February 5, 2008, 2x4 Birdcage

This birdcage, complete with bird and 29 inch high stand, was built by one of the "Lumberjocks".

The whole thing, bird and all, was built out of ONE, 8 foot long, Southern Yellow Pine, 2x4.
That's incredible conservation of resources, but certainly not conservation of labor.

Wow, think of the carbon footprint from the power tools and lighting and fosil fuels used to transport it from the forest to the store, etc.

Sad...

We're all gonna die...

Sure, and Happy Monkey could put his books and bed on milk crates.

That is one of almost 5000 neat projects on Lumberjock.
I am simply amazed he managed to find a pine 2x with brass hangers inside.

Very cool.

God thing it's a wooden bird, otherwise it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart with its beak, and VOOM!

Happy Monkey;429699 wrote:

God thing it's a wooden bird

God doesn't read newspapers?:D

But does God poop on newspapers?

a lot of work for an outcome which is only mediocre, imo. Sure, it's cool, but the composition is stiff, and what's with the swan neck holder or whatever it is? Makes me go, ho hum.

That's because you don't comprehend the difficulty, and skill involved, to get all of that out of one 2x4.

but that's my point; all that effort, impressive though it certainly is, for something blah. why?

He wasn't trying to build a work of art or design the most beautiful birdcage. He was demonstrating his ability to plan, and his execution skills, on a very challenging woodworking project.

Same as the finished appearance, of the chip with 2 billion transistors, has little to do with the technical and mechanical accomplishment.

I get your point, Bruce, I do. And it's certainly an impressive feat.

But something inside me still kinda feels sorry for the guy--

I get your point also. When I saw the King Tut exhibit in person, my impression was, this stuff is rather crudely made.

sound and fury signifying nothing, yeah.

I remember standing in line at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco for hours to get in to the first King Tut exhibit -- hours and hours. Not that I wasn't impressed but after a while, certain things become an exercise in the law of diminishing returns

This speaks to me of the subtleties and differences between artists and artisans.

Cloud;431151 wrote:

-- hours and hours.

Ha, ha, ha, in line from 9AM to 11PM in Washington, DC. Then the parking garage where I parked, was closed for the night.

Cloud;431151 wrote:

This speaks to me of the subtleties and differences between artists and artisans.

And which would value craftsman skills and which, design quality? Surely an artist, who knows what it takes to derive a great design would value design more than craftsman skills, however if a professional woodworker like that which created the cage from a 2 X 4 saw an exquisitely designed metal cage, he may indeed say "how did they do that?" I look at that cage and try to wrap my brain around the concept of it. "How did he *do* that" is my first thought. Less about visual aesthetics and more about the process of creation.

It's gonna take an age, if you wanna build a cage, and you know it don't come easy.