The Danger of One

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The Danger of One

Would you like to know the best woodworking app that you’re not using?

It’s Pinterest.

No, really. Pinterest is my source for images of old furniture pieces to build. With Pinterest, you can find photographs of real furniture pieces and build collections of images. But Pinterest also has an algorithm that learns your preferences. Pinterest knows what I like, so every time I open the app I get new images of old workbenches and country furniture—exactly the things I like to make.

It's easy to get excited about some new piece of furniture, especially when it’s well photographed. In fact, it’s a little too easy. Over time, I’ve given myself a rule for researching furniture:

“Never build anything you’ve only seen once.”

It’s easy to be seduced by a bold and unique piece of furniture, but uniqueness itself can be a problem. Good pieces tend to be copied, and if you can only find one example of something, that might be a red flag.

Here are some ways that a single photograph can mislead you:

Survivor Bias. We think that physical objects hang around when they’re useful, but the opposite is also true. Sometimes objects survive because they don’t get used enough to wear out. Tool collectors are often suspicious of vintage tools in pristine condition. Lack of wear might mean the tool just didn’t work very well. Furniture is the same way.

Tinkering. Woodworkers just cannot leave well enough alone. I’ve published designs for five different low-cost, easy-to-build workbenches. Each design is inexpensive and carefully tailored to the needs of hobby furniture builders. And every day I get emails from people asking if they can make this modification or that one. Can they add a tail vise? Can they mash up two or even three designs into a single bench? I used to get frustrated by these questions, but I’ve learned that woodworkers just like to mess with things. They can’t help it. This habit extends to furniture making, where new designs are seemingly tried just for the hell of it. Who knows?

Here’s a good example. It seems like someone took a five-board bench and stuck a back on it. It’s handsome enough and simple. I could build this in a day. But should I? How exactly does one sit on this? With the back attached to the side of the piece, the “seat” seems far too long. It would catch you under the knees, and your feet would fall asleep. It also just looks uncomfortable. I’ve actually seen two examples of this piece in photographs, but I’m still too skeptical to build it.

Special Purpose. I think everyone has built a piece that wouldn’t make sense to anyone else. We’ve all made that combination spice rack/screwdriver display because someone wanted one, or because it fit a peculiar nook in our house. The piece works when it’s doing its job, but take it out of context and it’s a head-scratcher. The internet is littered with photographs of things that were built for some inscrutable purpose. We’ll never know what that thing was for, so copying it is probably a bad idea.

Seeing a certain piece two or three times is good, but I like even more. I want to see at least five iterations of a given design before I commit to building it from photographs. Recreating something from a picture is tricky enough. More examples make it easier. When you see a certain form repeated over and over, you can be confident that it’s actually good. Pieces that worm their way into tradition are typically effective, durable, and efficient to build.

This piece is called a Tyrolean Chair. It’s also called a Swiss Alpine Chair and a brettstuhl. The fact that it has three names is a good sign. That means it’s been built enough times by enough people that lots of folks want to claim it. And pictures abound. I currently have 93 images of chairs like this, and I add a couple more each week. Having a lot of images tells me that the piece is definitely worth building. Generations of artisans found it worthwhile to build, and an equal number of customers were willing to cough up the cash to buy them for their Swiss ski lodges or whatever.

Having a lot of images means that the chair is no unicorn. It’s definitely a practical addition to the home. But a collection of photos also gives me a set of variations. The legs could be splayed a lot or a little, and the battens across the bottom of the seat can be arranged vertically or horizontally—dovetailed in or attached with hardware. I know what’s been tried before, so I know what’s going to work.

Well, probably.