What skills have been lost

[Guest]

can feel this thread becoming a full blown rant, deep breath

knife skills, not fancy cheffy skills but just basic how to handle a knife safely and properly in the kitchen but more so in the basic outdoors where these sills are learned, or should be, I was horrified to learn that my 16yo grand nephew had never been allowed a knife.

failing any legitimate familiarisation is it any wonder so many kids today think of knives as violent weapons? instead of a handy versatile tool in everyday life? a badge of maturity and trustworthiness?


ok winding neck back in before I offend people

That has just reminded me of a scenario with my girls (not knives). It really does come down to who and how some of these skills are passed on. There really are a lot of pillocks about nowadays and I really have no idea how we got to this stage. Thankfully my girls weren't being shown by a pillock (well maybe when he chooses to be) so they enjoyed themselves

[Snoop Puss]

All this talk of writing has reminded me that almost the only thing I write by hand these days is my signature. Even I barely recognise it, I do it so rarely. And it's totally illegible when I have to sign one of those electronic pads to confirm I've received a package.

Now here's one that will rile folk: punctuation and apostrophes. I'm no saint with them either, mind.

[Miss Mousetrousers]

Today's society seems to mostly consist of "I want it NOW" and "Can't be faffed doing that. I'll just get a new one." The pleasure of creating something from left-overs of any sort is sadly dwindling, but for those who continue these crafts - good for you!

[ecudc]

Not completely lost but we consistently struggle to get proper stone masons who can cope with a grade 2 listed 16th century church. Partly on things like that I think it is due to lack of investment in many companies in many industries to invest in training which is partly why our productivity is so low in the UK. Its daft really in this case as renovating old buildings seems to be a license to add an extra 0 or two to the end of a quote.

Empathy and perhaps respect for others also seems to be vanishing as we find it increasingly easy to find people that think like us and act like us through the web and who affirm our own beliefs. We no longer have to rub along with those who don't share the same opinions as us and can launch troll warfare across the cyber space with very little thought or risk to ourselves.

[DWSmith]

A couple of skills that are being lost are building electronic gadgets and related skills.

Before Heathkit disappeared I used to buy the books and others on electronic theory, projects, etc. I've put together a kit or two and they actually work!

Most of my interest in electronics has been with respect to amateur radio. (I am a ham.) I've never built my own radio but I can take a circa 1970's amateur radio transceiver, combine some wire and an existing structure to make an antenna, then communicate 1,000+/- miles with less than 1 watt of power using morse code and a telegraph key. Millions of school kids around the world used to be able to do this a few decades ago. The Internet is killing this skill.

[lottie dolly]

many years a go,i took an old camel coat apart,and made a childs coat out off it,using the revers of the fabric,the lady was very happy with it,mam used to patch bed sheets,and cut em in half then resow with the inside ouside,any to far past it were cut and sown for tea cloths,steam pudding cloths, and you know what ladies,any old frocks could be turned into aprons or little girls ware,make do and mend was the order of the day,in the last few years i have cut up old towels overlocked around fore flannels,old soft shirts or fabric the same way,use for dusters,ther is no limit to the imajination if you want,even chidrens soft toys,bean bags,go on get thinking.

[burnie]

Thing is for some time now there's a lot of people(family included) who see homemade as being cheapskate and are not welcomed as gifts. People now seem to demand expensive, or it is not good enough.

[bramble]

You're quite right Burnie. It all has to be shop bought.
When my children were going to school I knitted their jumpers and cardigans. You wouldnt see a child wear home knits now.
Sign of the times but I liked it better " in my day"

[Greenleaves]

We do live in a throw away society, I think we have lost the art of thrift!

As a child growing up things were rarely thrown out, unless there was no viable future, or alternative use.

How many people throw out TV's? Not because it's broken but because they want bigger or better

[DWSmith]

We do live in a throw away society, I think we have lost the art of thrift!

As a child growing up things were rarely thrown out, unless there was no viable future, or alternative use.

