A lot of the problem as I see it, being from the younger generation, is the lack of people either willing or able to teach the old school ways. There are those of us left in the younger generation (if you care to consider 35 young) that still have a desire to do things the old ways. Frankly, in my small shop, I can't afford CNC, so I have an old import lathe and a small mill/drill. Granted, it leaves me with a few things to farm out to shops with more precision equipment, but I've learned to work with the slop in my machines and we do okay together.
I'm pretty sure the apprentice way of learning is pretty well dead in the trades anymore. It's been replaced by a handful of schools. Some of them are decent (they seem to vary every couple years as to who's the "best"), others aren't. But I don't see them putting out very many artisans anymore. Part of it is the curriculum, which seems designed to put out someone who can go work as a gunsmith in a big box store or manufacturer. Part of it is the students. I would say 90% of the kids I went to school with were only interested in AR's, AK's, semi-auto's, and "sniper rifles". They had no desire to build a stock from a block of wood, so it was no longer part of the curriculum. Unfortunately, that left those of us who did want to know that stuff scrambling to learn it from the old guard before they all retire or die off.
I'm glad to see shops like SDH bringing in students to learn how to do some of these things. Hopefully it will keep the art side of guns alive. Someday I hope to get to one of his classes, if time and finances ever get together, and he's still teaching them by then.
For now, I will keep trying to glean all the knowledge I can from anyone willing to share, keep taking notes, and keep making mistakes. Every mistake I make puts me one step closer to figuring things out. Like Edison said, I didn't fail. I simply found 1000 ways not to make a light bulb...
Last edited by MountainBear; 05/08/15 01:08 PM.
