tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post4029737849909722179..comments2024-03-28T01:15:56.822-07:00Comments on Freedom Machinery & Acc: Skill, Craft, Pride, Cost, and the decline of the minds of youth and Americagranthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03487168972877501394noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-16603171286356652462011-02-08T20:28:34.457-08:002011-02-08T20:28:34.457-08:00That narrowed light is tits... You figure out a wa...That narrowed light is tits... You figure out a way keep the guide stamp on top?Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578919943034051160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-67421279259728659882011-02-05T01:40:49.234-08:002011-02-05T01:40:49.234-08:00Grant, I'm way late to this party.
But this is...Grant, I'm way late to this party.<br />But this is gold. <br />I was about to write a mega lengthy response, but you said what needed to be said...<br /> <br />(as a quick aside, here's my least favorite trend in the moto world right now... "Dude, I built my chopper for less than four grand..." Oh, yeah? You know what that says to me? That tells me, without even seeing it, that you got into this shit yesterday, you'd rather spend your money on video games because you're just not that committed yet, that your chopper is a pile of shit with wires hangin' out everywhere, covered in shitty parts and it's most definitely slow as fuck... and slow as fuck just ain't cool, no matter what era)Stonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10653275033017350948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-44541974388144304452011-02-04T20:57:35.815-08:002011-02-04T20:57:35.815-08:00Maybe it's because we were cut from the same c...Maybe it's because we were cut from the same cloth but,I completely agree. There's a priceless satisfaction that comes from crafting something yourself by hand.Team Roushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02027933065389888437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-57178877007217817902011-01-31T14:29:10.058-08:002011-01-31T14:29:10.058-08:00VERY well said, thank you!VERY well said, thank you!Teledanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01608865381793820477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-74587807836604613812011-01-27T03:43:12.072-08:002011-01-27T03:43:12.072-08:00Couldn't agree with this more, and I think str...Couldn't agree with this more, and I think striving to buy quality items and reward craftsman that take pride in their work extends not only from the garage but to clothing and even choosing furniture for your home. We have all these same problems here in Australia, it was once a country that took pride in its manufacturing that now manufactures very little.Adam Nickelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10866336341644515338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-58874792188593415752011-01-26T04:58:58.001-08:002011-01-26T04:58:58.001-08:00Right on!Right on!Kevin "TEACH" Baashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07634035225536018764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-59053863184992568072011-01-24T18:57:03.794-08:002011-01-24T18:57:03.794-08:00I have posted many comments on this very topic on ...I have posted many comments on this very topic on a lot of different boards over the years.<br />Many fine points and observations on this thread.<br />Just a couple of quick points. With regards to Japan take a momment to read about an American who was largely dismissed here, but was embraced by the Japanesse. W. Edwards Deming. "A prophet is never welcome in his hometown."<br />The masses in the America have been deceived by the evil to worship the god of consumption.<br />Continue to strive to make your best better, as well as supporting like minded folk. And finally remember that anything produced with passion and striving will forever we desired.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-69680574489074821732011-01-24T07:15:54.201-08:002011-01-24T07:15:54.201-08:00Grant you are fucking right on the money. This is ...Grant you are fucking right on the money. This is not a political point of view it's just the truth. Craftsmanship has become lost in our ever quest to be price whores. I try hard to buy the BEST product not the cheapest or most expensive but the best. That is why in Europe they do exactly that and that is why WalMart failed in some places over there. They want and demand quality for a lifetime and are willing to pay for it. <br />I know I try hard to make things right and well. I have nowhere the skills you do but I keep trying and working at it and working at it hard even though it is for no one but me.<br />We need more of you young-ish guys to talk and think this way....hard work and persistence and education can give you tremendous rewards other than cash......<br />Power to the thinking people!AEE Choppershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05044537901035383652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-15841556263414929692011-01-22T02:38:25.591-08:002011-01-22T02:38:25.591-08:00Very well said, I've been struggling to put si...Very well said, I've been struggling to put similar thoughts into words for a while. The Japanese will buy a few nice but expensive things that last forever, they appreciate quality and aesthetic and will pay extra for what they perceive as unquantifiable value. That's why all the knuckles, pans and shovels end up over here eventually (they get a bit carried away).<br /><br />Americans on the other hand have to quantify everything, I saw this a while back when Tom Fugle was selling belts on CoC and people were complaining about the price. Ok they were expensive but the man tooled them himself, they aren't $20 cheap shit walmart belts they're individual numbered pieces made by an artisan. People had this attitude like Fuck who needs a belt when you can get five feet of ROPE at Walmart for two dollars? Look at it this way -- why eat grass fed steak when you can get cheap shit frozen Chinese mad cow beef in a tube at Costco? Most people would understand the difference in quality when it comes to food so why is it so different for other goods? <br /><br />The denim thing at 4q that you commented on, these guys make jeans the way they were intended using "outdated" machinery that was cast off by American manufacturers as being inefficient: with the result that American jeans are garbage (made in Pakistan anyway). Yeah selvage jeans are pricey but a pair of Iron Heart 634s will last for fucking forever, extreme quality, super comfortable, and they pick up character as they age instead of falling to pieces. They're worth every penny because that much quality is built into them, the damn things stand up on their own...<br /><br />I'm an American living overseas and I hate when expats run down Americans but every time I go back the country is more and more People of Walmart. The US is becoming a third world country right in front of everyone's faces and all they can do is bitch about the price of well made things. I don't get it.onigoroshihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16959225613469195513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-26575496911171842172011-01-21T23:11:08.981-08:002011-01-21T23:11:08.981-08:00Grant, Good post. A few thoughts:
