Featured Early 18th Century Delaware Valley Walnut Table

Wow, the skill those guys had is beyond amazing.

 

Well, i wouldn't say guys, i would say a guy here an there, an odd duck you might say. Most early 18th century cabinetmakers just didn't have the juice to pull this off technically, which is why i am guessing you don't see many of them. Yes, the skill level is very impressive.

 

Most 21st century ones don't either, for that matter, even with better tools.

 

Ghopper, remember the letter that was found in that 1716 cabinet?
" When cabbage and peas were often our best meal"

 

I do indeed. I remember the letter talking about poor, slowly starving master craftsman who ended up making a piece of furniture for the ages. Inspiring and humbling.

 

The sad part is things haven't changed much. Hand work, even master grade, still doesn't earn you enough to live on.

 

If you sneak around and check out some of the reports concerning employment and what fields are lacking trained employees, you can see over the horizon on that one. There is such a lack of trained manual workers and craftsmen that the salaries and rewards are bound to rebound - as soon as the "You MUST get an MBA to survive" crowd are silenced. Even lower grade positions are going empty for lack of talent, and the better, more focused jobs, such as Finish Carpenter are plentiful, but there isn't the talent to fill them.

I reckon that by 2020 our economy will once again be driven by talent and ability as opposed to framed pieces of paper (backed up by tremendous debt). Even those guys on the television program "This Old House" are begging for apprentices..............

 

No need. The news here sometimes covers the same problem. They're begging for tool and die people but there aren't any. I've told my niece she ought to go into a)engineering or b) plumbing, because the first is more down her alley but the latter is a dying art and can't be outsourced overseas. She's only 12, so she's got a while.