Hot take: Those pre-cut template kits for vessel heads are overpriced junk

I was watching a old-timer at Local 374's hall last month layout a cone-to-shell fit-up freehand with just a soapstone and a tape. He had it dead nuts in under 20 minutes while I'm still fiddling with a $200 paper template that never folds right on the bend line. Does anybody else think we rely too much on these kits instead of learning basic layout math?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_max19d ago

Carry that math forward and you can build anything without buying a single kit.

rowanellis19d ago

Overpriced junk" is a bit harsh, they work okay for guys who never learned the math. But that old timer at 374 probably learned from a guy who learned from a guy, and those kits just skip teaching you the actual geometry.

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patriciap5218d ago

Absolutely feel you on this, rowanellis. My grandpa was a carpenter (no formal training, just old school), and he could lay out a perfect octagon with nothing but a framing square and a pencil. Those kits he called "crutches" (and he hated them, honestly). They're fine for a one-off project, but you miss the whole "why" behind the layout. That old timer at 374 is probably drawing from muscle memory that took decades to build, and that's something no pre-cut kit can ever give you.