Shop Class as Soulcraft (2006)

https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/shop-class-as-soulcraft

by moh_maya • 5 years ago

85 49 5 years ago

moh_maya• 5 years ago

"I was sometimes quieted at the sight of a gang of conduit entering a large panel in a commercial setting, bent into nestled, flowing curves, with varying offsets, that somehow all terminated in the same plane. This was a skill so far beyond my abilities that I felt I was in the presence of some genius, and the man who bent that conduit surely imagined this moment of recognition as he worked. "

HeyLaughingBoy• 5 years ago

This should be the headline of /r/cableporn :-)

kqr2• 5 years ago

Should add 2006

Scoundreller3• 5 years ago

Which I think is hugely relevant. I can do things myself today that I would have had to hire a professional for in 2006.

Overhauled a garage door opener (thank you youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE3GTc1h5N0 )

Fixed a gas hot water heater with sandpaper.

Various car repairs (intake gasket, oil changes, tire changes, emissions pump stuff). And while the author here says that China can't help you, I'm using a Chinese-build OBD reader and often made-in-china parts (either OE or ???).

And props to whomever invented SharkBite. They are overused, but have saved me in a pickle.

throwawayboise3• 5 years ago

I personally wouldn't trust a SharkBite fitting for a permanent repair. I guess they are code approved though, and they are great (if expensive) for quick fixes.

motohagiography• 5 years ago

Crawford articulates important ideas. Highly recommend. While not a summary at all, my favorite theme interpreted from his work is that physical competence is moral.

Scoundreller3• 5 years ago

What ordinary people once made, they buy; and what they once fixed for themselves, they replace entirely or hire an expert to repair, whose expert fix often involves installing a pre-made replacement part.

It's of course the last part that really grinds me gears. Or worse, they depend on flowcharts and consumer idiocy to first replace parts that have been proven to be fine, or could be tested first. At least Ebay liquifies this used part market. Always sell your old junk. I've even sold a smashed up iphone for $50.

I had a cylinder misfire in a car and the dealership ignored my notes where I said I swapped around the coils and plugs several times but the misfire stayed in the same cylinder. Somehow they tried to sell me new coils and spark plugs which obviously were not the problem. Mindless flowchart followers, unsure if by design or by idiocy.

dexwiz• 5 years ago

At least 60% of people, even otherwise intelligent people, lack the skill to troubleshoot things. Either they cannot generate hypothesis, cannot design experiments, cannot correctly make conclusions from experiments, or don’t understand using process of elimination to narrow down the issue. Lacking even one of these skills forces you to default to flowchart thinking, which is exactly that process encoded in a document.

zdragnar3• 5 years ago

I once had a car get a bad oxygen sensor while on vacation. Since it was under warranty, it had to get towed 45 minutes to a dealership. I explicitly told them that the problem is a bad oxygen sensor.

It took them 10 hours to figure out it was a bad oxygen sensor, and then another 2 to fix it.

fiddlerwoaroof• 5 years ago

It’s tricky to handle this, though. As a programmer, I’ve both had situations where the bug ticket had details I overlooked and situations where the attempt to specify a problem in the ticket led me on a wild goose chase.

throwawayboise3• 5 years ago

That seems odd. An O2 sensor problem will normally illuminate the amber "check engine" lamp, but the car remains perfectly drivable. No need to tow it anywhere. The shop technician can read the stored trouble codes and easily determine it's the O2 sensor, should take maybe 5 minutes do diagnose.

I think someone was getting scammed here. Since it was a warranty repair, maybe the dealer was scamming the factory warranty program somehow.

Arainach• 5 years ago

Always sell your old junk.

This approach isn't for everyone. There are serious costs in time to this kind of lifestyle. I could spend a couple of hours on YouTube tearing something apart and trying to fix it. I could spend time taking pictures, post something for sale, deal with idiots on Facebook who want me to drive 2 hours to give it to them for 10% of the asking price or trying to give answers about whether it was always kept securely in a vegan-friendly household, or I could not.

Time is one of the most precious commodities. We all get a strictly finite amount of it. Whether someone is working multiple jobs trying to make ends meet or fortunate enough to be working as a software engineer who is well compensated but seemingly persistently oncall, free time is the rarest thing in my life and consequently the most precious. Everyone has their threshold, but unless something is in the hundreds or dollars or I can sell it to a coworker who will literally come get it from my desk (or porch), most things are simply not worth my time.

I like taking things apart. I like building things. I have a wood shop in my garage, a soldering iron, and various other maker tools. But those are for things I choose to spend time on because I find interesting.

