Rockin' and Rolling!

With each day, the toggle gets darker and darker,
a sign of work being done and education continuing.

Indeed, there was rockin' and rolling in the shop today. All hands are on deck preparing for the upcoming show. The knifemaker built forges, the knifemaker's dad polished and buffed commission orders, and the knifemaker's lady friend punched holes into sheaths. Because the knifemaker's aunt knows enough now to get on the nail knives with only minimal guidance, she forged 14 nails on her own before arm muscles began to spasm -- a vast improvement from the 9 eek-ed out the first day that had to be re-done not only once but in some cases twice. Today's forging episode only took about an hour whereas the first day was many, many hours -- 3rd time lucky! Her hammering abilities have certainly passed the tap-tap-tap stage witnessed earlier.

Once forged, she moved on to profiling and then the preliminary grinding. At each stage, the knifemaker's aunt asked the knifemaker's dad for critique. With small tweaks, her technique improved. Eventually the tray of nails was delivered to dad for the polishing/buffing stage. As you will remember, the knifemaker's dad shoots the evil eye toward anyone who suggests that stage should be part of the learning process. The knifemaker's aunt may watch but is not allowed on the machines. She is grateful to be relieved of the final stage since the machines run at such a high speed and one mis-handle or hesitant action can send a sharpened blade flying.

Reflection: It is clear the efficiency of each stage makes less work for the steps that follow. Sloppy forging means more work profiling. Inconsistent profiling means more time and energy spent shaping at the grinding stage. A poor grind means more time spent polishing (a tighter grinding process) and buffing (sharpening). The knifemaker's dad spent more time than usual with the first batch of nails...something he expected because it was a new skill for a beginner. With each batch, however, he should spent less and less time.

Dirty work. Gratifying, but dirty. A blister formed within an earlier blister - a scientific oddity maybe but something this blog will be saved from having to see. A good sweep up finished the knifemaker's aunt's job for today. Tomorrow?  More nails in the forge, and more technique improvement!