How many people throw out TV's? Not because it's broken but because they want bigger or better

How many people practically give away a 50 year old tractor so that someone like me can put a little work into it and use it for over a decade ... so far?

I sort of appreciate the 'throw away' attitude of some folks (but I certainly like my first new tractor). I've done a bit of work on Old Blue and she keeps on going.

It's the manufacturers that make the disposable items that shouldn't be disposable that annoy me.

[JanieB]

When my daughter was young (pre-teen) she was after the latest designer jeans which I couldn't afford. So I made her some jeans, French seams and all. I also embroidered the back pockets with birds of paradise. She was horrified but wore them reluctantly. Her friends didn't know they were home made and wanted to know where we'd bought them so that they could get some. We just said my sister sent them from London.

[Miss Mousetrousers]

One of my dear friends wove some table mats for me which I treasure. I've made a cross-stitch picture for my great-niece using pattern motifs from Jo Verso's books to create a pic of her favourite things and am currently doing another one for a chap who helps me in the garden. It's not just the item itself, it's all the thought and creativity that goes into it that gives so much pleasure to both the maker and the receiver.

[ESBkevin]

For my part I like to get value out of everything and recycle whatever. Nothing gets thrown out of our house until Kevin has a) tried to repair it. b) Taken it apart and saved anything that might be remotely useful to someone in the future.
So I have a small scrap metal collection that I sell about once a year for pocket money, my garage is full of screws, bolts, washers, dohicky things and electrical switches, springs, belts etc. I might have to stop one day but I keep stuff alive a long time.
It's not even that I can't afford a new dishwasher, the point is I had an old one and found another similar old one - now I have a pile of scrap metal, some recycled compnents and a working dishwasher. I can't fix everything, but I have a go.
Modern man seems to have no concept of anything practical, how to change a fuse, paint a window frame, fix a stuck ballcock, these are skills we are losing and they are being replaced by the skill of buying another cheap unit off amerzone with all the attendent environmental costs that has. Strewth I'm sounding like a hippy!

[Chestnut]

Maybe we gardening folks are a select bunch, but it always seems to me that my gardening friends are much more comfortable with mending or repurposing things than a lot of folk - or maybe I was lucky with parents who didn’t mind letting me have a go at stuff.
I could certainly use an electric drill, wire a plug and use a paintbrush before I left school, even if the only room I was allowed to decorate was the outside toilet!
Yes, I have a healthy respect for electrics and plumbing and will call professionals in if it is more complicated than a washer or fuse, but I will always have removed timber housing and exposed the leaky pipe before I call them :-)

[DWSmith]

Dad's family was so poor that during The Great Depression they didn't notice much of a difference. When I was a kid he always bought used cars and worked on them to keep 'em running. He always had a bucket full of odds-and-ends fasteners for fixing things around the house. It's a guy thing I think. I have my trays of nut, bolts, washers, gaskets, etc. I also have a small selection of taps and dies so I can repair the threads on nuts and bolts if needed.

Youtube has been the best reason to get on the internet. If I want to learn something about repairing a slow toilet, fixing a lawn mower, planting vegetable seeds, improving the lawn, etc. it's all there.

SWMBO gets cranky with me with all the treasures (she calls it junk) I have in the basement but if I can use one item now-and-then when something breaks then it saves a trip to the hardware store and has been worth it. (Going to the hardware store means a 60+ mile round trip now that we live in a rural area.)

I got an estimate of $200 to fix a lawn mower. After watching a few youtube videos I spent about 4 hours tearing the lawn mower apart and fixing it myself. The videos convinced me I had a broken belt so I bought a new one ahead of time. Turns out I didn't need it. The old belt had slipped off a pulley but now I have the belt stored away in case I do need it later. Total cost of repair: $0 unless you count the $12 belt. I still made out better than the $200 estimate. (4 hours is a ridiculous amount of time to fix a belt on anything. Others complained about it but said it's because of the way the mower was designed. No kidding!)