But there are still a few people out there who find a value in things made "the old way". People that don't mind things taking a little extra time and costing more if what they're getting in the end is a product that will last a really long time and do what it was designed to do well.
I was having a conversation with some friends about bicycles the other day and they were both trying to make the point that bicycles produced with "modern" processes/modern configurations are better or not worse than lugged steel bicycles. I was arguing points about the steel frames being repairable (if your down tube or any tube fails/breaks, it can be replaced), that steel frames absorb more bumps/cracks/road imperfection jolts than other frame materials making the ride more comfy. And that a steel frame is recyclable if your bike does get completely destroyed. As Rivendell says, (about their Sam Hillborne) "if it dies, it is easily repaired. If it really dies, the steel is easily recyclable." But the thing I feel is more important than these is the craftsmanship that goes into a lugged steel bicycle. I constantly look at Rivendell's frames on their site to see what's new, what they've got on clearance and to generally keep hope alive. These guys are pretty much the last hope for non-custom bicycle frames made with lugged steel and threaded steerer tubes. It's a dead art. It just is. Like wood windows. A hundred years ago, windows were made of wood. Doors were too. They were made of wood for a long time. (Bicycles were also made out of steel and had forks with threaded steerer tubes) for A REALLY LONG TIME!!!) Houses had wood "siding" finishing the outside. Then one day... Aluminum (windows/patio doors/siding) showed up!!! (which is actually not a good window or patio door material for a lot of reasons, but this didn't stop the industry from making hundreds and thousands of Aluminum windows and patio doors) and then VINYL!!! THE END-ALL-BE-ALL BEST BUILDING MATERIAL!!! It never rots, never rusts, never needs to be painted, and is cheaper to make things out of than wood (not including, of course, the impact on our environment that pvc manufacturing has... i won't get started on that here). Let's face it, nobody enjoyed trying to find time to paint their doors and windows or patching little rotten spots in the wood here or there every 5-10 years(I'm also not going to even touch on termite damage, for a few reasons, but mostly because termite damage still happens). So the industry gave us a lower maintenance "solution". People's lives were getting busier (who has time to paint a door or window or fence) and then we get to the question: why shouldn't everybody just get vinyl windows/patio doors molded out of plastic that will never rot, never breakdown, and NEVER need to be painted?!?!?! Well, because there's no craftsmanship that goes into them. They're molded pieces of plastic. You can see the not so beautiful exposed "welds", where the vinyl gets melted together and then trimmed down on every corner where the vertical and horizontal materials meet. Same thing on vinyl patio doors. (On modern bicycle frames you can see the exposed welds where every tube touches another tube... do you see the connection? i mean figuratively?)
Everyday at work, I show people sliding patio doors, we have Andersen doors that are made of wood with the exterior clad in vinyl and we have vinyl vinyl doors, that are molded solid vinyl. The Andersen doors start at around $900 with the screen/handle etc, the vinyl door is $350 with everything. People ask "but which one is better", and I usually explain that the all vinyl $350 door is a good door, but it lacks the craftsmanship that goes into the Andersen wood doors. And that "better" is relative to what you see value in. If you see more value in a door that you will never have to paint, that will never rot and will always be bright white vinyl, then the $350 door is probably going to be the better choice. Both will need new rollers for the sliding panel eventually, and/or a latch for the lock. But the biggest difference is how they're made, and what the finished product looks like. Weight also makes its way into the equation with doors, like with bicycles, but the opposite. A lot of people think if a door feels "heavy", it's better. Gotta be. Sliding doors, hinged doors, even storm doors. People open the storm door displays and say "that feels nice and heavy" or "sturdy", but the thing that makes a storm door feel "heavy" is the amount of (usually adjustable) tension on the hydraulic closer, it has almost nothing to do with the door itself. But it's about perception. Like a steel bicycle frame weighing 2 pounds (or 1 pound....)more than an aluminum frame making it not "better", when in the end it's going to weigh closer to 200 pounds when it gets all it's parts and wheels and RIDER on it! Again, it's about perception. Not reality. I'm losing focus here, sorry. On the rare occasion that I get to mention this to people, I like to talk about Jeldwen's wood window line. They are the only windows I can order at work that are wood on the inside AND outside. And I've told several people that my "dreamhome" would have wood Jeldwen windows. Most people just look at me like I'm dumb at this point because I've usually just talked to them for 30ish minutes and qualified them for an all vinyl window, because they hate painting, have painted white trim on the inside of their homes(wood interiors are stainable to match stained trim work) and they don't care or value the aesthetics or craftsmanship of a wood window. This is where I am not like most people. I very much value the craftsmanship that goes into the wood windows and doors and shutters. I like that they're fastened together with screws & nails, not melted together with crappy looking corners! and I would also like to take a can of paint outside every 4 or 5 years and do some touch up or repaint a door or some windows, or shutters. People did this for decades and decades before vinyl showed up as a building material and took this away from us. People used to appreciate the fancier lugs on steel bicycle frames in the 70's as well. I've mentioned this in a previous blog and I'm sure this won't be the last blog that goes on and on about lugged steel being the best bike frame material but I wish I could've been around when the mid-70's Raleigh International got to bike shops and cyclists were drooling over the beautiful lugwork on that one particular year's frame! To follow the industry and the art of frame building that was going on back then would've been amazing. Back before vinyl replacement windows!
This concept really applies to alot of goods that people buy though. My Chrome messenger bag for example. Someone made this bag in the USA, by hand. The bag retails for $140 as of 5/18/12 on Chrome's website, I got mine for a really good deal at a trendy Richmond clothing store that was blowing them out at the time because they probably didn't move them enough to keep stocking them. Anywho, I could've bought a bag for less than half of what i paid for this bag, it might have lasted awhile before the stitching started to quit on me, and I may or may not have been satisfied with its lifespan and the amount I paid for it. But the Chrome bags seem to me to have a lot of value in the details, the tough materials they choose, the fact that someone in the USA made this, makes me happy, The bag wasn't shipped from china or taiwan after going down a conveyor belt with a guy glancing at it to make sure the shoulder strap was actually attached.
I feel that value in craftsmanship was lost somewhere. Maybe somewhere between middle class American families having one parent working and the same families with the same lifestyle/income level/quality of life having both parents working to try to keep the bill collectors away. Maybe somewhere between a 15 year old having a pager and a part time job, being the coolest guy on the block and now a 10 year old isn't "happy" (whatever that could mean to a 10 year old these days) unless he/she has the new iphone? Maybe it got lost when families stopped going to hardware stores together? When husbands and wives don't go to the hardware store together because they don't have enough time when they're both off to even consult each other about their home improvement needs? When families stopped riding bikes together? When that field or wooded area you used to disappear into for hours as a kid and play "fort" in, got paved and turned into another gas station/cvs/711/starbucks/or condos? I find myself dumbfounded when people don't understand that most appliances (fridges, washing machines, etc) aren't made in America anymore, I feel like people should assume that things aren't made here anymore, but then sometimes I take a step back and I realize they're like me! They are looking for the CRAFTSMANSHIP! They want to see it on the box, they want to see "MADE IN USA" on the box and when they don't, it's heart breaking. Their existing washing machine that lasted 30 years was probably made in the USA, their existing fridge that's lasted 35 years and is still kicking was probably made here, but they realize now, as they look at a bunch of overpriced options, that whatever they choose to spend their hard earned money on, will not last nearly as long and it wasn't meant to.
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