Years ago, I asked Peter about a (4" square) stile that he was preparing from greenwood. "Don't you worry about checking with such a thick bit of wood?" Without missing a beat he responded, "not much."
This attitude runs through Peter's teaching. If you have ever seen his videos or had the fortune of taking a course with him (maybe through Plymouth Craft or Lie Nielsen), you may have appreciated how he teaches just enough to get you started and keep you safe, but not so much as to confine your growth. There is such a thing as "overteaching." Overteach and each decision the student makes becomes overthought, precious, and tentative.
Instead, Peter encourages you to worry only about what really matters (for example, that the face and side of a stile are square, or that you get your right leg out of the way when axing.) The rest will take care of itself. He often avoids giving measurements, forcing you to find something that works for you. Or he says things like, "drive the pin into this hole, but stop right before the stile splits." His purpose in teaching is not to save you from a mistake, but only to make you aware of the risk and allow you to find your own way. As Peter once explained to Roy Underhill: "Good judgment is the result of experience. But do you know where experience comes from? It's the result of poor judgment." So just get on with it.
Want to know how much offset is good when making drawbored joint, and how much deflection a pin will take before cracking? Give it a try and see.
Will your frame come out square? How square does it have to be? Well, best give it a try.
I look through these photos now and see plenty of mistakes: rough carving, irregular surfaces, wonky joints--all good learning opportunities.
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