the day” – whenever the golden age of pipe organs was. (1500s? 1600s? 1700s? Whenever.)

Anyway, the partners had a “big” philosophical disagreement. One guy thought it was okay to use sandpaper, and the other guy didn’t. That’s right, *sandpaper! *The anti-sandpaper partner contended that the craftsmen of ye olden days did not use sandpaper back then (because it had not been invented yet), so it was not okay to use it today!

7

Panache makes a good point – learning the basics without power tools can help understanding, similar to how multiplying lots of four digit numbers is generally better done with a calculator, but I think it’s fairly important to know how to do it by hand.

The other point I can think of is that if there’s only one or two tasks in violin making that would overall benefit from power tools, it might not be worth the effort and cost to get and use power tools just for that relatively small part of the whole process. I don’t have a gas-powered rototiller just to turn over my 12’x6’ garden once a year, even if it would be more efficient to use one if I had it. Likewise – and I’m no expert at all here – for violin making, I would think power tools would be useful for rough outlining the shapes, but even with hand tools the rough outlining is a pretty small part of the total effort; most of the work is carefully removing tiny amounts of wood to get to just the right shape, and hand tools are going to be the best option here. It might just not be worth it to buy and maintain a band saw just for the minor task of rough outlining.

8

As a general rule if it’s a repetitive task that will be performed exactly the same and with consistent material inputs then machining is better. A good example is spray painting car bodies in a production line.

For tasks where attention to detail is critical and no two pieces are exactly the same, meaning minor but critical adjustments need to be made at each step, then hand made is superior. A good example is a hand tailored suit.

Someday we may have good enough machines and AI to take on these more complicated tasks, but not today.

9

Watching the NOVA episode about the trebuchet, my mechanic friend was annoyed that the craftsmen refused to use power tools. “Dude, he knows that the medieval guys drilled a hole that wide through that part. There’s no reason for him to drill it the same way they did. Just use a power drill.” He felt justified when the guys used a pickup truck to reset the firing arm.

10

Hmm - it could be something as simple as insurance, but I doubt it. Like I said, they do have a table saw. I believe they also have grinding wheels for rough work on tools. I got the impression it had more to do with their “ethic/philosophy.”

Re: sandpaper - we actually discussed that the other day. She said they didn’t use sandpaper (or only limited use) because it created dust which got into the pores of the wood, affecting its resonance and the instrument’s sound. Instead, they plane and scrape.

Yes, a lot of what they are doing is to familiarize the students witht he tools, materials, and processes. For example, if something has to be planed to 1.75 mm, they first plane it to 2.25, then to 2, before ending up at 1.75. I get that.

Maybe she had to fight her way through cutting out shapes on this - her first instrument - with a bowsaw just to learn sawing techniques. She’s going to a big convention in Cleveland in a couple of weeks. I’ll suggest that she ask some experienced violinmakers to what extent they use power tools.

Also, I guess it brings into question what it means for something to be “handmade”? If a human makes it using power tools, is it not still handmade? If you can use power tools for some initial steps, where do you draw the line? Do you need to cut down the damn tree using an axe and manual saw? :dubious:

Don’t even get me started on restaurants advertising “homemade” meals! :stuck_out_tongue:

11

I make all wood archery bows, they can only be made by hand as wood is not homegenous in nature, We remove wood in increments of maybe .001 at a time to get the bow bending properly. With experience a power sander can be used but will very often destroy the project.
We can and sometimes do use power tools to rough out a bow but always do the finishing and tillering by hand.

12

When I took wood shop in high school, our first project had to be done entirely by hand tools. I think that this gave us an appreciation of the power tools that we were later allowed to use.

13

Let me guess – that class wasn’t taught by Tim Allen?

14

The 200 slaves were present but refused to participate without credit for SAG cards :smiley:

15

Being involved in medieval reenactment I see ALOT of handcrafted stuff.

my .02 worth.

Few people have the skill and patience needed to make truly great stuff by hand with alot of training and practice, anyone can learn to make good stuff but not great.

With machines, you can get great stuff 95% of the time in 1/20th the amount of time needed to make it by hand.

There is still room for handcrafts where it is not practical to build machines for small quantity production. Musical instruments, especially less common versions of them, are often made by hand to some degree or another.

There just are not that many players demanding C tubas or A clarinets.

16

Depends on the application.
A custom tailored, hand made suit is something no machine is currently capable of. Someday perhaps but for really excellent quality when the inputs vary, hand crafted is currently tops..

17

Their hands power you to pay attention to the feed and determine of the wooden, while you can mostly neglect that with equipment…except when you can’t and you end up breaking a item of inventory, or taking out a huge gouge, etc. Especially for the top side and rear of a muck around, the wooden choice is crucial, and the item you discarded might have made the best guitar ever.

18

Higher quality briar tobacco pipes are handmade. This allows the carver to feel out the grain and any flaws in the ebauchon or plateau blocks of briar.

19

Nah, this was an older guy. And he didn’t like having to teach girls. I was the first girl he ever gave an A in Woodshop to. I was very proud of that.

20

My wife said yesterday she saw a 3d year using a bandsaw to cut out his plates. So I assume having her use a bowsaw was to familiarize her with the tools/techniques.

And she said when she sewed garments, they were considered handmade even if she used a sewing machine.

So I imagine “handmade” might be most meaningful as an antonym to “assembly line.”

Thanks for the thoughts, folks. Sorry my OP was off base.