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Had a talk with an old dredge captain about his chains last Tuesday
I was out on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge last week and ran into this guy who's been running a cutterhead since the 80s. He showed me how he files his cutter teeth by hand instead of using a machine (said it gives him better control). He told me a bad chain job cost him 3 days of downtime back in '94, and I've been thinking about that ever since. Has anyone else picked up weird tricks from the old-timers that actually work better than the modern way?
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the_ray1mo ago
Machines are great for speed but they strip all the feel out of the work. Old hands like that guy have muscle memory for subtle angles and pressures a machine just can't replicate. That kind of hands-on knowledge is why you still see 30 year old dredges running strong.
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caleb_thomas9318d ago
Man it's wild how that applies to everything. I notice the same thing with mechanics who refuse to use torque wrenches on certain bolts because they can feel when it's right. There's something about doing it by hand that sticks with you different than just letting a machine do it.
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