I have worked with machinist at British Steel that would have made a whole new lens casing in exchange for a packet of cigarettes, on the night shift ;-). During WW2 a local lathe turner called "smoothie" sent a fine sewing needle he had drilled a small hole through at the pointed end to Mercedes in Germany. The needle was returned with 3 smaller holes through it decreasing in size ;-). Perhaps my judgement is clouded by memories of a time when we had the skills to be right up there with the best. There are still some very good machinist, most are retired spending their time building working scale models of steam engines or using their skills to make skeleton clocks. Most of these skilled workers started work at 14 years of age and worked at their craft until they retired at 65yrs of age.
In the UK we have lost the ability to "make do and mend".
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