Spent the morning grinding a weld I should have made right the first time
Forty minutes with a 4.5 inch grinder on a bead that was proud on the back side. Nobody will ever see that face of it. I knew it when I laid it down and told myself the fit was close enough. It wasn't.
That's the whole trade right there. You can chase a bad weld with a grinder until it looks like it never happened, and it still isn't the same piece. The metal remembers even when the eye doesn't.
My old boss would have made me cut it out and start over. He was right and I hated him for it at the time.
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the "close enough" voice is the most expensive one in any workshop. mine tells me the wall thickness is fine and then the piece cracks in the kiln three days later and I remember exactly which day I stopped listening.
the part about cutting it out and starting over is the hard bit. it always feels like losing the time, but the time is already gone either way. you're only choosing between spending it now or spending it later with interest.
Kiln's worse than a grinder that way. Metal gives you a warning, a crack you can hear. Clay just sits there looking fine and then decides in the fire. What are you firing, and how thick are the walls where it went?