I need to address this a bit deeper. Everyone knows I generally teach on my own or I have a old student help as I did in MI and Scandinavia. In this class Dennis volunteered to help, he took a class several years ago plus he is a machine tool rebuilder and a card carrying Journeyman. Dennis lives close and I wanted the students to learn and grow from Dennis's knowledge.
This is a bit bothersome to this old teacher and I want talk about it and not piss anyone off. I want you to think about it. Over the years I have worked with thousands of new students who have successfully rebuild a machine after the class. We have all seen others on these forums who have rebuilt machines with-out taken a class with anyone who teaches rebuilding.
Also in this case we need to remember the old sayings "You need to let the horse have the reins" and "you can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink". Hopefully my years of teaching will help both Dennis and Ben here. Dennis is not new to instruction either, but we all can learn. As my Dad used to say, when your done learning your dead and when you think you know it all your also dead".
Another old quote I like is "The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it open. – Arnold Glasgow
Just to make it clear to all Ben is a "Gung Ho" sort of guy, he is a type A kind of guy who is always in a rush. He is the student who after 5 minutes of first day and first time scraping said "I can't do this". He is in a rush all the time. I really like him, but anyone who scrapes knows you have to be patient. Things takes time and it gets boring doing it right. On the other hand, one can't baby sit a new guy and hold his hand every move.
Dennis during the class was holding Ben's hand or every time Ben went to blue up his plate Dennis would talk to him on what to do. I had to say something to them a few times. In my opinion, if you don't let a new student alone to make his own decision he won't learn from his mistakes. In many cases I see a student making a mistake scraping a test practice part, I will show him he is making the mistake, but because he is stubborn and thinks he can do it on his own I let let him keep making the mistake until he sees the mistake he making and "understands" finally and asks for help.
Like I told the students "This is not my first rodeo" and I have been quite successful over the years with this method. I have seen these types of problems thousands of times and all works out well, but one who teaches also needs to be patient, one can not push the student and push him. They need to learn on their own in their own time.
Ben on the other-hand wanted a short cut and there are ways to speed up the work, but scraping is not a good trade for a type A person as one has to slowly get the part coming your way. During the classes as all my other students will testify to, I show everyone how to do it more then once. I stop the class and point out mistakes other students make so they learn from eachothers mistakes and they can talk to each other or teach each other about what they did and learn!
When Ben asked this forum for "suggestions" he was looking for a short cut in my opinion. He forgot he had his teachers here to help him and that literally pissed me off as you all saw. I left a hand scraper, power scraper, bluing with Ben and Dennis left a straight-edge with Ben to finish his machine. I live maybe 15 minutes from Ben's shop and was expecting a call as I am sure Dennis was too. Then we see the saddle in the crap mill and "My God" . We were emailing him, I PM'ed him, Dennis said he called him 3 times and left a messages. Ben doesn't check his messages very often .
Back to the "learning here" During the class we discussed or I did with Ben to buy a dove-tail cutter or fly cut the saddle, turcite it ( I was going to bring over some turcite when he was ready, etc. he said he had a friend who was a machinist with a Bridgeport. I figured his friend was a machinist, now I am not so sure. But anyway if one takes his time and is a detective and plans his moves, asks questions to experienced people he can rebuild.
Like I always say "scraping something flat is simple, but knowing where to scrape and how much to take off is a trade". I just hope Dennis lets Ben learn from his mistakes and not do the job for him and Ben doesn't look for a short cut.
Dennis and I can both help him, Dennis is retired and I say I am semi-retired or getting ready to. Ben told me Dennis is coming over to help. Hopefully it will be a learning experience for both of them and I get my tools back sooner then later...lol...
Rich