An Invention of Necessity

The other night at the quilt club meeting I go to, I heard quite a few of the ladies bemoaning that fact that you cannot sharpen rotary cutter blades.  These blades can cost between $5-15 a piece and you might go thru several in a year’s time.  I looked online and found two sharpeners.  One that was mass marketed and all but worthless, and another that cost $895.  I made a simple decision, I can buy a lot of blades for that price!!

One thing I am so grateful for, is that my grandfather took the time to teach his boys to think outside the box.  To work with their hands and figure a way around problems.  Many businesses have brought problems to my father and grandfather, asking them to figure out how to fix them.  This is everything from a commercial machine to cut the corn off the ear, to a huge press at Caterpillar® that needed a moving table to transport parts away from the press after they were molded.  I have been blessed to grow up under their tutelage and God given wisdom.  Neither my father, nor my grandfather, are proud men.  They humbly go about their work, whether it is “big” or seemingly insignificant, they pursue it with the same attention to detail.

I reaped the benefit of that this evening.  Because they sought to teach me think, try things, even if they didn’t work, I succeeded in my project tonight.  I (We) built a machine to sharpen rotary cutter blades.  Were they there watching over my shoulder as I ran the lathe?  No.  But I felt the blessing of their guidance, and the legacy they gave me.

Thank you, Daddy and Grandpa!

Comments

Joe said…
That's teriffic! Are you going to market it?
Japheth said…
I don't know. It involves spinning what amounts to a round razor blade at 7000 rpms.

I already see all you personal injury lawyers just rubbing your hands together with glee!! :-)

Anyway, It may be something to consider if I could get a few safety covers. But it all boils down to the same thing, a extremely sharp blade spinning very fast and one small mistake, and you've lost a finger!!

All Right, now that we got all the fine print out of the way, who wants to be the first to buy the ALL NEW rotary sharpener/miniature meat slicer?

Seriously, ya think that it could be marketed with all the lawsuit happy people out there?
Glen Zehr said…
Oh, absolutly (sp) doesn't hurt to try. All they can do is say no and you won't be any further behind if they do say no and further ahead if they say yes. So, get to work. It is a huge challenge to try to make things work, to think of simple/cheap solutions to a problem. I face this every day on the farm and I don't think I do a very good job at it......
Joe said…
Well, it would not be the first potentially dangerous product on the market. Band saws and circular saws are dangerous. Yet lots of people use them and folks still sell them. I don't know of many lawsuits over them.

Market away!

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