“[T]he Hand must be carried along the whole length, with an equal bearing weight, and so exactly even, and upright to the edges of the Board, that neither side of the Plane encline either inward or outwards, but that the whole breadth be exactly square on both its sides supposing its sides straight: so will two edges of two Boards, when thus shot, lie so exactly flat and square upon one another, that light will not be discerned betwixt them. But yet it is counted a piece of good workmanship in a Joyner, to have the Craft of bearing his Hand so curiously even, the whole length of long Board; and yet but a sleight to those, [whom] Practice hath inur'd the Hand to.”
– Joseph Moxon, on edge jointing boards from Mechanick Exercises (1703)