I find it annoying when some criticise other's methodologies, particularly when they haven't attempted the same jobs themselves. It's easy to sit in your armchair with your 'how to do it' books and pontificate over other's supposed inadequacies, in your eyes at least. It's actually a lot more difficult to actually do yourself and not simply copy!

Wouldn't it be nice if we all got out of our armchairs, and stopped thinking of ourselves as experts and just accepted that our way is just that: our way, and not necessarily the only or right way.

A good many on this forum seem incapable of doing anything without drawings and plans garnered from someone else, the very same will criticise someone else's work even though he/she may be working to plans he has devised and is not simply copying someone else's work.

Designing and constructing anything is and should be personal choice in both materials and methodology, how else can we learn? Anything else is simply plagiarism.

Sure we need to pay attention to materials, construction methodology, safety, design and other criteria, which can all be learned from a book, but then again, we can always learn by experience, after all, how did the people who wrote the books learn? Easy answer to that: Trial and error, and wait for it - common sense.

I'll repeat that: How did those who wrote the books learn?


Read the full thread at metalworkforums.com...