Compass Call, great post, it reminded me of the old test which was given to itinerant shipbuilders wanting to work in the Tudor royal docks. The test for an adze (a curved horizontal axe held in both hands brought down from over the head to ground level) was to cut and point a small stick about the size of a match in as few blows as possible, then drive it unbroken into a plank with one highly accurate blow with the back of the adze.
Skills accumulate and mature over centuries, but get wiped out over a generation by bean counters and politicians!