What did you make today?

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by glatt

I went to Colonial Williamsburg a couple years ago and asked the cooper how the hell they get all the angles correct on the staves to get a water tight barrel, and the woman said that you just do it. It's muscle memory and done by eye. It's astounding to me because they had to make these barrels to very precise tolerances because they were legal measurements in commerce. Being off by 5% in volume when making the thing meant that either a buyer or seller was getting screwed during a transaction. I'm still not satisfied with her answer.

Good card mechanics (or printers for that matter) can tell you exactly how many cards or sheets of paper they have between their fingers.

Think about riding a bike, once you learn how, it's easy. If you have ever done any long distance bike touring (a month or more in the saddle) you get very comfortable. I could pick up a quarter from the ground without stopping. I'd probably fall over if i tried that now and certainly if I'd tried that when I first learned to ride.

And, I'm sure the cooper's first hundred barrels were for inconsequential things that were sold by weight, like nails.