Movin on...

This is an e-mail I will be sending to my co-workers and select clients within the next two weeks. I thought I might post it here as a sort of repository. Read that carefully! Not suppository!

To my dear friends:

 Well…as stated at the recent company meeting, and I will paraphrase; “Gaff will be moving on to the next stage in his life.” That is true. Exactly what that “stage” is, or what it will encompass, will only be realized by the doing. As Yoda wisely said to Luke: “Do, or do not; there is no try.” I relish the opportunity to do it, and I will do it, to the best of my ability. And hopefully, with some style.

 It is not without some tinge of doubt, that I begin this new journey. Change can be the most unsettling of human perceptions. We all like to feel comfortable in what we do, and what we expect to do in the future. Sometimes, that just cannot happen. Change needs to happen, despite ones fear or dread of the unknown.

 I went through many, many changes in my thirty-five plus years with the company. Some of those changes were terrific, such as enrolling in the in-house 2,000 hour State of Connecticut, Journeyman Machining course. I had a great mentor, Bob Geisel, who steered me through the curriculum, and helped make the learning more relevant to the real world. Another positive change, was being asked to travel to foreign lands, meet new people, and represent the company. That can be pretty scary, but what a great opportunity for learning it provided.

 Some of the changes through the years were not so terrific. The changes that are foremost in this category, were the loss of co-workers and friends in untimely ways, and the havoc the economy would wreak on the company at critical times. These changes can only be faced and overcome by directly confronting the fear, and knowing that others were dealing with the same angst, trepidation, and loss. “Strength in numbers” is the axiom that defines a company’s ability to weather difficulties. Be they internal, or from external forces. We all should gain strength from each other, when faced with a common foe. Sorry, enough with the preaching.

 I am thankful for the opportunity to work with all of you, and I have gained a great deal of personal satisfaction knowing I have helped colleagues and customers alike, with my hard earned knowledge of manufacturing trivia. I do not suspect that the future holds much need for my limited knowledge of encoders, or Insulated Gate Bi-Polar Transistors, but who knows, that just means there is a whole new realm of possibilities for learning. That, is one piece of advice I tried to convey to my sons, learning is never finished. Learning is what makes everyday worth the effort. It is personal, instantaneous gratification of the highest degree. Don’t be complacent or contented with your knowledge-base. Grow and expand your mind in whatever ways please you. It will be worth the effort. I know I’m not done yet. There are going to be far too many interesting twists and turns in my journey to “the next stage”.

If I could indulge your patience for just one more thought…Please try to take time away from your connectedness. Everywhere I turn today, I see young people and adults enraptured in their smart-phones, tablets, or big screen, High-Definition televisions. They are so “connected” that the real world escapes their notice, often, to the detriment of their well being, and their personal relationships.  Must your friends (and the Mongols) know every move you make? Must you forever imprint that information in cyberspace? Turn your electronics off once in a while. Go outside and look at the world. Or, go to a library or museum and engage with the world. There is so much more to life than feeling real, deathly panic, when you forget to grab your iPhone. There I go again, with the preaching. Mea culpa.

 I will end this missive by borrowing a paragraph from a book my wife, Sharon, read to our sons many years ago…from: “First You Have To Row A Little Boat” by: Richard Bode.

“I come now, at this late juncture of my life, to this sudden realization: I have no destination, no real destination, in the literal sense. The destination, the place toward which my life is tending, is the journey itself and not the final stopping place. How I get there is more important than whether I arrive, although I will arrive, and what I must try to remember, now more than ever, is to listen to the wind, and the wind will tell me what to do.”

 I hope there is a steady breeze in each and every one of your futures. Be well.

Gaff

Thirty-Five Years Doing Anything, Is Probably Enough

I have been gainfully employed by the same firm for thirty-four years, three hundred and fifty-five days as of this writing. I decided at the end of last year to call it quits from my current line of work. This decision was hard fought with myself, but I finally won through to victory on the retirement side.

Retirement is not really a correct description in this case. Yes, I will retire from my place of employ on May 30, 2014; but I will not stop working. I will be working on many, many things that require time. Time, that I previously did not have the luxury of. Such as...

Mastering David Gilmore's guitar licks in "Comfortably Numb" (yeah right). RVing around the West, and walking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (while I still can). Seeing Ireland (the Old Sod) is high up on the bucket list. Lowering my golf handicap past 4.7 (lowest it's ever been). Riding my Harley to Alaska (that's a tough one). Finding a 1942 Singer, M1911A1 that costs less than my house (that may be impossible). Ah! the world is my oyster.

Life transitions can mean many things, both good and bad. I am hoping this decision, and it's inevitable life transition, will be wonderful. Time will tell. And until time tells, I am going to try like hell to smile more, and be a bit kinder to my family members; and other weird people too.

