Drivel Starved Nation,

As mentioned in a post several weeks ago, I’ve been in Dallas, TX for the past month on a non-health related family matter. Next Thursday, the 15th, I will be back in the shop.

While away, the countersinks arrived in Portland and I asked my daughter Ashley, and Consuelo to ship them. As of this writing, the majority of orders have been shipped with the exception of 24 or so where it looks like we are short a single countersink. I’ll deal with this when I get back on the 15th. I suspect it is a shipping error, but I don’t know. If we are short (which makes no sense to me at the moment) we will send a partial and remake what we need to remake. We will fill every order.

Lastly regarding these countersinks, apparently the type of grinder to make these is rare. The CNC grinder we hired to do the job originally could not do them. These are ground on a cam grinder by hand. AND, they work great! One change from my original rendering, is that the laser mark on the rims had to be scrapped because the vendor could not guarantee how far the conical grind would encroach on the rim. It was a rubber meets the road decision.

When I get back to Portland, my second order of business is to get the Universal Gauges assembled and off to laser. We will have these all delivered by the holidays.

I awoke this morning to the terrible news that Paradise, CA is likely completely gone due to the out of control Camp Fire. Fellow DSN member Fred Hayden and his wife Linda reside in Paradise and I have had a knot in my gut all morning worrying about them. I just heard from Fred and I am pleased to announce that they were evacuated and are fine. They have no news regarding their home and Fred’s shop. I sure hope this fire is not as bad as what I am reading for the residents of Paradise.

In closing, when I started this blog, I shared that I take my work very seriously and me… not so much–if at all. This space is for sharing BCTW news, behind the scenes mfg. stuff, and a way for me to share my irreverent self. I keep it a happy place by not allowing it to be a negative space. Basically, I want us all to be able to laugh at, and with, each other.

Yesterday, this blog received a comment (that I approved) questioning my truthfulness regarding the ongoing countersink saga.

Briefly, I was raised in a family of four siblings, and recall numerous occasions where I was punished for something I didn’t do because one of my siblings struggled with the truth. To this day, nothing pisses me off more than being accused of something I didn’t do. So when I was accused of being untruthful by this customer I responded in a manner that violates the premise of this blog, for which I apologize. However, I am leaving the accusation, and my response as posted. They are both reminders, and examples, of how not to behave on this Totally Awesome and Worthless Blog.

-John