Raising Up Amish Master Craftsmen
From furniture to quilts, Amish-made or Amish handcrafted has become synonymous with superior quality. The rising demand for Amish crafted products is a strong indicator this reputation is duly earned.
What Factors Contribute to Premier Amish Craftsmanship?
Premier Amish craftsmanship is not the result of one or even two contributing factors, if it was that simple high-level craftsmanship would be easily replicated outside the Amish community.
Rather, the raising up of well-rounded master craftsmen has its roots in the intersection of beliefs, values, experience, and trade skills. Each of which is interwoven into the fabric of Amish children from an early age, but ultimately it will be each child’s choice to adopt or reject what they have been taught. It is the embodiment of the whole that raises up an Amish Master Craftsman.
The Values Behind Authentic Amish Master Craftsmen
1. Reverence for God
From a distance this may seem like an insignificant value when perfecting a trade skill. However, this may be the single most important value, as the level of commitment to all other values is governed by this one. When one has a proper perspective of and reverence for God it will impact every aspect of their life.
2. Family
Family is an important part of the Amish culture, parents would be quick to tell you neither they, nor their children are perfect, but they do try to practice biblical values and instill them in their children. Children are raised in a 2-parent home where worship, work, and play all have their place as they learn to share life together.
There is nothing like family to help you through hard times, and nothing like a sibling rivalry to push a child’s skill set to new heights. Even in a connected world Amish families are often raised without many of the gadgets and modern conveniences of the outside world. This encourages creativity in children, while laying a foundation for an innovative mindset in the future.
In a bygone era, most Amish families grew up in an agriculture environment where they worked the land together. Times are changing and many Amish are no longer farmers by occupation, which limits the amount of time a father can work with his children. Amish fathers who find employment away from home, will often have a “workshop” at home where they can still spend time working with their children to pass on their trade skills. More importantly as a father spends quality time building strong relationships with his children he passes on his faith in a tangible way.
3. Community
Community is an important part of the Amish culture, where like in family, worship, work, and recreation all have their place. Worshipping together brings personal accountability not only to God, but to your peers, which encourages development of values like compassion, honesty, and integrity within each individual. These values are vital for spiritual health, but they also are the core foundation from which master craftsman develop.
The outside world has often admired the strong sense of community on display when an Amish family experiences loss from fire or some other disaster. The ruins of a burned building are still smoking when the community begins to gather and start the cleanup and rebuilding process. Within a week a large barn goes from smoking ruins to a brand-new barn, fully stocked with feed and livestock again.
Those same values are shared amongst the businessmen in the Amish community as well. Yes, often they are competitors, and no, they don’t share with each other all their trade secrets. However, they do work together very well for the advancement of the whole. An innovative process in one manufacturing facility is soon passed to other industries to be adapted and implemented. This unselfish sharing of knowledge keeps Amish manufacturers on the cutting edge of their industry.
4. Integrity
Integrity is knowing what the right thing to do is and then doing it. This value is expected to be exemplified in children and adults alike. Again, while not a perfect people the Amish endeavor to live a life of integrity on a daily basis.
Integrity is part of the core foundation from which Amish master craftsmen develop. It is adherence to integrity that allows a master craftsman to consistently produce a superior quality product. Integrity within will not allow craftsmen to use inferior raw materials, take shortcuts in the production process, or allow shoddy workmanship to leave their shop. EVERY “master craftsman” has a strong adherence to integrity.
5. Work Ethic
Employers across America are struggling to find employees with a strong work ethic. Which is concerning when you consider that work ethic is something that
is taught.
In Amish household’s parents give their children age-appropriate responsibility so they learn to work from a very young age. Workload and difficulty levels will increase as the child matures, by the time they are teenagers they learn to appreciate the satisfaction that follows investing sweat and hard labor to accomplish difficult tasks successfully.
Strong work ethic is another value that makes up the core foundation from which a master craftsman develops. This value motivates the craftsman to put in the effort it takes to make a superior quality product. Producing super quality is never easy, if it was easy everyone would be producing at that level, and there would be no superior quality.
6. Humility
Humility is an expected character trait within the Amish culture. Personal success and/or praise is often accepted humbly with credit being redirected to God or the larger community. For most Amish craftsman accolades for a fine piece of craftsmanship belongs to the community at large and the craftsmen who came before them, therefore you seldom find the name of the craftsman on their work.
Valuing Craftsman from Centuries Past Impacts Future Quality
Amish craftsman will often glean knowledge and trade skills from the generations before them. This process happens naturally as a boy works side by side with his grandfather or father. There are many age-old processes and time proven methods that can be learned if one is willing to learn.
Learning what has worked in the past is foundational to a craftsman building a better product today, and an even better one in the future. This does not mean Amish craftsmen only use methods from centuries past. A master craftsman takes what time has proven to work and blends it with the advancements made in his day to produce a superior quality product.
The Master Craftsman and His Materials
When it comes to craftsmanship the age-old adage “what goes in must come out” applies. Even the most skilled hands must work within the confines of the material at hand. Therefore, in order to obtain a superior quality product on a consistent basis it is essential to start with high quality raw materials.
Naturally, the higher quality raw materials cost more, which drives up the price of the product to the consumer. One approach Amish manufacturers have taken to help offset the cost of better materials is to buy in large quantities to obtain a lower price point. While this approach doesn’t allow them to offer a product at the same price as one made from inferior raw material, it does allow them to sell a premium product at a value price.
Merging Proven Methods with Innovation and Evolving Processes
Marrying past experience to today’s best methods or processes allows you to stay on the cutting edge with superior quality products.
Outside the Amish community there is a perception that the Amish aren’t up to speed with all the latest advancements in the manufacturing field, and maybe even a bit primitive. Don’t be fooled by their choice of a simple lifestyle, this is no indicator of their engineering skills or business prowess.
It is common knowledge that Amish live “off-the-grid”, meaning their homes and shops are not powered by a power company such as MetEd or PP&L. Does that mean all Amish goods are produced by hand? Not necessarily, while Amish homes generally have no electricity, their businesses are often powered by a diesel generator set which powers air, hydraulic, or occasionally even electric tools.
This decision to live off grid is often misinterpreted to mean they are opposed to power tools and equipment. That is not the case, most Amish manufacturing facility use a combination of hand tools and power equipment. Perhaps this blend of the two plays a part in producing a superior quality product.
An Expert Craftsman’s Personal Touch
Amos Kauffman, owner and master craftsman at Beaver Dam Woodworking states “it is the personal touch”, “we want to make something that your neighbor sees what you purchased they will want it as well”.
From a very young age the master craftsman has instilled within them the values of the Amish community. Almost by default the products they produce will reflect those values. As he takes a piece of wood in his hands like his grandfather did before him, he can’t help but shape and mold it to be the best it can be.
His skill is a combination of generations of experience, centuries of time proven methods, and the innovative processes of his day. All of these come to bare as he carefully measures each piece, implements precision cuts, and planes edges for a perfect fit.
When satisfied with the result, he uses the best fasteners, and modern concealment methods to tuck fasteners from view. The finishing process gets the same careful attention, with end grains being sealed to prevent wicking on outdoor products, and the highest quality finish being implemented in state-of-the-art finishing booths.
During final assembly his well-trained eye searches it from top to bottom looking for any flaw that needs addressing, or some way to add one last personal touch that will delight the lucky recipient.
