Originally Posted by waterrockets

Sorry if I offended, but the question at the bottom of your original post was answered within the post. It seemed like you were just out to pick on JB, not ask a question. If you have a question for JB, he's over on rec.bikes.tech all the time.

Putting what JB says aside, yes, you can build low count wheels by hand. Deflecting the rim will unload a spokes in the direction of the deflection. With deeper rims, it becomes much more difficult to unload by squeezing adjacent spokes together -- and impossible with low count wheels because adjacent spokes are not anywhere near parallel for squeezing.