Tactile Sense

So there's a reason that most apprentices or beginners are given the time consuming, arduous, seemingly low importance tasks in a shop or jobsite.

Things like sanding or really any manual non powered or low powered tool task.

Here's a word I want to share with you that most people who train or teach in a making/building/crafting environment may not even know themselves, but they know what it means and it's extremely important.

"Tactile Sense".

Tactile Sense is something that one gains by using one's hands a LOT to apply torque, tension, and gauge surface distortion,  etc...

It's getting the feel of how tight to turn a screwdriver before it's too tight.  How to tell the slightest difference in a surface being sanded by feel.  How much downward pressure to apply with a chisel.

It's using the feel of something in your hands to determine how much is enough, too much, or not enough.

It's a skill, not a talent.  You need to learn by doing and you have to do it a lot. Repeatedly.  On a wide variety of tools and materials to get to know the difference simply by the feel of it.

After you do it enough, you don't even think about it.  You just do it.  It's fine tuning the sense of touch combined with experience and knowledge.  It's partly muscle memory.   Like playing guitar.  When you first learn, you focus on every move, every string.  After you build experience,  you don't actively think about that anymore,  you just do.

But to become a good builder/maker/artist/craftsperson you absolutely MUST build this skill.  The only way to do that is by doing things that give you lots of "hands on" interaction.  Those things are tasks like sanding, turning screws manually, hammering, etc...

Again and again.  Over and over.

Back in the days before power tools and modern materials, apprenticeship was much more common and most apprentices coming from unskilled labor needed to be trained in tactile sense before they could be trusted to know what tight and finished, etc.. really were before they could be trusted to do projects on their own.

Power tools have actually reduced this skill.  Now more people want to use power tools to be faster and get done quicker with mundane tasks.  Which power tools obviously do quite well.  But that's missing the point.

By going straight to power tools, people do not build a good tactile sense.  Rudimentary at best.  This turns out shoddy workmanship. But hey, they got done quickly and can do more jobs in less time thus making more money.  That is the goal of most of today's makers and builders.

Craftsmanship is not very high on the goal list anymore.  Meeting minimum specs and requirements to be "good enough" is what most set the bar at.