Until next time...

Shoot Straight, and Do The Right Thing...

Gaff

The Trouble With Plastic

I spend a lot of time dissecting all sorts of mechanisms for one reason or another. It's been both a blessing and a curse at times. I enjoy "seeing" how things work. How they function,  how they are assembled, and inevitably, how they come apart. Hopefully, I pay close enough attention at disassembly, to remember how the blessed thing goes back together. That, is the reason for this entry.

A very large majority of our everyday possessions are constructed of some type of thermo-plastic. In fact, more and more items that once were solely made from metals, are now produced out of reinforced plastic, or composite materials.

One of the most important factors to remember when reassembling a device after you have successfully repaired it, (we will assume you are successful, otherwise the item might become fodder for the trash heap), is the proper reinsertion and tightening of the self-tapping fasteners.

When the item of interest is taken apart, the fasteners are usually metal screws with aggressive threading, that when originally assembled at the factory, cut spiral threads into the undersized hole in the mating component. When reassembling the device (properly), it is very important to "feel" for those precut threads to be sure the screw does not cut new threads, thereby weakening the fastener's hole.

To be sure I return the screw/s into the original threads, I simply start the screw into the hole and carefully rotate it in reverse (left-hand direction) with VERY little downward pressure. As the screw turns around counter-clockwise, I feel for the exact point in the rotation where the screw drops slightly into the original precut thread. Then, I simply reverse direction slowly and the screw should go into the threaded hole with very little effort, and tighten without threat of stripping the plastic receiving hole.

Sounds pretty trivial I guess, but if you plan on reassembling something for future use, and the screws do not tighten properly, that will prove to be a difficult problem to solve in a "professional" manner. I guess the duct tape, and hot glue gun people would not be phased by such a development. I however, tend to want to return the item in as close to factory specifications as I possibly can.

There you have it, turn left, feel for the drop, before you turn right to tighten. It will make a much better job of your fix-it attempt.


Thanks for taking the time to peruse this entry.  I hope it may help in some small way.

Gaff

How Do You Spell Pressure? R-E-L-I-E-F

Now that everyone has learned all they care to learn about an encoder... Yes, sorry, I should never have attempted to make that subject amusing in any way, shape, or form. Mea Culpa!

How about we turn to another of my hobbies for a little levity, and a bit of concentration on craftsmanship. That would be, Hobby Gunsmithing. OK, OK, maybe there won't be much levity...

I think this hobby was one of the reasons I gave up drinking. You can't have shaking hands or clouded thoughts when dealing with firearms. Whether working on their innards, or attempting to use them for the purpose for which they were designed. Clear heads MUST prevail.

What does a hobby gunsmith do? Very astute question. Answer; whatever his or her ability and or training and knowledge allow him or her to do competently. Nothing more, nothing less.

This is not like working on a toaster that only toasts one side of the bread. If you stick a screwdriver into that thing with the juice plugged in, the sparks and smoke will immediately tell you you did something wrong. You might even get tactile feedback with a shock, and, when the AC voltage drops midway through  the sine wave, you can let go of the toaster, onto your foot.

No, working with and on firearms is very serious business. Every, and I mean every, firearm is different. Despite the appearance that two seemingly identical model firearms sit side by side, they are not identical. Even in this modern age of precision CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining centers, able to produce parts with incredible accuracy and tolerances, when precision firearms are assembled (by the hand of man or woman), they inevitably will not be identical in one way or another. They will be very close to the same, but not identical.

Each firearm is unique, the fit of the parts, the quality and rarity of the wood in the stock/s. The crispness of the trigger pull, the uniformity of the finish can all contribute to this uniqueness. Considerable consideration must given to each firearm, because the possibility of ruination looms mightily with each tool that is touched to its surface.

I have personally experienced dread and fear as I plunged a Pfeil D7/10 gouge into the walnut of my M1A Springfield rifle to begin a relief carving. There was no going back, that cut could not be repaired. The reason for the dread was, this happened after completing 40+ hours of checkering to this formally plain, military stock. The checkering came out really well, and I did not want to ruin this thing after all that work. I had never attempted something like this before. Yes, I had carved a few things in the past, but a cedar sign is not a 1990's era M1A National Match, with a "perfect" walnut stock. Besides, this was MY rifle, what if it was a friend's one-of-a-kind?...holy heartburn.

So, after completely carving the "test" shamrock in some scrap walnut first, and being satisfied I could pull it off, I plunged that razor sharp gouge into the stock. "God help me, I'm committed now." Well,  the first shamrock came out very well, and I'm knee deep into its mirror image on the other side of the stock. Here is what it looks like before application of six coats of finish...

I reckon I have more than succeeded in making this unique rifle even more unique.

More to follow...thanks for reading.

Do the right thing.

Gaff