Denny wrote:
Must
just be skill & attention to detail.

Exactly... Look at the fine cabinetry for the nobility made in the
1700-1800's.... No rulers, no micrometers, no lasers, no power tools,
only crude hand tools and skill...

Waaaaait a minute! G

I'm a serious woodworker, and the guys who made stuff for nobility back
then most certainly did have good tools!

1.) Wooden hand planes, some with metal mechanisms, go back to the
Greeks and Romans, as does metallurgy for making cutting tools. There
were many fine tool examples made in the 17 and 1800's. Basic tools,
like squares, go back thousands of years, and are easily made by the
user and calibrated to themselves.

2.) They had rulers back then, but they weren't made by Starrett or
Brown & Sharpe. G A ruler is simply an arbitrary measuring device.
If you use the same measuring tool to make an item, the tool doesn't
need to be accurate to a specific standard.

Furniture fits people, items made for specific people (the King), were
made to that person's preferences. Parts like doors and drawers are
made slightly oversize and hand fitted to specific openings. This is
still done today, with fine, very high-quality work.

Specific measurements are not important until interchangeability of
parts (factory production) becomes a requirement. Much furniture and
cabinetry is built with a measuring device called a "story stick". A
modern example of a simple story stick are the red 16" and black 19.2"
stud spacing markers printed on measuring tapes for framing buildings.

3.) You don't need micrometers for woodworking. They get used for
setting up precision machinery, not for measuring the wood.

4.) Water powered machines were available at that time for such tasks as
heavy sawing.

5.) Low cost apprentices, and sometimes slaves, were plentiful. Who
needs machines when you have 100 helpers?