Thursday 5 August 2010

An Early Update Regarding The Saw That Never Was...

When I posted the previous article entitled, "The Saw That Never Was" last night, I notified Mr. Edwards it was there and asked for his approval on its content (God, can you image the poor guy having to slug through all the additional nonsense in that post just to get to what he said?)

This morning, I received a reply from him which stated the following:

The "scies a moulures, pour scier sur les boltes a recaler"  is directly translated as "saw for moulding, for sawing on the mitre jack"  There is no direct word for word translation of the tool name, as it is specific to the trade of menusierie.

Of course, for me, this brought up the question of what a "menusierie" is, so it was back to Google Translate again, only to get a translation for "menusierie" as "Menusierie".

Always one to push my luck, I sent off a quick email Mr. Edwards to see if he would offer up a translation.

I didn't get what I was looking for, but I did get something better. What Mr. Edwards said was, basically, to explain what a Menusierie is, he would have to explain to me 300 years of French history. Even though his reply stated that he was "not being rude or short", my first reaction to it was, "Yes you are". Taking a few moments to investigate the translation further, though, and I quickly discovered that he is absolutely correct and truly wasn't being rude or short, but instead, actually being a good teacher.

One translation for "Menusierie" is "Carpenter", but that didn't end up making much sense to me because doing more research into the word resulted in information on plumbers, mill wrights and aluminum fabrication, just to name a few.

At this point, I still can't give an accurate translation for the word "Menusierie", but researching it has opened my eyes to the fact that in France, craftsmen are treated far differently than they are in the Anglo world. Categorization and recognition for the different crafts have been something the French government started to nurture and develop over three hundred years ago and still deals with today.

As it turns out, one little French saw has given me a great deal of joy and knowledge, and the reality is, I haven't even cut through a piece of wood with it yet. But it has also taught me my limitations. I'm the guy who has trouble ordering an omelet in a French restaurant. At my age, taking on the task of understanding the history of French woodworking is beyond my capabilities. Hell, I have enough trouble trying to figure out the Stanley plane timeline from the last century and a half.

As it stands, this is my very first purchase of a vintage French tool. It will be, I'm sad to say, also my very last.

My thanks to Mr. Edwards and Mr. Shepherd for making this such an enjoyable experience for me.

Peace,

Mitchell

2 comments:

  1. I went to the Translator in Thesaurus.com and found the word with a slightly different spelling - menuiserie - and it gives the translation as carpentry. Interesting blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This from my friend Martine, a native of Paris:

    "The word is Menuiserie (not Menusierie), and it means wood working, carpentry, etc.
    Yes, all the trades are highly regarded in France (and possibly Europe), and there are very difficult tests that are given each year to find "Le meilleur ouvrier de France" (the best worker of France), and each trade has one (the baker, the carpenter, the butcher, etc). It is a high level competition, and it means a lot for the winner, reputation, for one.
    Yes, you are right, crafts are highly regarded in France, and there are local traditions that keep crafts alive.
    Originally, the word menuiserie referred to techniques that were used for building household furniture, making "small" pieces (the word menuiserie takes its etymology from the word "menu" meaning small). But with time, it came to mean carpentry as a whole, although there are other terms that cover wood working, like ebenisterie, and charpenterie. Charpenterie refers to larger works on houses or buildings. Ebenisterie refers more to art work being done on wood itself (like the work heavy carving on a frame, for instance)."

    ReplyDelete