Who makes good abrasives?

[Jason L]

TLDR... I just needed to blow off a little steam, sorry for the rant.

 

It's ironic that the topic has come round to emotions. Mine have been put to the test the last couple of days, yesterday in particular. 

I work nights for a funeral home, let's call it mortuary transport. My job is to pick up the deceased, take them to the funeral home and prep the body for embalming. It's quiet and my passengers never complain. The last few days have been rather busy for me since I'm the only one working nights. Monday morning my wife took a friend of hers to lunch for her friends birthday. Her dog was acting funny since Saturday so we were giving antibiotics which had worked in the past. We figured this would run it's course in a few days like it always had in the past. Well, I noticed the dog lying in it's bad and when I went to check on her, she was lifeless and had purged a big puddle. She still had a heartbeat but I knew the end was near. This dog belonged to our daughter who committed suicide 5 years ago so my wife felt like this was her last tangible link to her. She was distraught to say the least. I got called out so I had to go to work and at some point the dog appeared to get somewhat better. Long story short, We got up yesterday morning early and took her to the vet who told us she had a stroke and was now completely blind. We made the hard decision and had her put to sleep. Not gonna lie, I cried with my wife as the vet gave her the shot. Right before the vet came in to give her the shot, I got called by work and asked if I would make a run today to Georgia, a 3 hour one way trip. Not a big deal, I've made many such trips before. The catch was, I was still on call last night. We got a call for a 700 lb person, which takes a few people to handle so it was all hands on deck. That finally came in around midnight. I came home crawled into bed and had just dozed off when I got another call and had to leave again. I've had very little sleep since Sunday and exhaustion had kicked in by this time. But I still got up this morning, made my run and got home just in time to have supper and a couple of Tylenol PMs. At this point, I'm too tired to sleep and too exhausted not to. The worst part is, I'm still on call tonight so I may not get any sleep tonight either. Here's hoping though.

 

Sorry for the rant, I just needed to vent a little bit. 

[Frosty]

That's a heart breaker Jason. Rant on Brother I'll listen. A school friend was a mortician, had been working in the family business since elementary school age. He was something like a 5th. generation mortician or maybe that was when the family moved to this continent. Nobody wanted to challenge him to a gross out contest!

Not that that's any comfort Jason but I've heard too many stories about what he dealt with and I understand your feelings. I can't know how it feels but I understand. 

Be well Brother. PM if you want to talk.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jason L]

Thanks Frosty. The trend carried on for another day but I finally got a chance to sleep, unfortunately, I couldn't sleep well or very long lol. Oh well, it was enough to recharge. I appreciate you Frosty.

[Frosty]

Things like that can build up becoming overwhelming. Exhaustion combined with more things that need doing can make it hard to sleep for very long. Catch every knap you can till you ease the exhaustion enough to get a night's worth eh?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Jason L]

Not gonna lie, if I hadn't been that exhausted at the time, I wouldn't have said a thing. I used to work a job with a 100 mile round trip commute every day and worked sometimes for days on end. I worked one weekend so one of the other guys could have off and worked for 36 hours straight with a total of two hours of breaks, the longest of which was about 30 minutes. I can't do that any more. Being on call has good times and bad. I can go weeks without a call or have several in a day. There's no telling what the fates have lined up. But I'm blessed to be working for great people and I'm allowed to offer what little comfort I can to people on what might be the worst day of their lives. It's not only therapeutic for me but it has taught me a lot about the value of life. The one thing I tell everyone is to never assume tomorrow, it's not guaranteed, but now is. Don't waste it. Also always double check a parachute

[Frosty]

"I can't do that anymore." Hmmmmm, where have I heard THAT before? 

I've done the 100+ mile commute more than once and am glad those days are over. 

Being able to give comfort to folks during bad times is good for the soul and a privilege. 

Being on call like that would be a killer. It sucks but sometimes you just have to say no, if you put yourself in the hospital or worse, who they gonna call? You certainly don't want them calling on a ride for you.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Jason L]

You make a good point and sometimes I do Let someone else handle it. This year has been been pretty slow with me going sometimes over a month without a call and I still get paid regularly. I feel like the few odd busy times is a small price to pay for such an opportunity to work with people who show me their appreciation at every opportunity. Being valued is sometimes worth more than the paycheck. Not all the time, but every so often.

[Frosty]

It can be pretty hard not to step in when needed, even if there's someone else available, isn't it?

One of my favorite jobs ever was as an attendant at a full service service station. I got to try and make everybody's day a little better. I never just put gas in a car, I cleaned all the windows, mirrors, head and tail lights, I told jokes, etc. etc. It was the best job I ever had but it didn't pay very well. On rare occasions I got a tip some kind of different. I still treasure one of them though I don't remember much about the customer. It's an old ball pein hammer with a splitting handle. I repaired the handle with epoxy and tape. It was his Father's and he gave it to me because they were moving and he wouldn't see me again. It's still in my tool box, the one with my mechanic's tools from when I worked on cars and pumped gas. 

Every once in a while someone showed me appreciation in a special way that made life worth living. Something like that?

