at a medium scale furniture maker that did a lot of bending
the old guys did all the work by skill alone
in other words they had no formulas they just knew the right amount of moisture needed before they tried the bend
well these old craftsman were about to retire and so they hired new guys
the new guys had a hard time picking up that skill and decided to measure everything
thought the old guys might balk but they encouraged the new guys and were actually glad because they could retire sooner than they thought
the chair backs they make are very nice