Am I still in the same Universe?

[Graham Orm]

Or have I slipped through into some other dimension where beauty skill and quality are the enemy? I know I've started a thread on this before, and did look for it to add this but couldn't find it, so here we go again.

Pallet wood furniture is totally lost on me. Just look at the comments at the side! It's a coffee table, would you have it in your lounge? Would you display it proudly as a creation of your own?

 

[lurker]

Pallets are great for making compost heaps

 

[dean0866]

and for repairing beehives.....

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Oh, I don't know. You could stack quite a bit of stuff on it, there's no gaps for stuff to drop through, there's space under it to wrap banding round to secure the load, and there's plenty of space to get the forklift forks in. Maybe the legs are a bit long, though - wasted space when they're stacked.

In my lounge? Nah.

 

[DTR]

To be fair it still looks better than some of the pallet "furniture" I've seen....

 

[ardenwoodcraft]

Recycled pallets and the industrial look are the new shabby chic. (hammer) ](*,)

Probably because the TV programme makers can't think of anything totally new these days. :duno: #-o

 

[blackrodd]

As DTR Says, That table is pretty good compared to some of the really bad stuff.
Exactly the opposite of quality and craftmanship,
When you're fed up with it, throw it on the fire!
Rodders

 

[ColeyS1]

Perhaps he likes woodworking and the pallet wood is all he can afford ?

Coley

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Perhaps he likes woodworking and the pallet wood is all he can afford ?

Coley

Well, he can afford a digital camera or fancy phone, and a computer with interwebs access so he can post stuff on Facepalm, so he's not completely skint. I'm sure he could run to a few sticks of joinery grade redwood if he wanted to.

 

[No skills]

Oh the snobbery, love it

Before anybody calls pot kettle black I'm a tool snob, I don't deny it.

 

[rafezetter]

hands up all of you who learned your craft soley by practising joints over and over and over on quality hardwoods..... anyone?

for all you know this could be only the 3rd or 4th time this person has made anything like this, and I agree it looks better than most other offerings.

however; none of you have had a kind word to say that he's taken firewood and made it into something practical and useable, which is what all wordworking is about - from there it's only degrees of separation, but the function of the work is the same.

It's only modernity and a lack of having to fight every day just to stave off hunger that has allowed people to place different labels and levels of expectation on items that perform the very same function. A coffee table is a coffee table is a coffee table, how it looks is irrelevant, the materials it's made from is also irrelevant, if it does performs it's function without issue, what exactly can you say is inherantly "wrong" with it?

it's elitism at it's worst and why there are so few posts of "look what I made" that are from anyone other than experienced woodworkers. YOU may not like that piece but you can bet your a$$ the maker is, and rightly so.

This is supposed to be the biggest and "best" UK woodworking forum yet the elitest BS that gets spewed from this place all the time is terrible.

An idea occurs that would be an interesting challenge for the naysayers: "make something inherently better, using the same materials, taking just 1 day to do so. Without using anything other than basic tools. No handplanes, card scrapers etc or other timesavers like pockethole jigs & no machines apart from a handheld sander and drill"

as you've got YEARS and YEARS of experience the 1 day should be more than sufficient to knock out a masterpiece.

This is no different than the car drivers who honk their horns impatiently at a learner driver or complain about old people getting in their way.

it disgusts me.

Only a few days ago we had a new member post a very frank and open "hello" about how he was going to be using woodworking as a means of outlet and therapy for a mental health issue (which I do as well). Yet now we have a post that basically carps over any project with less than perfect execution, design lines or material used.

What do you think the chances are that that gentleman will post any WIP's or other pics for advice now? Slim to none.

a while ago someone broached the idea of separating the forum into "professionals" and "amateurs" - who summarily got shot down for the suggestion...

But you know what? He was right; because it's clear that there forum members who clearly think some other forum members or lurkers are "playing in the wrong yard". I consider myself to be among the latter, and it's a feeling I felt both times I've went to Richard A's open day, and Peter Sefton's day more recently, as though I was an imposter.

I used to want to be "part of the club", to feel like I deserved to be there, but now I realise I DO deserve to be there by simple fact of being interested in making stuff from wood, and it's those among YOU who make me (and probably others) feel undeserving.

 

[Graham Orm]

Rafa, Have you heard yourself?