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Jason L]

You get it man. The fulfillment sometimes is worth the trade off. It's the little things like your hammer that fill the tiny little holes in our lives that keep our soul from leaking out. It's the person that pats you on the back and tells you "good job", or that little item that someone gave you just because they noticed you look at it a certain way. These are the little kindnesses that make you look at a bad day and see a great day. That's what it's all about and you can never know what some little thing you did might make someone's day a little better than it was.

 

For the record Frosty, our conversation here has made my life a little better and I want to thank you for that. 

[Frosty]

Awe Pshaw. . . The little thank yous aren't what really make life worth living for me, spend 30 years working for the gvt and see what happens to thank yous. 

I learned to make doing a good job my satisfaction. Years ago when I was drilling and spending way more time in the shop than the field. Being a certified welder that didn't want to work in a welding shop I got to do a lot of repairs. I was making a couple fish plates to reinforce a break in a drill's tower. (yada yada details) I'd cut them out and was breaking the edges on the grinder when two of the old timers asked what then, "why, nobody'll know." Part of their sneer was derived from them not knowing either welding nor fabrication, their fish plates were square or rectangular and broke quickly.  Anyway, I replied while looking over the top of my safety glasses, (The grandpaw giving you THE LOOK) and said, "I'll know."

I spent nearly 30 years working for people who thought all it took to do a job was the tool, welder, lathe, chainsaw, whatever. 

It sounds self centered and sometimes it is but I know if I did well or not and can live with the failures so long as I did the best I could within the limitations.

Those 30 years were entirely different than my time at service stations, my customers evaluated my work honestly, some said thanks but most of the time a smile was goodness. 

I still miss working with the public but it just doesn't pay for taxes and overhead. It's sort of poetic that the best job ever was pure entry level with little enduring but some good memories. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

One of the rewards of selling blacksmithed items at a fair or other event is the social feedback and the thanks folk give you for selling them something cool and unique.  For me, as a hobby smith, that is about as equally rewarding as the money they give you in exchange for your work.  Many have never met a real blacksmith and are amazed when they look at the table and say, "Did you make all this?"

That is just one of the ways that the craft gives back to the smith.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Jason L]

I know what you mean George. I never sell anything though. Everything I make I give to someone or throw it back on the scrap pile. For me it's my zen time, I already got paid for it in the time spent doing it. I never want to get into a position where I'm obligated to do something I enjoy for money. It puts me on a someone else's timeline and takes the joy out of it. 

[Frosty]

That isn't what George is talking about Jason. Few things are better than making things with your own hands but having a stranger like what I made enough to give me money is up there. Away from demos I don't take commissions, my last one didn't get past the sketch phase before I tried catching a tree with my head. At a demo it's a different thing entirely I'll make a "special coat hook or hat hanger, etc." for someone and not only do you get money for your time you almost always have a rooting section too.  AND when you ask their opinion along the way, hook big enough, too big? More open, etc. etc. it gets the whole crowd involved and if I'm not careful I'll be making things for people all day. 

Kids at demos are THE best, they ask the best questions and are more likely to understand what I'm doing. Some good questions from a kid usually earns them a coat hook. Why a coat hook? It's so I can get in good with Mom and Dad by reminding the youngster they'll have their very own hook to hang their coat. The kid gets that Oh OH look while Mom beams at me and the audience gets a chuckle.

Doing demos is theater where the audience is invited into your zone for a while. 

Accepting money for your work isn't about the money it's about accepting tangible gratitude from the audience. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

The reality is that most folk these days are not exposed to "makers."  Few people, usually women, make their own clothes any more.  Because of convenience much of the cooking is done from a mix or "ordered out."  If men have tools in their hands for pleasure it is often automotive which is different from starting with raw material, steel, wood, flour, etc. and coming up with a finished product.  So, when people see something being made or something that has been made from an unfamiliar working material, like steel. they are fascinated and impressed.

Sometimes at a demo someone will buy someting they have seen made, not because they particularly need it, but because they have seen it made which is a very uncommon experience.

The feed back and praise from strangers is not something commonly experienjced and is very enjoyable.  This is subtly different from a thank you from someone you already know because it is spontaneous and is not based on a previous social or family relationship.

As Frosty says, having a patter or stories or jokes or explanations or commentary while you are demonstrating or just selling is part of the interaction and the show.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

 

[Frosty]

Well said George, true across the board. RR spikes are popular at demos, almost everybody  recognized spikes so when you turn one into something else with fire, hammer, vise and wrench they get to experience a bit of the soul satisfying pleasure of working hot steel.

I've actually had spectators get into bidding wars over a coat hook because they watched me forge it. I don't sell by bids, I've had folks play "rock hammer scissors" and always make another or two for other folk. When I was in shape and practiced up I could make a leaf finial wall hook in about 7 minutes while keeping up a patter.

It's hard to keep peoples attention for more than 10 minutes at a demo so I shot for pieces that took less so folk could watch start to finish. Twists are always popular, watching an orange hot square bar twist while shedding scale is always crowd pleaser dramatic.

Frosty The Lucky.