In relation to ...Grant, Good post. A few thoughts:<br /><br />In relation to cutting PBS and the National Endowments for Arts. I recently heard something about how art isn't a necessity. The reply was something like, "when art dies so does the society".<br /><br />Education seems to no longer be an American value.<br /><br />Say you need a product or service. Instead of going to the small independent craftsman, you go to the big cheap place. One day you need only what the small guy can provide, only to find he's closed shop.<br /><br />I don't think we need to worry too much about Socialism, more so Corporatism.Chris Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15690398020465136831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-29087715969957624982011-01-21T22:13:10.641-08:002011-01-21T22:13:10.641-08:00One of the biggest losses in this country was the ...One of the biggest losses in this country was the slow denegration of the apprentice system in both the arts, and industry. Men spent YEARS proving their mettle and dedication to the crafts by assisting, iistening, and ABSORBING their chosen vocations before they were allowed to actually perform the simplest of tasks.<br /><br />And when I say absorbing, I mean absorbing both the mechanical aspects of their chosen field, and more importantly the PHILOSOPHY of that field from working alongside men who had dedicated themselves to being the very best person they could at that chosen field, who had invested a lifetime doing what they did because they had PRIDE in what they did, and stood two generations later and said "You see that? I did that, with my sweat, and my heart, and I'm proud of what I've done in my life".<br /><br />None of that matters anymore, today it's instant everything. Instant buying, instant entertainment, instant gratification. Nothing means anything to most people anymore, because if the car they buy falls apart, or the TV they have blows up, or the new house they bought falls apart - be it two days, or two years, they just go buy another one instantly. To hell with paying for something that lasts, or might be passed on to another generation. <br /><br />We live in the "Yay me, fuck you!" times, and it permiates everything from the products we buy, to the people who run the industries, to the people we elect to office. Everybody wants everything today, and fuck tomorrow, and who comes after us.Irish Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16830702315575079518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-305050008374136832011-01-21T21:37:06.304-08:002011-01-21T21:37:06.304-08:00good deal.
talk is cheap.
hard work is not.
paint...good deal. <br />talk is cheap.<br />hard work is not.<br />painting a gas tank... the idea, the prep,<br />tape time, supplies, the gun, the compressor, electricity, clean-up and they want to cost $200.<br /> I can really relate to what you said about the handmade parts...mass produce itfor cheap and it becomes shit. it losses -hand made- and is generic crap.max schaafhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10082965106295859483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-31956736700067514522011-01-21T19:42:45.670-08:002011-01-21T19:42:45.670-08:00I saw a quote in one of the Garage Mags with an ar...I saw a quote in one of the Garage Mags with an article by Tim Conder about a guy in St Louis that built a "period" 60's FED. The last sentence of the article read "Creation is the true BADMOTHERFUCKER so put up or shut up sucker" that has stuck in my head ever since I read it. P.S. I daydream about that whole trip to from the shithole town I live in(BFE) to LBC like every fucking day haha, especially now freezing my ass of in Iowa..Doin it all again next year....Kris Kleinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00593315232313422058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-14724375965637053832011-01-21T13:11:14.831-08:002011-01-21T13:11:14.831-08:00This country USED to take PRIDE in our products an...This country USED to take PRIDE in our products and craftsmanship, that's what made us great. I know Ca is a fairly new state, you don't have lots of old architecture. I am from the Boston area, the churches and colleges are works of art, all handmade by people who took pride in what they did. We made some of the best vehicles on earth back then too. The attitude was to give people the best product you could for the best price you could. Now it's about money and only money. It's about selling someone the biggest piece of shit for the most money you can. Those airjordans that cost you 150$ were made in Indonesia for the cheapest labor and with the poorest material money can buy. It's all about fucking people as hard as you possibly can. It makes me sick when I think about it.....I am NOT a rich man, by any means. I shop at locally owned grocery stores and I drive American cars. I try to spend local instead of meeting the machine, Walmart, Market basket, Target. These places are the enemy. The goverment is in bed with all of them, that's why they pay very little taxes and the small business man and middle class workers get it in the ass. Socialism is on the way, or is it already here?righteoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16785862245159174430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-90883494823045774912011-01-21T12:47:27.219-08:002011-01-21T12:47:27.219-08:00RIGHT ONRIGHT ONHa-miltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06999465382196154262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-48881394451495280572011-01-21T12:02:27.878-08:002011-01-21T12:02:27.878-08:00INSPIRATO!INSPIRATO!lifeisfuct-diekruzen HEAVY KLOTHINGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02932309434725121877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-78169788051141614552011-01-21T12:00:22.041-08:002011-01-21T12:00:22.041-08:00If you haven't already, pick up a copy of &quo...If you haven't already, pick up a copy of "Shopclass as soulcraft". This isn't a spam post, I read it last year and the entire book is written around this idea exactly. <br /><br />An excerpt from the book:<br /><br />"The satisfactions of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence have been known to make a man quiet and easy. They seem to relieve him of the felt need to offer chattering interpretations of himself to vindicate his worth. He can simply point: the building stands, the car now runs, the lights are on. Boasting is what a boy does, who has no real effect in the world. But craftsmanship must reckon with the infallible judgment of reality, where one’s failures or shortcomings cannot be interpreted away."