Lessons not learned

[Handy Al]

Martin's post on the caulking hammer used for caulking the seams on wooden minesweepers I got me thinking. What lessons did we not learn because we were to young to appreciate them?

I had a great uncle in Palacios, Texas that "built shrimp nets." I sent several weeks with him and my great aunt. He would be out under a big live oak tree, weaving a net or repairing one.

I was too busy going fishing or chasing bugs to appreciate the art of what he was doing. I wish I had said " Uncle Jay show me how to do that."

[cabinetman]

A lot of trades were and still are family trained. Not so much anymore. Most of that family training is to carry on the "family store". Trades like carpenters, furnituremakers, cabinetmakers, and other hand oriented crafts were taught to the young as a preparation for adulthood. Maybe some of the "old world traditions" are getting lost, and the crafts are losing out to mechanization. There was a time when all things had to be hand made.

Fortunately there are still craftsmen practicing what they learned as a child, or still work in the traditional sense, write books, make videos, or go on forums to help others.

[crokett]

Al,

My grandfather was a master machinist for much of his professional life. The last place he lived was a retirement community a few hrs from here that had a decent wood and machine shop and probably 600 years of collective woodworking experience among the residents who used it. When I was younger I made a few projects there but not nearly enough.