When I was a young man, I apprenticed under a master tool and die maker. In the first two years I worked with him I seldom saw him use a milling machine, he did it all with a file. Being young and headstrong I would often complain, but his reply was always the same: before you can use the mill, you must master the file.
The Jeweler's Saw | Gun Making Tools of the 18th Century and Today | Muzzle Blasts
When I was a young man, I apprenticed under a master tool and die maker. In the first two years I worked with him I seldom saw him use a milling machine, he did it all with a file. Being young and headstrong I would often complain, but his reply was always the same: before you can use the mill, you must master the file.