Me personally I would say if the guild dies, we start over.
I think the answer to our problem is education.
Not saying we are uneducated, but perhaps we need to turn our focus on education -not just of the guild members, but of the public.
Look at organizations like Heartwood, Fox Maple, etc. These folks are doing a good job at educating people -often people who want to learn out of pure curiosity.
I also look at an organization I know fairly well -Holzbau Schweiz- This is, in a way, the Swiss equivalent of the Timber Framers Guild. They have a national organization that exists to help professionals in the wood-building profession (timber framing and log building) but also have regional branches that exist mostly to educate young people in the practices, largely to ensure that traditional and sound practices survive.
I'd like to see an organization with a focus more like this, although I know it's not all what I want. I'd like to see a timber framers guild with a focus on training carpenters. And guess what, I feel as if doing this would really result in what the guild has wanted all along, a revival of traditional skills.
I think the best way to do this would be to do like Holzbau Schweiz has done, organize sectional and regional divisions that use local instructors to teach local people, probably teaching them the local traditions. Holzbau Schwiez, for exxample, has various 'Secktionen' or sections -one such, Sektion Berner Oberland, is located in that region, and has a school to educate young carpenters on the building customs from that region. They have local carpenters supporting the organization that also give the school opportunity to have students come and see the work -the shop work, the on site work, etc. And it works quite well. I know all this because a good friend of mine works in the organization.
We don't have to do things like this, but I think it is a good place to look. I really like how this organization works. A major purpose for their existence is to preserve the traditions in an age where modern convenience might cause young carpenters to take shortcuts and abandon the old practices -like what happened in the US a century ago.
If the guild doesn't do this, maybe we should take the initiative and organize it ourselves. Not side stepping the guild, but maybe making an organization that could work with the guild.
