The thread lamenting the decline of craftsmanship made me think of the Popular Science and Popular Mechanics Magazines of bygone days. In the average drugstore magazine rack, those were the magazines that had do-it-yourself projects. There may have been magazines about "fine" woodworking in those days (-the days before PM and PS lost their DIY orientation), but I didn't see such magazines displayed. When I look at old copies of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, the woodworking projects are remarkably crude by find woodworking standards. They often involve making things with 2x4's and plywood. I don't claim to do fine woodworking myself, but I'm curious whether other people have the same impression of the old projects and whether this is a good measure of what the "average craftsman" of the era undertook.