Dear all

I recently saw a program on the smithfield rifle which may have some bearing on our current debate. It seams that one of the most important factors in the development of mass production (of which the smithfield rifle was the first example) was a lack of skilled craftsmen. As soon as someone was trained they were off into the vast continent to find their fortune (or die trying, as many did).
Now I am not saying that square rule is less skilled than scribe, but it is faster to learn and with nice square timbers faster to produce a frame. Maybe the need for speed (both in production and learning) lead to the adoption of the square rule technique across America? What do you recon?

Paul D