Established 1996

The Joe Martin Foundation for Exceptional Craftsmanship Presents

The Internet Craftsmanship Museum

Now featuring the Internal Combustion Engine Collection on loan from the Miniature Engineering Museum

The Joe Martin Foundation is approved by the I.R.S. as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are deductible from your federal taxes. (Tax ID No. 93-1221845)

Joe Martin Foundation for Exceptional Craftsmanship • 3235 Executive Ridge • Vista • CA 92081 • (760) 727-9492 • Craig@CraftsmanshipMuseum.com

FEATURED CRAFTSMAN! 2009 Craftsman of the Year, Richard Carlstedt

NEWEST ADDITION! The Paul and Paula Knapp Internal Combustion Engine Collection on loan from the Miniature Engineering Museum

Over 100 world-class miniature IC engines now on display at the Craftsmanship Museum in Vista, CA

Click on the photo above of the Challenger V8 by Paul Knapp to see a 15-second video of it being started and run.

The photos below show a small sample of the kinds of projects you will find in the museum. Click on any image to see a larger version.

this on-line version is open 24 hours a day, and you can visit it while sitting at your own computer at home. Click here or on the underlined words at the top to start your tour of the museum. Our goal here is to collect and present as much information as we can about craftsmen from around the world and the projects they build. Our interests are not to just show the projects themselves, but to present everything we can find out about the builder and the project. Most museum web sites start by documenting what is in their own existing museum. While some of the pieces shown here belong to the Joe Martin Foundation, most do not. This collection exists only on the Internet and is presented for your information and free enjoyment as part of the goal of the Foundation to make better known the accomplishments of individual craftsmen. What will be featured here is craftsmanship in many forms. This site is not the work of one person, but rather a collection of the work of many craftsmen and contributors giving freely of their time and expertise. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You can also view many of these fine projects in person at our actual museum in Vista, California. Hours are Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 4 PM (Closed holidays) and the first non-holiday Saturday of each month from 10 AM to 3 PM. (After Saturday, December 5th, 2009, the museum will open any Saturday by appointment only for groups of 8 or more.) Admission is free. Call 1-760-727-9492 during regular hours if you have any questions about hours, group tours, see the Facility page for details or view a MAP of the facility location.

The "Art" of great craftsmanship

"A person who works with his hands is a laborer.

A person who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman.

A person who works with his hands, his brain and his heart is an artist"

Joe Martin is the president and owner of Sherline Products Inc. an American manufacturer of precision machine tools. He is also a model builder and toolmaker. As such he has had much experience with precision tools at both ends of the size range. The quote above, recalled from the shop wall of Joe Martin's uncle, sums up his belief that craftsmanship goes beyond mere technical quality. While good machinery can produce parts of great consistency and accuracy when properly operated, without the craftsman's touch the results will be acceptable but not noteworthy. Pieces that truly grab our attention and admiration go beyond the minimum of what is required to add what we can only call the "craftsman's touch". Anything from furniture to stained glass to a clock to a model steam engine that is made by a master of his craft is worthy of a special kind of admiration. This museum will feature works that represent the spirit and skill of individuals; not committees or manufacturing companies. These projects were built by people with skilled hands and brains, but, most importantly, they were built for the love of doing it. Coming from the hands, the brain and the heart, they should be judged not just as a collection of parts, but rather as art. Other forms of art, such as dance, painting, music and so on are sufficiently represented elsewhere, so we are concentrating here on small things made by hand by an artisan using the tools of his trade.

The craftsmen represented here have devoted many hours over a period of years to develop the skills to produce these projects. The most worthy candidates are those who have contributed a significant amount to the body of work in a particular field over their lifetimes. This is not just a showcase for any project, but rather a place where you can see the work of the people who are acknowledged to be the "the best of the best" in a particular field. We also plan to add a "projects" section where the work of up-and-coming craftsmen will be featured, as often many innovations come from enthusiastic newcomers to a field. The featured rooms, however, are from those who have "paid their dues" and truly deserve to be called not just laborers or even craftsmen, but artists in their field.

Craftsmanship doesn't have to be complicated. Gerald Wingrove makes some of the finest model cars in the world, and has written a number of books on the subject. A budding craftsman in France bought all his books with the intent of making a fine car, but decided to start with something simple. What could be a simpler wheeled vehicle than a wheelbarrow? He crafted it entirely from brass, and Gerald says the craftsmanship is superb. The builder is now ready to move on to something more complicated, but whatever he builds will no doubt be done to the same excellent level of craftsmanship. This museum is dedicated to those who share this attitude toward excellence, no matter what the project. (Click on photo above to view a larger image.)

