[CAUT] Polishing Agraffes ... enjoying the discussion!

[Ron Nossaman]

PAULREVENKOJONES at aol.com wrote:
>     Of what detriment are chatter marks parallel to the string, in
>     real world practically detectable terms?
> 
> They are not parallel to the string, they generally cross the string at 
> 90 degrees in multiple lines, some deeper than others, but all creating 
> a cross ridge line to the direction of the string. .

I'm just wondering, because every chatter mark I've ever 
produced with a rotary tool has been parallel to the cutting 
edges of the tool, which would make it parallel to the string 
in this case.


>     If the result produces no detectable penalty, has the sin
>     occurred?
> 
> This is not the battle of good and evil, folks. This is an audible (to 
> me and others) improvement in tone quality (measurable I am hoping as we 
> continue to put together the research). I'd recommend we all (you, Ron, 
> Fred, Jeff) quit putting up stalking horses until we have data. 

I'm just trying to get some sensible connection here, not 
waging war. For instance, you've stated that abrasive cord is 
a terrible thing because of all the scratches it leaves. These 
scratches are quite small and as exactly parallel to the 
string as you could produce, and the cord will somewhat round 
abrupt changes of contour in the hole. Why is this so terrible?


>If the 
> data are negative or neutral, then clearly a different conclusion might 
> be reached. But part of the data so far is experiential and 
> incontrovertible. That it is subjective and not quantifiable yet doesn't 
> obviate it.

If it were a binary condition - sounds wonderful, sounds 
nasty, (nearly) everyone would agree that polishing agraffes 
is mandatory. But that's not the case. It's a diminishing 
returns thing, like virtually everything else we do. Being 
mortal, we don't have infinite time to pursue perfection in 
every aspect of everything we do. When time is spent making 
one thing as perfect as possible (by whatever chosen criteria 
for judgment), at the expense of time that could have been 
spent making something else less annoying, it's a questionable 
use of that time. Balance. And in the end, it still comes down 
to whether the individual considers the result worth the 
price, not who's right and who's wrong. If the abrasive cord 
satisfies this guy, and the reamer and quick polish satisfies 
that guy, neither have done any damage.
Ron N