I'm not out to attack anyone's work. I'm making the point that I don't understand the obsession with calling poorly made constructions from scrap wood, 'furniture' andthen pasting pictures and expecting praise. The guy is American and will probably never see this or any of the other 'sheesh' posts that are made about it so it won't be upsetting him. You don't have to be Thomas Chippendale to form an instant opinion on the table. It's tacky, crude and a vile colour.

As for trying to make something in a day using a pen kife and a pot of glue, why would I? I'd end up with junk.

 

[DTR]

There is an ongoing trend at the moment for making things from pallet wood. Not because it's a cheap source of wood, but purely for the sake of it being pallet. Let's not forget that there are plenty of other sources for quality reclaimed wood besides pallet.

 

[John15]

I wonder if this type of furniture appeals mainly to young people passing through their anti establishment period.

John

 

[lurker]

I dont think it was a comment about the materials nor the execution, but of the horrible design.
I have used pallet wood but its not generally much good and could put off a budding woodworker before they start.

Other than sheet material I dont think I have bought any wood for at least 15 years.
There is plenty of decent wood around just waiting to be recycled.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I wonder if this type of furniture appeals mainly to young people passing through their anti establishment period.

John

I think there's much truth in that. There's also a fashion for something called 'virtue-signalling', which is when people make a big noise about how environmentally aware, or socially responsible, or whatever, they are. There's a strong whiff of that in the comments attached to the picture.

If someone wants to make things from old pallets, fine. Nothing wrong with that - and as a couple of people pointed out, they're quite appropriate for some jobs. However, setting it up as a sort of 'fashion statement' does invite comment, and if I'm honest, it's a furniture genre that does nothing for me. If people disagree with my opinion, that's fine; it's not the first time, it won't be the last, and I can live with it. It's only my opinion, after all; it's no more valid than anybody else's.

 

[DTR]

There's also a fashion for something called 'virtue-signalling', which is when people make a big noise about how environmentally aware, or socially responsible, or whatever, they are.

There is a certain irony (hypocrisy?) of those people making such claims on social media, posting from an extremely polluting smart phone that probably gets chucked into landfill every two years....

 

[BearTricks]

I wonder if this type of furniture appeals mainly to young people passing through their anti establishment period.

John

I'm 25 so I think I'd probably qualify as a young person. I'd probably say that if a young person even had chance to go through an anti-establishment period (whatever that is) these days, they probably don't have the luxury of applying it to furniture. My anti-establishment phase ended at eighteen once I realised that it's unrealistic to go round dressed like a punk from thirty years ago, and prior to that I only rebelled by listening to music that no one else around me seemed to be listening to and hanging round in places that vaguely inconvenienced the people living nearby.

These days, youth culture seems to be so homogenised that I don't think these subcultures exist in the same capacity anyway. Furniture is the last thing on the mind of young people now everyone seems to be busy navigating the reality of living with a useless degree and working towards getting a barista apprenticeship that requires two years management experience.

That said, I think that the most anti-establishment the furniture world gets is these days is grumpy woodworkers railing against ikea and oak furniture land over a cup of tea in a dingy shed somewhere. (Or, perhaps on the internet)

If anything, this style of furniture is most popular with the bored DIY housewife blogs with their kreg jigs and home depot timber. Everyone can speculate.

Back to the topic. I don't like it personally because I can't imagine a house that it would look good in. I completely agree, however, that most of these comments are snobbery based on the anger that sometimes comes from not understanding something. There is literally no difference between making a bad piece of furniture from a chunk of nice mahogany, and making a bad piece of furniture from some pallets. If It were mahogany, it would probably at least get some constructive criticism rather than wild speculation about who's perpetuating the trend. I'm probably happier to see the pallets being used than smashed up in a builders yard.

N.B. My house has furniture that comes from ikea or even asda, nice stuff bought second hand on ebay, things I bought at the charity shop and did up, heirloom stuff from my grandparents, and stuff I built from scratch. A mix of mid-century, industrial, victorian, modern etc etc etc. I can't afford to buy overpriced or even fairly priced sometimes, so I get what I can for a price that I think is good. I wish I had the luxury of being anti-establishment, but then again if I had an idea for something nice that I could build from pallets, then I'd probably do so, and ikea come out with some nice stuff sometimes.

 

[n0legs]

I wonder if that is really "pallet wood" or someone jumping on the wagon of band.
Is there a WIP?

 

[MIGNAL]

Look you lot, stop chewing over words and tell it straight. It's f'king garbage. :shock: