I had almost forgotten about this one.
Long ago when CAD was an archaic insult that you only heard in old British films, I was a draftsman. I had a Vemco drafting machine attached to a very large wooden surface covered by a rubber mat, and used Staedtler-Mars pens on sheets of mylar.

As my boss wanted any draftsman to be able to work on any drawing, we all had to use Leroy templates to do the lettering. Here is a description for those of you unfamiliar with them.) I got to be extremely proficient with them, to the point where I could letter with them almost as fast as I could letter freehand.

I found my set of templates in a box in the attic not long ago, along with my Lyman curve templates and pens and circle templates. Best of all, I found my old beam compass for drawing very large and precise curves.

Not that they'll ever be used again, of course, but it's nice to know that if a silicon-eating bacterium takes out all of the world's computers I'll still be able to draw.
( Wanderer, Mon 8 Nov 2010, 21:39, Reply)