it takes very little time at all to cover every girder and rafter with the dust of the manufacturing process.

I have been in the habit, for many years, of hitting things as hard as i can, with my bare knuckles. I do this because I spend a lot of time on my hands and knees under machinery, and the callouses on my knuckles have helped protect my hands. This has an added benefit: if you have to hit someone, their jawbone feels like a pillow after thirty years of hitting steel and brick and concrete.

A year or so back, I was leaving the factory of one of my customers, thumping the building columns as i went, and then I came to column L14.

Years of remodeling and layout changes in the plant has left L14 floating, just standing there supporting nothing. it is still connected to a network of lateral supports, but the roof has been resupported by a different structure, at that one location.

So I thump L-14, and instead of giving me a hard “bang” that makes no sound but I can feel it through the bones of my hand, it goes “Thrummmmmmmm!” and an area about twenty feet wide by about 12 feet long gets showered in dust.

Yesterday, a tour of people came through the shop looking at some new processes; these people were predominantly competitors, and I recognized them all as people who have caused me some trouble in the past.

I waited until they got in just the right spot, and then I whacked L14 a hell of a whack.

Sometimes I’m a real stinker.