On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:37:31 -0400, Bill Schwab
wrote:

Gunner,

Is a pencil a crutch, or is a stick and a tray of wet clay the proper
tool?

You can be a purist, and work on your chi, or you can turn out work.

It's not about purism, it's about practice. I look forward to showing
you the RT pieces I made in the fall. Had I not worked out dials and
backlash and practiced manual methods, I would not have been able to
build them.

Bill

Bill, Im sure you turn out fine work. I look at things from a
production viewpoint. Its my job to make sure machines and operators
turn out the maximum amount of work, to specs, in the shortest amount
of time. Its one of the things I do for a living in the Meat World.

Ive seen some marvelous work turned out with a hacksaw and a file.
Atistry in metal. The idiot savant Abraxis is an example.

One of the old exercises for apprentic machinist was to make a perfect
cube, using nothing more than a file, for a grade. Took a considerable
amount fo time to do, yet all apprentices had to do it.

Me..Id stick it in a shaper and face the thing properly, then surface
grind it to tolerance. Doesnt take anywhere near as much time, time I
can spend learning/making/doing other things, or out shooting, nailing
the lady friend or playing with the critters (not necessarily in that
order of course G)
Other people would use a mill of some sort...chuckle..but Im a shaper
head at heart.

Gunner





"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner