My friend, Chester, who has since deceased, was a carpenter. He told me that the way to tell a real carpenter is that he shows up for work with a hammer, a saw, a hatchet and a pocketknife. He was a Rough Lumber carpenter extra-ordinaire. He called todays framers, kit builders. He said that most of them didn't know how to make stuff fit or level it. If they picked up a stick that didn't fit, they threw it away and got another one. "A real carpenter", he said, "would make it fit."
I've seen him do just that too. He would take a razor sharp hatchet and knife to the joists and make a floor so flat that a marble wouldn't roll.
I've know one other like that too.
Do you remember my friend, James Hill? I featured him several times here on the forum. Well, he built rustic cedar furniture that way. When I first met him, he was using an old skill saw turned upside down in a table, for a table saw and his other tools were a few hand planes a drill motor some screw drivers, clamps and hammers. He could make anything fit. He could also picture the completed piece of furniture in his head and knew what sizes he needed to make it. He was a real craftsman who used no written plans. Sometimes I wondered just how good he could read and write. But, He sure could build.
