What does it take for a great project?

[Mark Singer]

The focus of SMC is very often which saw to use or which system is better to cut a straight line....which sander leaves the least sawdust....maybe which plane chatters the least. All of these are certainly interesting and valid subjects for a great woodworkers forum. Do these subjects and many others really change the final look of our projects....? The answer is no. If I cut the walnut with a Powermatic or a Jet..it probably won't change much if anything in the final appearance of the project! If I sand it with a Festool or a Bosch, or Dewalt it will probably be just as smooth. To improve a project we need to think deeply about design. Are we limited to just using wood as the only medium? Must a table have 4 legs? What if it had one leg that was metal and it was cast into a concrete base and then covered with gravel...like a flagpole supporting the table...for a patio. About a`week ago I posted "Leave it like it is" in the design forum.....it recieved few posts and several were response from me. As unpopular as it was it is still only on post from the top in the "Design Forum"...the point is no one seems to care much about what something ends up looking like as long as the shavings that fell from their Lie Neilsen Plane were fine and translucent....The shavings end up in the trash....eventually after we fondle them admiring our amazing skill.
We actually end up arguing about which tool is the best for a certain task...what is the point? If we spent a little more time with a blank piece of paper and fresh thoughts about how the next project is to be used,,,what does the the table design need to have to make it really different and still work in concert with the living room? Can I have someone make metal legs.? what about inserting a glass center...if the glass is opague it could be lit from the bottom!
This sort of thinking can make a meaningful difference in the final result. If we put our effort into someting really great and original...we could still have great shavings...speaking of shaving...whose idea was it to put 3 blades in one razor anyway? A creative designer!
This post may not get much response either...it was nice to see that many people knew David Wilcox...even if the concept of the thread was not important. Maybe I am to critical. What is really the difference between your favorite car and one you can't stand ? Probably not the steel or the machines that made it....design, ah yes that may have had something to do with it.