Scoundreller3• 5 years ago

You've summed up why I don't deal with Facebook marketplace/local classifieds. Ebay Instant Payment only. Though the post office was a nice walk during lunch at work which I'm not really at anymore.

Works well for broken electronics, not as great for a broken lathe.

danohuiginn• 5 years ago

In case you want more: the author expanded this article into a book

https://www.matthewbcrawford.com/new-page-1-1-2

WaltPurvis• 5 years ago

I actually wanted less —- i.e., I bought the book a long time ago, and have always been interested-but-not-interested-enough to actually read it -- so I'm really happy to discover this essay exists.

Kaibeezy• 5 years ago

I read his next one - https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/183/183975/the-world-beyond-...

I’m pretty busy but found it to have been worth the time. The discussion leads up to a longer final chapter that describes in detail a very well-selected example, to which I still find myself referring years later.

iequery• 5 years ago

I’ll freely admit TLDR - I’ll get to it - but I strongly empathize.

I was in one of the last cohorts of my high schools shop class. I made some ambitious projects (nothing mind blowing). I learned to ship instead of starting a new project!

I learned CNC routing and plasma cutting. I learned CAD. I learned how to engage methodically with a dangerous system.

My first tech jobs were in machining and CAD. Today I’ve drifted away.

It’s hard to keep working and learning. Techshop closed. Makerspaces have soldering guns and 3D printers, no Haas mills. The few with real equipment want you to drop thousands of $$$ and 6 months of time on taking their cert classes, instead of just a safety checkout. Maybe the latter is impossible with insurance, but I’m still annoyed. I can’t afford a house in the Bay so I can’t start building my own shop.

Today I fiddle with hand tools and watch AvE and hope I’ll find a shop or mentor that works with my life. If I ever get “fuck you money”, I’ll go start taking machining courses at a trade school full time. If I ever afford a house here or move, I’ll aim to get a shop outbuilding and hire tutors to teach me the harder aspects.

Is there a better path?? I’ll read TFA and see if there’s anything actionable, but I think it will just make me sadder. I guess I could go work in CAD again...

pacman83• 5 years ago

In Tucson, Xerocraft, a nonprofit makerspace, has lathe and Bridgeport knee mill [0] and is run less formally. Also, Tucson is cheap and somewhat funky. You might like it.

[0] https://xerocraft.org/pages/metalshop

Edit: Sorry, someone has gutted the web site, removing most of the information. The space itself has existed for quite a few years and I have been a volunteer member of staff since 2013. The tools are real. Despite the appearance probably given by this new website, the makerspace is not vaporware.

throwawayboise3• 5 years ago

I had shop in middle school; I wish I had taken more vocational courses in high school, my school had a good program for that. Might have led me on a much more satisfying career trajectory. I enjoy programming for the most part, but it all seems intangible and non-permanent. I know that everything I do will be "legacy code" and considered obsolete in a few years. I'm certainly aware of "grass is greener" syndrome, but making and repairing tangible real-world things feels more satisfying. For now I satisfy this by driving an old car that has no electronics and that I can maintain with hand tools.

NoImmatureAdHom• 5 years ago

I'm in more-or-less the same boat, so I sympathize. There are nooks and crannies in every big city where you could have a semblance of a shop, but you're right. It's hard. Especially when you're not sure how long you're going to be around, so it's tough to justify investing.

That said, it is amazing how much some people do with so little. Look at Clickspring's work (http://www.clickspringprojects.com/). The man is a freaking virtuoso and I think his shop is 4 feet x 10.

showerst• 5 years ago

I wonder how much YouTube and younger generations are turning this trend around.

I got interested in machining as an extension of general making thanks to Adam Savage, ThisOldTony, and a host of others.

Between the pandemic and the Us-China tarifs spats the lead time on a new hobby lathe from someone like Precision Matthews is 3+ months, and prices are through the roof for both new and used old iron.

Anecdotally, a bunch of others in the amateur space seem to be knowledge workers and programmers who want to do something more physical.

bsder4• 5 years ago

Is this really the spat causing issues?

I see the standard Chinesium lathes (like the Seig's or HiTorque) seem to be just as available as usual at the same price as usual.

I suspect that the Precision Matthews issues are that they drained inventory and now that orders are picking up, lead times are going nuts. Those lathe beds probably require a decent amount of hand scraping after coming from China and if they quit doing that during the Covid shutdown, it will take a while to get the pipeline back up to speed.

