Industrial Revolution
Everybody knows what the Industrial Revolution was, right?
Before then, everything was pretty much handmade. The parts of a rifle were individually fitted for that rifle. The good part of that is the quality aspect of the thing, whether a rifle or a silver bowl, or whatever. It was as good as a particular craftsman could make it. Of course that varied from individual craftsman to craftsman. People developed a name based on their skills and their integrity, on how much they put into their work and how good their work really was.
The bad part was that if you had a rifle with some part that broke, it needed to be specially made because not all hammers, for example, were mass produced. Because the parts were specially made you couldn't just order a new flotchit and install it.
The Industrial Revolution changed all that. Machines and factories made thousands of identical parts, more identical than even the best craftsman could make them. The parts weren't necessarily all that great, but they were interchangable. Armies thought that was pretty swell, it allowed them to keep more guns working and kill more of the enemy.
As time passed the individual craftsman was pretty much shoved aside. Factories can make a thing faster and cheaper than an individual craftsman could make it, and if factory products weren't as good, they were a lot more affordable. The "masses" could own things that they couldn't have afforded before the Industrial Revolution, which is a good thing.
A few people like Ned Ludd didn't think the Industrial Revolution was such a great thing. It's unclear whether the Luddites were far-thinking individuals or simply a flock of lunatics. Today they're mostly considered to have been lunatics. As an individual craftsman I tend to side with them regardless. Factory-produced goods are now the standard, farm-boys flocked to the cities to make easy money in the factories, and people in general enjoyed a new higher quality of life. Of course these days the individual farmer is an endangered species, corporate farms produce more for lower cost, and individual craftsmen of all sorts are people who live on the edge.
I remember watching an old Jimmy Stewart western, about a fellow who won a rifle in a shooting contest. The rifle was a "one in a thousand" rifle. All the parts fit together just right, and it was a dream to use. I guess the Industrial Revolution was fairly well progressed, at least in the area of arms manufacture, by that time. Before the Industrial Revolution they were all pretty much that way, parts having been hand-fitted by individual craftsmen, they were either very good or very bad depending on who made them.
Factories brought a new vision of quality. Parts were churned out by the thousands, or millions, and then sorted and graded. Some made the cut as first-level, others were sold as seconds, and some were thrown away (or recycled these days).
I reject all that. I don't want to be a one-man pipe factory. I don't want to churn out pipes by the dozens, then sort them and grade them. I'll be throwing away my primitive grading system before the next time that I offer a pipe for sale. I make them one at a time. I put everything that I have into the creation of each one. It's the process of making an individual pipe, of seeing what can be done to turn a block of briar with a unique grain pattern into the most beautiful and useful smoking instrument that I'm capable of making, that makes it worthwhile for me.
Ned Ludd may very well have been a lunatic. For that matter I may very well be a lunatic. But I don't like having my purchasing choices limited by what the world's most profitable factories are making. I don't like working in a factory environment even if it does consist of sitting in a cubicle and raking in the fat dough.
The average Joe is used to factory-made goods. He works in a factory, of some sort. It dictates much of the structure of his life. I'm against that kind of life, I prefer more freedom than can be found working in a factory. Factories and cubicles push me to the brink of sanity, and I just don't like any of it.
Maybe handcrafting each pipe from raw materials makes me a Luddite. Maybe that's okay.
Before then, everything was pretty much handmade. The parts of a rifle were individually fitted for that rifle. The good part of that is the quality aspect of the thing, whether a rifle or a silver bowl, or whatever. It was as good as a particular craftsman could make it. Of course that varied from individual craftsman to craftsman. People developed a name based on their skills and their integrity, on how much they put into their work and how good their work really was.
The bad part was that if you had a rifle with some part that broke, it needed to be specially made because not all hammers, for example, were mass produced. Because the parts were specially made you couldn't just order a new flotchit and install it.
The Industrial Revolution changed all that. Machines and factories made thousands of identical parts, more identical than even the best craftsman could make them. The parts weren't necessarily all that great, but they were interchangable. Armies thought that was pretty swell, it allowed them to keep more guns working and kill more of the enemy.
As time passed the individual craftsman was pretty much shoved aside. Factories can make a thing faster and cheaper than an individual craftsman could make it, and if factory products weren't as good, they were a lot more affordable. The "masses" could own things that they couldn't have afforded before the Industrial Revolution, which is a good thing.
A few people like Ned Ludd didn't think the Industrial Revolution was such a great thing. It's unclear whether the Luddites were far-thinking individuals or simply a flock of lunatics. Today they're mostly considered to have been lunatics. As an individual craftsman I tend to side with them regardless. Factory-produced goods are now the standard, farm-boys flocked to the cities to make easy money in the factories, and people in general enjoyed a new higher quality of life. Of course these days the individual farmer is an endangered species, corporate farms produce more for lower cost, and individual craftsmen of all sorts are people who live on the edge.
I remember watching an old Jimmy Stewart western, about a fellow who won a rifle in a shooting contest. The rifle was a "one in a thousand" rifle. All the parts fit together just right, and it was a dream to use. I guess the Industrial Revolution was fairly well progressed, at least in the area of arms manufacture, by that time. Before the Industrial Revolution they were all pretty much that way, parts having been hand-fitted by individual craftsmen, they were either very good or very bad depending on who made them.
Factories brought a new vision of quality. Parts were churned out by the thousands, or millions, and then sorted and graded. Some made the cut as first-level, others were sold as seconds, and some were thrown away (or recycled these days).
I reject all that. I don't want to be a one-man pipe factory. I don't want to churn out pipes by the dozens, then sort them and grade them. I'll be throwing away my primitive grading system before the next time that I offer a pipe for sale. I make them one at a time. I put everything that I have into the creation of each one. It's the process of making an individual pipe, of seeing what can be done to turn a block of briar with a unique grain pattern into the most beautiful and useful smoking instrument that I'm capable of making, that makes it worthwhile for me.
Ned Ludd may very well have been a lunatic. For that matter I may very well be a lunatic. But I don't like having my purchasing choices limited by what the world's most profitable factories are making. I don't like working in a factory environment even if it does consist of sitting in a cubicle and raking in the fat dough.
The average Joe is used to factory-made goods. He works in a factory, of some sort. It dictates much of the structure of his life. I'm against that kind of life, I prefer more freedom than can be found working in a factory. Factories and cubicles push me to the brink of sanity, and I just don't like any of it.
Maybe handcrafting each pipe from raw materials makes me a Luddite. Maybe that's okay.
posted by random at 5:03 AM
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