Just realized I'd been running my swing clearance check backwards for 2 years

Was out on a job at Lake Murray last month, running the 8 inch cutterhead like I always do. Foreman walks up, watches me for a minute, then asks why I'm clearing my swing on the opposite side of the pump. I told him that's how I was shown. He just shook his head and said I been working against the current this whole time. Had to sit there and think about every tight spot I ever got into, and it clicked. Back in 2021 when I started, the old guy who showed me the ropes was left handed and I just copied him mirror style without asking questions. Has anyone else ever caught themselves doing some basic move completely backwards because of who trained you?

2 comments

2 Comments

markc845d ago

Man that's a good point about mirroring without thinking. I did the same thing learning to weld from a guy who was left eye dominant. For two years I was leading with my right foot and pulling the puddle instead of pushing it. My beads looked fine to me but they were never as clean as his. It's wild how much small stuff like that gets baked in when you just copy someone without asking why they do it a certain way. Makes me wonder what other habits I picked up that are just backwards versions of the right way.

lisa_ross165d ago

The funny thing is, @markc84, sometimes those "wrong" habits actually work better for certain setups, so you might have stumbled into a style that's totally valid with different rod angles or joint positions.