TomG,

I liked the idea, and yes lazers are getting very affordable now, but I too sometimes prefer the old ways. sometimes useing simple tools like that give us great insight on other things in our lives.

When I was a child on the farm, may neighbor was full of old, simple ideas like that, I credit much of my practical knowledge to him.

When I was 15, he hired me to help him build a new farrowing house for his sows, he was 70 years old and was so much of an optomist that he thought he needed to update his operation!!!!

He used a level just as you described throughout the whole project!!! it worked great, and without fail, no dead batterys, no bad connections, and even in the rain or bright sun. We used it for almost everything, except making sure posts were plumb. For that he had an old home made level that his father had made useing a glass tube from and old dairy he worked in at nights. I checked it several times with my good store bought level and it earned my confidence.

This guy had so much old knowledge it was increadable. A few years after that, I was making a paddle wheel for an old grist mill that our local historical society was trying to restore.

He laid out the whole wheel useing nothing more than an old compass with no markings on it, a tape measure, and a pencil. He never stopped to do any calculations, nor did he use any tables. The wheel fit together perfectly after I cut all the lumber at his marks. It looked great!!

It wasn't untill I went into high school that I realized what he was actually doing was geometry and his way was a heck of a lot simpler, although not near as accurate. But at the slow speed of the wheel involved, it was the quickest and best way. We had no blueprints to go buy and by the time we could get someone to put some prints together, we were done. It made little difference that the wheel was 12' 3/8" in diameter instead of just 12' which is what it was supposed to be when someone found the old plans for the mill two years later.

But now we have CAD programs and computors, and they are pretty slick. But the old ways sometimes will surprise you!!

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