<br /><br />I personally am on both sides of the fence with this one. As an owner of a small shoe company, we have to get things produced in China, otherwise we couldn't afford to be in business. It doesn't stop us from trying to make the best product possible though. Your bit on Japan, I visited there this last summer for the first time and my friends there were mentioning how they still look up to the U.S. which blows my mind because they're so far ahead of us in so many ways, why they would want to be like America baffles my mind. <br /><br />Nice post, well said and your skills are enviable.Good Deathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17959300539120999067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-89251696585438893182011-01-21T09:55:26.066-08:002011-01-21T09:55:26.066-08:00I could agree more. it is the same deal north of t...I could agree more. it is the same deal north of the border.<br />I would way rather save my money for a nice hand made piece even if it takes twice as long to save up enough to get it.<br /><br />Keep doin what you are doing, some people are paying attentiontatteredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07321392811151704526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-22712571867869785512011-01-21T09:18:45.012-08:002011-01-21T09:18:45.012-08:00Very nice! I feel the same and have for years. The...Very nice! I feel the same and have for years. The hard part is that it's so easy (not EZ) to forget sometimes, or buy cheap when you don't have the time or money to learn or pay for those nice, well built, hand made things (the same could be said about food, and eating good).... Those fuckers are smart with their cheap shit, it's everywhere, right in your face. Unfortunately it seems, even when your not looking or listening you still somehow absorb it into your life. kinda creepy!.......... anyway, it helps when good, smart people stand up and say something & remind those that forget, or take these things for granted when they really do care. thank you Mr. Peterson. Practice better habits, learn something new, & keep art, skill, trade, craft alive! and if they won't teach the kids at school, then we gotta teach em at homeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-56023334451909375832011-01-21T07:42:31.572-08:002011-01-21T07:42:31.572-08:00Oh yeah don't get the Nash going please...Oh yeah don't get the Nash going please...Mike Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03661757650664163320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-22314369620204521852011-01-21T07:38:27.370-08:002011-01-21T07:38:27.370-08:00Nice Photoshop pictures...you can't do those t...Nice Photoshop pictures...you can't do those things! JCLMike Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03661757650664163320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-30651126527030631222011-01-20T21:08:22.742-08:002011-01-20T21:08:22.742-08:00Nash! I really did think i was doing a Nash-esque ...Nash! I really did think i was doing a Nash-esque post when i pulled the trigger!<br /><br />Mark, i know we or anyone else won't stop the making of stuff overseas and companies thrive because of it, look at V-Twin and we've all ordered stuff from them. I don't hold a grudge against Bill and Magoo from Biltwell, there is a pot for every lid and they fill the need that all their customers have. Plus after getting to know those dudes i have respect for all they have done and tried to do in this market. Plus, if they weren't doing it someone else would. That and they are a barrel of laughs! <br /><br />There are other companies i am more worried about and don't "get" in this industry...<br /><br />There is also a reason i don't try and sell stuff i make that requires fabrication-because i would have to charge more than most are willing to pay, so i do it for myself and friends. <br /><br />All of this probably means we won't ever make any money at it and haven't to date, but we literally love this stuff so much and look forward to creating more stuff so much that it is worth the money it takes from our day job pay checks to do it. Born-Free for example, we haven't made any $ on that thing because we are more concerned about putting on the best show for all of you! We have poured more time and money into that thing than you can imagine! Not for some big pay off though, just to make it work and stoke out someone that rode from BFE solo on an old shovelhead to come to SoCal for the first time and have the time of their life and see all the bikes they have looked up to for so long! Not to get caught up in the soap opera and chopper snob gossip...we are spoiled here and talk is more than cheap, it is worthless to me. <br />I like do'ers. not idle hands, passionate people <br />rule.granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03487168972877501394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-25099886676059744302011-01-20T20:32:38.381-08:002011-01-20T20:32:38.381-08:00Very well said.Very well said.Duane Ballardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10964706964031804803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-179242863818948556.post-30514190934260587752011-01-20T20:27:58.691-08:002011-01-20T20:27:58.691-08:00"Talk is cheap" has always bein a thing ..."Talk is cheap" has always bein a thing I hold dear to my heart in this time of "blog" bike builder talkers..I am sick... thanks Grant..don't forget this when you are confronted with "people" who think its ok to mass produce crap in China (Biltwell) and sell it to bike guys.. don't hold back...9halfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09302375272984400939noreply@blogger.com