Why measure?

In my shop I continue to discover new tricks so long as I don’t work on automatic pilot. After thirty years of cutting tenons with haunches for grooved frame-and-panelling it suddenly occurred to me I don’t need to measure the cutback, only the depth of the haunch, since whatever the tenon measures can be copied exactly onto the mortise site—duh!

It’s not that I do everything by hand if there’s a faster machine method, but it’s surprising how machines tend to exert the ‘tyranny of exact measurement’ whereas hand methods can be a far quicker method of simple eye-estimates. After all, who can tell how wide a tenon is when once assembled? So where is the advantage of having taken extra time to measure it exactly?

Simpler may be better.

My Ultimatum brace competes with my Bosch cordless drill in a complexity that ultimately undoes their usefulness. The Ultimatum is beautiful and fancy, and its ebony and ivory inserts and brass frame gleam but I frequently pass it over in favor of a simple Scotch iron brace that has a bit already in it, rather than unpack the drill roll from the bottom of my toolchest. My Bosch is similarly a masterpiece of modern design and technical complexity, but I frequently pass it over in favor of my old Milwaukee corded drill rather than wait for the batteries to recharge because it hasn’t been used for a while.

Pleasure fights with utility when push comes to shove, don’t you think?