Given that Precision Matthews is in Pittsburgh, probably the only thing that couldn't readily be built domestically fairly quickly is the outer casting. And I suspect even that could be built in Pittsburgh or Cleveland.

tunguska• 5 years ago

This reminds me of Growth of the Soil. Same themes.

desine2• 5 years ago

This is one of my favorite books. Changed the way I looked at work and what I wanted to do with my life (always keeping a tangible output for my efforts). Along with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the pair are wonderful motorcycle books that teach a lot about life and very little about motorcycles.

I am a bit biased as someone who is fond of motorcycles, but they're both excellent without that, I think.

ianmcgowan• 5 years ago

Another meditation on technology, that is perhaps more grounded than Zen. Worth a read:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/truck-on-rebuilding-a-worn-out...

What he does find, however, is that he must make peace with technology; it’s a mistake, he says, to "assume there is a point on that line between the caveman’s club and the moon shot that marks the moral turnaround, before which technology was somehow benign, after which it is malign."

desine2• 5 years ago

Thanks, I had not heard of this, but will definitely give it a read. Zen definitely does go a bit into lofty metaphysics, enough to lose some of the more casual readers. Shop Class as Soulcraft is very much in the physical world. I think that point on the line that many of seem to feel is when we no longer understand the underlying principles of the technology, but both (all three?) books examine the breaking down of these knowledge barriers. For anyone else still reading this comment - Zen focuses more on "quality" and it's definition, than the actual work. The physical acts of adjusting the bike serve as introduction to the discussion.

Anyways thanks again for the recommendation.

myself2483• 5 years ago

Every hackerspace/makerspace has been preaching this to anyone who'll stand still long enough to listen, too. Learning and doing things together is even more powerful than just learning and doing them in general.

It's tough times right now for in-person gathering and collaboration, but as soon as it's safe to do so, you owe it to yourself to see what communities have sprung up locally, and/or start another one.

Animats4• 5 years ago

The maker era is over. It was over before the pandemic, after TechShop and TheShop.Build went bankrupt.

What's left now as "maker spaces" are either arts and crafts clubs, or educational operations where kids are pushed through tasks to check the "Maker" box on their college resumes.

myself2483• 5 years ago

Wow, is that what's left of the landscape in your area? A few failed for-profits, and nothing of the scrappy community-based true-DIY nonprofits?

That sucks, I'm sorry. And if you feel that way, surely plenty of others do as well, which means it'll be even harder for the next comer to win your (plural) attention.

But I assure you, it's not so bleak everywhere. My area has seen the coming and the going of for-profit spaces as well, but the main effect they've had on the nonprofit spaces is that they burn a bunch of money on PR, attract a bunch of attention, then implode and leave their members looking for alternatives. Good for us, we're doubling our space this year!

I dunno, maybe some would dismiss us as an arts-and-crafts club too. Their loss; more CNC time for me...

morganw• 5 years ago

There were maker spaces before TechShop (Noisebridge) that still exist and new spaces do open up, for example Maker Nexus https://www.makernexus.com/our-story

mauvehaus• 5 years ago

I'll bite: as a very traditionally trained woodworker (professionally), there's a very apparent and steep learning curve to mastering manual, traditional skills. Sharpening a plane or chisel (fundamentally the same process) requires a degree of finesse, understanding the process, and how the process achieves the desired result. And then it takes practice. Anybody who mistakenly approaches sharpening with the expectation that they're going to end up with a razor sharp chisel the first time is almost certain to be humbled. Virtually every skill has this learning curve: layout, sawing, dovetailing, carving, etc. None of these skills are hard, per se, but they take practice to learn.

The modern maker movement largely sells an illusion that you can sidestep all this thanks to the involvement of computers: just 3D print your thing! Laser cut it! Or CNC router it! And then put an Arduino on it and make it do something!

And you know what? All of those also have a steep learning curve. They have the illusion of accessibility, but if you want a good part off the ShopBot, you need to first be able to very precisely describe what you want to end up with, then understand what's an appropriate cutting tool for the material you want to make it out of, understand chip load, speeds, feeds, and a slew of other stuff. And the laser cutter has all of the same hurdles, but slightly different, and I've heard enough people complain about 3D printers to know the same is true there too. Oh yeah, and there are a million paths to get to g-code, all of them with their own quirks and incompatible file formats.

Most people get stuck at coming up with a sufficiently precise description of the thing they want to make. If it isn't on thingiverse, it's basically impossible. Most people could learn, but they aren't looking for a hobby that requires that much effort before they see an outcome.

