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That time a retired bookbinder in Portland showed me why I was gluing my spines wrong
He watched me struggle for five minutes, then just said 'you're starving the joint' and handed me a brush with half the glue I was using. Has anyone else had a master call out a bad habit you didn't even know you had?
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jessica9212d ago
Three years of self-teaching had me convinced my glue was too thin, but that bookbinder's real lesson was about pressure, not amount. The old masters see results, sure, but they also forget what it's like to learn without someone standing over your shoulder every day. You had to figure out the grain yourself, and that's worth something too, even if it took an hour longer than your grandpa would have.
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alicer533d ago
My grandfather was a carpenter who fixed a table I'd been sanding wrong for an hour. He just grunted and flipped the sandpaper over, said 'you're rubbing against the grain, ain't you?' I'd been at it so long my arms ached and the wood looked worse than when I started. Funny how the old timers can spot a mistake in seconds that takes you years to even notice.
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