I've once had the punt maker say something in lines of: "it'll be done by late morning". Late morning came, spoke to him, he said the same. Not that it'd be done shortly etc. I think that character crafted something to pass time, might've been noon. Spoke to punt maker: "late morning". And did same, picked up the punt, took to the old fisherman, complete quest.
For those who want punt crafting, add in corresponding SUBMENUs in diy_glossary.txt:
do not replace any section within the file. And leave one empty row below and above recipes and sub menu identifiers.
SUBMENU_START:lumber]
.Hollowed log. "Log" [effort:3] [phys:arms,one-armed] *TIMBERCRAFT* /6h/ |2| [assist:2] [noquality]
{Log} '+to be hollowed' [remove]
{Fire} '+for burning the hollow'
{Axe} <Carving axe> '+for cleaning charred wood'
[WEIGHT:60]
[SUBMENU_END:lumber]
[SUBMENU_START:transport]
.Punt. [effort:2] [phys:hands,one-armed] *CARPENTRY* /300/ %50% |1|
{Hollowed log} [ground] [remove] +'Hollowed log to shape'
{Axe} <Handaxe>
{* fat*} #1# +'fat for treating' [remove] [noquality]
{Fire} '+for heating the fat'
[SUBMENU_END:transport]