Another George Day

We were all busy, so busy, working away and under pressure when Jack, the foreman, told the apprentice just below me, it was time he changed out the bandsaw blade.

"More life in it yet!" Les said, but Jack knew better than this sixteen-year-old and simply said the same to him again. Those were the days when an argument with a foreman stopped everything, and you did as you were told. Actually, Les was too late, everyone stopped and eyebrows were raised. "Wohoah!" George, lowering his head, said quietly to me. "Watch this!"

Les put himself on an equal footing to the foreman, which in the 1960s apprenticing days and post-war too, after such men were military trained to expect immediate obedience, was a bad move.

Everyone watched the situation developing. Jack, though a gentle enough person, a man that knew his work after 50 years in joinery, machining and such, took the boy's arm, looking quite firm and without violent action, squeezed the arm without everyone seeing and brought the "Boy" to his knees. Truth was, he identified the issue. Les did not want to install the new blade because, well, it was so long it was awkward to do, and you had to get everything synchronised on so long a blade. Les had had the training and had installed blades previously and that was the reason for his reluctance, blade tension, wheel alignment, bearing and so on had to be just right. Les knew he had to press on, remove the blade which in those days went in for resharpening a couple of times depending on the blade size and deterioration through use, etc.

Finally, the new blade was pulled from the rail, installed in the bandsaw and Les went through the rituals aligning wheels, tracking the blade and adjusting the tensions ready for use. Taking some pine, he pressed the wood to the blade, but the blade wouldn't cut. Worse than that, the shop was filled with a burning smell. Everyone, except Les, knew what the problem was. George moved in to feign an evaluation of the problem. "It's a Japanese blade!" George declared. "Better check with Jack to see if he intended to buy a Japanese blade, cos they cut opposite to Western bandsaw blades."

Les talked to Jack and Jack came over to the bandsaw. He and everyone there said the same thing. "We've been sent a wrong batch of blades!" one said. After much debate, George slackened the blade and told Les to watch. Twisting the blade inside out, the teeth switched direction in a split second. George reinstalled the blade with Les and the blade cut perfectly.