I was trimming a draft horse in Boise and the owner asked me why I kept stopping to check my rasp. That's when I realized I'd been using a dull one for months.

3 comments

3 Comments

Reminds me of a buddy who spent a whole season shoeing before he found his nippers were basically crushed. He just thought he was getting weaker. How do you not notice the tool itself is the problem? That slow creep of dullness tricks you into thinking your own technique is off. Makes you wonder what else we just get used to without questioning.

noah_black2mo ago

Read an article about how our brains filter out constant background noise, like a fridge hum. The writer said the same thing happens with tools getting worse over time. You adjust your effort without even realizing it, blaming your own hands instead of the pliers. Kind of scary when you apply that to other parts of life.

wyatt_fox681mo ago

Wait, a whole SEASON? That's like months of just working harder and harder for no reason. I mean at some point you gotta look at the tool in your hand, right? It's like when my car started pulling to the left and I just kept fighting the wheel until my arms hurt. Turns out the tire was flat. You get so used to the struggle you forget to check the obvious stuff.