Session Sharpening

catspa said:
Garry, the mfgrs might have intended that function, but I’ve never met a roofer who used the under blade or corner on asphalt shingles. They’re quite abrasive, and two squares would radius the corner so as to be about useless. Felt paper, yes - I have seen cut that way a few times, especially during tearoff. But every roofer carries a retractable utility knife, which works much better. (Old coots sometimes carry a nonretractable one, like a Stanley 199 or similar. If they’re real old and coot-y, they have a little stone to touch up the blades. DAMHIKT.)

Parker
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Clint Eastwood Coffee GIF
 
So Ernest, if you’re listening, any progress on the shingling or have other chores taken priority?

Parker
 
Hi Parker, a trip to the international airport has kept me away and off the roof for a few days and among other interventions brought progress to a temporary halt. One of those relates to a forced improvisation because the roof covering I'm working on isn't so conventional and I end up having to manufacture my own components with some inhearant constraints as a result of my peculiar situation here. Well, it all comes down to an increasing anxiety about getting the roof closed up before it snows. Still, I'm on the road to progress, the alternative axe being a definite improvement.
 
My jealousy (envy, actually) is humming at a high pitch just from your description, so it’s good you didn’t post a picture. I’ve had a little diversion this week myself - all work no play, long hours, no scenery, no place to swim. Home now though.

Since you’re feeling the time crunch, if you hire some local help who has no roofing hatchet, you can loan him your old one and he can be envious too.

Know what you mean about getting things done before the weather, though. I usually get the clients squared away before my own work, much to my later regret.

Parker
 
This day on axes, since the new one is undergoing maintenance, (the transition from (near)rain forest ( no inadvertent disclosure, I hope), to high desert conditions having now created some havoc), and I choose to straighten the edge and point up heel and toe, it's a chance to see how the one contrasts with the other in a reversion to making use of the red handled axe.This hulking grip it has definitely not to my liking but at certain points in the work the provision of the nail puller has surprising advantages even though the edged beard -as I've decided to label that section - creates an obvious conflict and so an unappreciated irritation and interruption in the work. Also I am not enthralled with the excessive knurlng of the hammer's face on that one ( Plumbs) which can - and does - easily do damage to the fibers of the shingle face. This seems most unwanted in such an instance and so a bit puzzling. What's behind that I have to ask myself. On the lath axe it is perfectly logical and might even aid plaster's adhesion to a degree or another.

As with any axe it's sharpness that matters most and this I have, more or less, ultimate control over in my own hands, thanks god. :) it's why I was pleased to be able to take my sharpened carpentry axe - no run-o'-the-mill example, that one - for trimming down the backs of the lower first row, in the absence of my beloved, even with its right handed orientation, coutre.
 
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Y’know, that rockered edge was because I used it briefly for interior finish where scraping is needed and I don’t want corner tracks. I wondered if you’d straighten it back, and I’m pleased you did. Tune it to run best for you, and put it to work.

Parker
 
I notice a substantial difference between the two worked on with my bench stones. The one softer than the other, the other producing a robust and consistent burr. To me it's These working qualities that legitimate an inquiry into production, origin, time frame and so on and so on.... For example, I know that the company Greenlee made consistently good products, chisels, drawknives etc, etc. so I can be confident when I see this label.

In another context the standards were more individual and internalized, less of an abstraction. Any one production set-up with self respect would simply not allow a tool to escape its doors that did not measure up to generally agreed on standards of performance.
 
Here I was on the verge of a crucial insight concerning Plumb's axe but it came to late and I've lost the gage pin's nut now rendering the axe incomplete like 90 in 100 of the ones I'd seen.

For further reference the gage pin should only be inserted in its slots at the time of making measurements. It shouldn't even be there for use while hammering and definitely trimming, which I do do, trim that is.
 
I think I’ve got a couple Estwing gauge nuts, if that would make it functional again. Or I could turn you one if I knew the pitch.

I don’t think it’s realistic to expect roofers to constantly remove and re-attach their gauges, but I’ve seen several on the job held on by wing nuts.

Parker
 
You know vvould be a neat resolution, maybe, is if the pin were loaded with a spring. I mean it's either constant removal or constant attention and resetting as it works itself loose and my simple mind is occupied enough making sure I keep the offsets and overlap sufficient. It could be me and my technique though. On top of it all, with the pin in like that it's having a bad effect on the hatchet function to the point of rendering it nonfunctional in practicle terms. Maybe improvisation is the only alternative, it's just that I absolutely dispise improvisation, almost as much as, what do you call them, oh yeah, tape measures.
 
Guess it’s a bad time to mention that I frequently improvise with my tape measure, in fact I’m pretty good at it. Makes a great kitty toy, too.

Parker
 
So with the gauge pin installation somewhat satisfactorily resolved the contradiction of the hatchet function returns. Which begs the question of the origins of the conflict. Is the primary function of this design gauging the exposure or trimming the shingle? I come back to the practice of only temporarily engaging the gauge pin.

Further, I've gained appreciation for the broad squarish hammer face which provides options for striking the nail head at various angles to accommodate for the irregular surface of the so called "hand split"exposed surfaces. I was also about fed up with the odstruction of the axe's lanyard until finding it was useful as an extended retriever of items further down-hill while perched up higher on the roof as progress occurs. I wonder if that was the original intent or if it was included as a measure of retaining the axe I the event it slips from the roofers grip somehow which was my first impression though I never used it that way.
 
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