It’s good to see the discussion taking off. Two points were brought up by different members that shed light on the fact that the guild is made up of many opinionated people. Each with their ideas of what the guild should be. I myself am included in the above statement.
I wholly agree with bmike when he says
“We’ve worked hard to understand buildings that have stood for hundreds of years.
And we have applied that understanding to design, craft, and build structures that will last hundreds more.
Yet we, as an organization, have failed to look after ourselves with the same discipline and respect as we do our history, craft, and buildings.
Our timber frames may be standing for centuries.
Yet our ‘community’, our ‘guild’ is having trouble outlasting a subprime mortgage on a suburban McMansion.”
On the other hand I disagree with Timberwrestler when he by his own analogy describes a two tier system. One with semi-skilled simians and one with know it all Timber Framers.
“I think that you're talking about joiners and not timber framers.”
“ I can train a monkey to cut a mortise or tenon.”
It is true that the theoretical knowledge to cut a mortise and tenon is basic but cutting that joint well takes much longer and I don’t think that’s monkey business. I don’t think insulting the shop/production timber framer is the answer.
