Stopped by a local cabinet shop I hadn't seen in 10 years

I walked into Johnson's Custom Cabinets down on 5th Street last week and nearly tripped over a CNC router where they used to have three old table saws. The owner said they ditched all the hand joinery for prefinished plywood boxes and laser-cut dovetails. Anyone else feel like the craft got a little lost somewhere between the dust collectors and the computer screens?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessa_murray1mo ago

Craft got a little lost" is putting it mildly, those laser dovetails are soulless.

wren6381mo ago

Gotta disagree with you there. I've seen some laser dovetails up close and they were tight as hell, clean corners no gaps. The maker spent hours on the digital layout and setup, that's craft too just different tools. It's like saying a hand plane user isn't a real woodworker because he doesn't chop with an axe. The soul is in the precision and the joinery holding strong, not the method.

sage_green1mo agoTop Commenter

Read a piece the other day about how traditional Japanese joinery masters actually had this whole debate about power tools back in the 50s and decided it was still craft if you controlled the outcome. Kinda feels like the same thing here, a laser is just a different way of getting that same precision they were after. Not seeing how clean tight joints can be soulless when the person still has to design and dial everything in.