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A 30 year old helper asked why I still tube a boiler by hand, and I could not give him a good answer
Last Thursday at the paper mill in Camas, the kid on my crew watched me roll a tube the old way and asked why I don't just use the hydraulic expander like everyone else. I said cause that's how I was taught, and he just nodded and went back to work, and that stuck with me all shift. Did some figuring that night and the expander does 4 tubes in the time I do one, with way less wrist wear. Now I'm wondering how much of what I do is actually the best way and how much is just the way I learned it back in 1996. Any of you switch over to hydraulic and never look back, or is there a job where hand rolling still wins?
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rose_henderson17d ago
My grandpa tied his boots the same way for 60 years even after velcro came out, and when his hands got too stiff to pull the laces he just stopped wearing those boots. Twenty years later we found three pairs of the exact same boot in his closet, all worn the same way. He wasn't wrong, his way worked, but he never once asked if it still did. The part that gets me about your story is the kid just nodded. He didn't push, he didn't argue, he just went back to work. That means he already figured you had a reason, even if you didn't. The hard part isn't learning the new tool, it's admitting the old one was maybe just a habit wearing a skill's clothes.
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