Tools and their correlation with poor quality building.

Hey all, I'm curious if others have had this experience.

Remember, this isn't a cemented opinion, just an idea I was tossing around.

I like to read a lot and lately I read about Aristotle's 'rule of the mean' which is basically a complicated way of saying 'not too much, not too little' of anything. That there's a median line of balance (he obviously goes way more in depth with proofs and examples, good stuff). I was thinking about how this relates to construction. As tool technology continues to get more advanced I've found the quality of outcome (in the commercial and residential industries) to really drop. Beyond the level of materials used (obviously cheaper materials would have an effect). A lack of effort, lack of thinking, and I think the ease of trades through tool innovation is really impacting the building industries.

Take framing. Since the gun became widespread and the hammer has fallen out of fashion (some guys I know don't even swing it once in a single day) less thought goes in to nail placement, even qualities of cuts, etc. When I watched some of the older master carpenters in my family in action as a kid it was like art, it was like watching ballet or a painter in action. When you had to swing, and knew you had to swing, that a mistake would cause more sweat, make your arm more sore, you were naturally inclined to be aware of mistakes. It caused you to think. Yet you also didn't break your arm using a hammer. The gun was created purely for convenience, it wasn't solving a fundamental need (i.e. getting a nail in to wood, the way a cup solves the fundamental need of containing a liquid).

I guess what I'm asking is, does anyone else see what I'm saying? The hammer is like Aristotle's mean, and the excess (the nail gun) has possibly poisoned some aspects of the ingenious mind.

Now of course I'm not saying all power tools are satan or something. Drills function almost identically to hammers minus a swing. But idk. I think there's something to it.

Submitted March 05, 2019 at 08:22AM by LeftHandPaths https://ift.tt/2Tu9uar