What is craftsmanship? Joe Martin's main reason for establishing this foundation is to attempt to make the average citizen aware of the beauty of great craftsmanship. An object that exhibits outstanding craftsmanship has a quality to it that inspires beyond the object itself. For most trades, competent work is good enough. It’s simply a case where standards are met and doing the work any better would be a waste of time, effort and money. The type of craftsmen we honor here are the few who use the skills of the trades to produce a form of art. Their level of work rises beyond what is needed to complete the job with competence to a level of perfection that can be recognized by many but achieved by few. Often their work will be building exact scale models of something that interests them, and they do so simply for the love of doing it. Their satisfaction comes from attempting to achieve perfection. Car Modeler Michael Dunlap* sums up the mindset it takes to produce work of this quality as follows:

"The issue I struggle with most days in my shop is, “When is it good enough?” Whether I’m assessing the quality of an individual part or a complete model my answer is this: It’s good enough when, based on my current ability, any further attempt to improve it will probably cause it to be damaged. That having been said, my constant goal is to improve my abilities tomorrow over what they are today. For me, building models cars is a very personal expression. When I cease to improve my skills and thus, my models, I’ll go do something else." —Michael Dunlap

Click on the linked title above to read a thoughtful study of what craftsmanship is and what you can do to help it survive and flourish in this age of wanting it "right now" rather than wanting it "right."

"Craftsmanship is a marriage between the hands and the soul" —Motto, Mark Adams School of Woodworking

The Craftsmanship Museum is not static. It is constantly growing and evolving. The ease with which information can be communicated electronically makes it possible for submissions to come from anywhere in the world. There are no crating, shipping, display construction or space limitations here—just the transfer, organization and storage of data. As new qualifying projects are submitted they will be added. If they do not fit a present category, a new category will be started to accommodate them. These photos cannot crack or fade. Properly maintained, the electronic information found here will be just as good a thousand years from now, perhaps long after the projects themselves are gone. Come back often to see what is new. If you would like to contribute to a section or have information about a project or builder that would be appropriate for a new section, please contact craig (at) CraftsmanshipMuseum (dot) com or craig (at) sherline (dot) com. (Please note that you must change the address in your e-mail program's "to" window to replace (at) with an @ symbol and (dot) with a period to send the message. This is done to reduce junk e-mail by making the address unrecognizable to programs that scan web sites for e-mail addresses. Sorry for the inconvenience.)

Can anyone help us identify this project and its builder? (Click either photo to view a larger image.)

Who made this project and why?

The project shown above exhibits mastery in metalworking. Each hand-fitted piece is machined and filed to such close tolerances that you can barely see the joints when assembled. It does not appear to have any function other than to be a test of a craftsman's skill, perhaps at the end of an apprenticeship program or in order to qualify to be hired for a particular job. The sad part is, it was purchased for $.50 at a swap meet in Clairemont, CA by Tom Boyer's wife and given to Tom as a curiosity. The name of the original craftsman is no longer identified with the project, and his family obviously had no appreciation for its history or the high level of skill needed to create it. It was sold off as so much junk. This is one of the reasons the Joe Martin Foundation was started; that is, to honor this type of work and the craftsman who created it.

Don't let this happen to your work. If you have projects that exhibit a high level of skill, don't assume that members of your family or your friends understand or appreciate what went into making it. It may end up on eBay or at a swap meet like this beautiful project. We ask that you consider donating your work to the Craftsmanship Museum while you are alive and can take advantage of the tax benefit for the value of the donation, or add a codicil to your will specifying it be donated to the Foundation upon your death. That way, a record of your skill will be preserved to inspire future craftsmen, and your name and your story will be forever identified with your work. Do a search on eBay for "steam engine" and see how many projects that are for sale there identify the builder. The answer is, almost none. It is our goal to reverse that trend and to honor the most skilled and creative people in our society—the craftsmen.

Click on the link above to read Joe's book on how to start your own business out of your garage. He did it and so can you, but there are many potential pitfalls along the way. Get some straight talk and solid advice from someone who's done it. It's free. If after reading it you feel you got some advice that could someday save you a lot of time or money, we ask you to help support craftsmanship by making a small voluntary donation to the foundation.

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