Serious question, do you ever miss the old ways of learning this trade?

I was stripping a 1950s sideboard in my garage last fall when my retired neighbor, Mr. Ellis, shuffled over with two mugs of coffee. He watched me sand for a minute, then pointed at my orbital sander and said, 'Kid, my teacher made me hand-rub shellac for a full year before I even touched a brush.' That one comment about his apprenticeship in Chicago made me realize how much the learning path has shifted. Do you think we've lost something by not having those long, hands-on mentorships anymore?

3 comments

3 Comments

rose_hart311mo ago

My neighbor Mr. Ellis spent six months just learning how to sharpen chisels by hand before his teacher let him cut anything. That story stuck with me. @nancy275 you joke about being a master carpenter by Tuesday, but honestly the weekend learning feels like it skips that part where you really understand the material and the tool. I think there is a middle ground between a year of shellac and a YouTube video, but I get why people miss the slow way.

felix_jones3mo ago

Honestly, I get where that feeling comes from, but I see it the other way. My grandpa had stories like that too, and they sound rough. Spending a year on one task just seems like a way to waste a young person's time now. We have better tools for a reason. The old way wasn't some perfect system, it was often just the only way they had. Now someone can learn the basics online in a weekend and then go actually build things, which feels more helpful to me.

nancy2753mo ago

Tbh felix_jones, learning the basics in a weekend sounds like my kind of plan. Guess I'll be a master carpenter by next Tuesday.