Source: https://infosec.exchange/@0xabad1dea/117485038136053872
transcript
“It’s a poor worksman who blames his tools” has always been complete nonsense. No-one complains about imperfect tools faster and louder than a master. A master will yank a cheap or damaged tool out of your hand and yell at you for not blaming it yet
Cheap, lousy tools come from middle managers who don’t know how to do your job. Blame the hell out of poor tools and those who demand you use them
A carpenter who is incapable of making a planer is not a “master” carpenter. For the master, the decision to purchase a planer is a choice. The novice has no choice: he can only buy.
In order to be a master carpenter you need to be able to make metal tools? So a master carpenter must also be a master blacksmith?
He must be able to distinguish tool steel from mild steel. He must be able to hone an edge. I would say a master carpenter needs to be a skilled blacksmith, not a master blacksmith, or he hasn’t mastered the craft of carpentry.
I think you’re undervaluing the skilled carpenter when you refuse to admit he hasn’t mastered the craft.
Many master carpenters outsource sharpening. I still remember an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown said he outsourced all his knife sharpening. So the practice of outsourcing the maintenance of tools is done in other professions.
Hobbyists are the ones who try and do everything.
That seems like a high, specific bar for mastery. I don’t think, to be considered a master filmmaker, someone has to be able to fashion their own camera (and film) from scratch. I think tool making is a whole separate set of skills from tool using, and someone could master one or the other without both.
I would say that you’re describing a “skilled” craftsman. The bar for “mastery” is extraordinarily high.