The apprentice uses scrap wood to snatch orders, but the old carpenter adheres to only one rule. The wood must be kiln-dried for a full 20 days, and the mortise and tenon joints do not use a single iron nail. Some laughed at him for being slow and expensive. But when century-old timber met a once-in-thirty-years damp spring, fake mahogany began to crack, seep lacquer, and collapse beds, people finally understood that load-bearing bone cannot be wrong by even a bit. He set up an ironwood offering table in three days that supported a five-ton stone lion; every bit of stubbornness he guarded was a conscience capable of being passed down for three generations. True speed is slowing down to make the work solid. True craftsmanship withstands time and moisture.