So the population that makerspaces are trying to attract is pretty small, at least once folks realize how much effort it is to actually do anything beyond making a canned intro item.

Reality, it turns out, contains a surprising amount of detail. Whether you're altering it with traditional tools or modern "maker" tools, you have to put your time in understanding it if you want to move beyond the basics and reach a level of skill and independence.

cybervegan• 5 years ago

Wow - such negative responses. Seems like bitterness or jealousy to me. Makerspaces aren't primarily about tools but more about community and skill sharing for the good of the local community. We do things together and at my local space, we are raring to go once lock-down here in the UK eases. Our user base has basically doubled over the pandemic, and we've done loads of collaborative (but remote) projects together over the past year, including making PPE for healthcare workers, helping local groups with props for events, xmas gift drives, and member's competitions.

socialist_coder• 5 years ago

Agree. I think a great hobby for us programmer types is woodworking. It's less art and more science. Follow the plans, be precise with your measurements and cuts, and do the tedious sanding & finishing work, and you will create beautiful custom pieces for your house or as gifts that you can be proud of. It's very relaxing to do some woodworking in your garage shop after a day of sitting in front of your computer.

You can get away with a basic shop for under $1000 (or even $500) worth of tools too. Table saw, some clamps, random orbit sander, skill saw for plywood, a screw gun or small finish nailer. It doesn't take much to get started. Add a miter saw and thickness planer later. Check out Woodworking for Mere Mortals on Youtube. Great place to get started.

hoppyhoppy2• 5 years ago

Depending on where you live there may be a community tool library or shared workshop space available for a small fee. And if you take a woodworking course at a local community college or something they'll supply whatever tools you need, at least during the course!

Animats4• 5 years ago

“Indebtedness could discipline workers, keeping them at routinized jobs in factories and offices, graying but in harness, meeting payments regularly.”

So much more cost-effective than slavery.

ptmcc• 5 years ago

One of my favorite and most impactful classes I took in high school was auto shop. I was one of the lucky last few years (early 2000s) it was even offered, before being dropped entirely.

Among all my other AP classes, advanced math, science, literature, music, my one semester of auto shop was the only class that taught me the deep satisfaction of working with my hands. Doing something so immediately tangible. Understanding the intricacy and beauty of mechanical systems.

Like many of us on HN my career is in software, where things are so abstract and intangible. I work hard and exercise my mind, but so many days it feels like I have no evidence of progress.

That tangible, obvious sense of accomplishment is so lacking it's no wonder that it is such a trope that software developers retire into woodworking or blacksmithing.

It is a travesty that these hands-on skills have been dropped from high school curriculums. It truly opened my mind to a whole world I didn't know that I yearned for.

meristohm• 5 years ago

I still have the two stepstools and a bookcase I made in middle-school drafting/woodshop. I am reminded of some of my errors that I learned from while making these objects.

Welding class in high school was similarly useful, and I’m sure small engines and auto shop would’ve been helpful, too.

I wonder if running a farm and pre-industrial village as a school (and possibly as basic military training, with extra challenges) would be better than we currently do.

iainctduncan• 5 years ago

Didn't read the link as I've already read the book, but the books amazing. So is his follow up. Really worthwhile and very though provoking for folks in tech.

dang• 5 years ago

Some past discussion:

Shop Class as Soulcraft (2006) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8280379 - Sept 2014 (18 comments)

Shop Class as Soulcraft. Maybe software too? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=189003 - May 2008 (1 comment)

BrianYesh• 5 years ago

If you enjoyed Shop Class as Soulcraft you'll love The Anarchist's Tool Chest by Christopher Schwarz.

https://lostartpress.com/collections/getting-started/product...

This book is very practical and will give you specific ways to start making. With hand tools and wood. Mr Schwarz writing style is funny and very accessible.

You do not need to join anything to be satisfied by making real things with your hands. You do not need to speed a lot of money doing it. You can do it in your tiny apartment. Watch free Youtube videos when you need a new skill.

Don't buy a bunch of power tools. Skip that and go straight to hand tools. Even a pocket knife and a good piece of wood. I love my power tools. But sometimes wish I had spent my money on hand made hand tools and spent more time learning how to use use them.

I am a front end web designer that got a university degree in sculpture some twenty years ago. Immediately after graduation I got jobs in graphic design using early Photoshop. Years later I missed making physical things. So I made myself a little workshop and build on nights and weekends.

Respect! Good luck!

Shop Class as Soulcraft (2006)

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