Master of all

I was a little put off by a comment I heard the other day. Someone said that if you did not have mastery of a certain tool, you were not a "real " woodworker.

In the past, no one was expected to master every aspect of woodworking. There were specialties. Joiners were not expected to be master finishers. Finishers were not expected to be master of veneering techniques. But in today's world, a maker is expected to master all of it.

Go into business and things get even worse. In addition to woodworking, you have to deal with public relations, administration, bookkeeping, advertising, and in many cases, you also have to be a repairman, safety manager and webmaster!

But I would suggest that you don’t need to master everything. You just need to learn how it all works.

Probably the one thing that needs to be mastered is the art of delegation.

D.D.