PSA: Stop telling newbies to 'just use a potato' for stencils

Last month at a garage sale in Austin, this older guy watched me pick up a speedball kit and laughed, saying he 'made shirts with a potato and some paint' back in the 70s. He went on for 10 minutes about carving spuds, not once mentioning that ink pools weird on uneven surfaces or that you can't get fine lines. I get being nostalgic, but it's like telling someone to rebuild an engine with a rock. I've ruined about 12 shirts this year experimenting with homemade stencils, and trust me, a $6 piece of mesh from the hobby store works better than any vegetable. Anyone else have a 'helpful' pro drop advice that was totally useless for real home printing?