Quantifying experience

[DeanWinchester]

This may sound like the ramblings of a mildly retarded imbecile but its strange what occurs to us when we have our undisturbed alone time in the solace of our lead pots.

I've learned a LOT in e last couple of years. I mean a LOT! I know I have so much more to learn and will never stop until my time here is done.
Fifty percent I learned here from you guys, the other half I learned from all the stuff I've screwed up!

I have a friend who would love to learn to do this too. He doesn't have the free time I do so I do all his casting and loading for him. I thought about trying to teach him but there's just no way I can explain many of the things I know. Maybe I'm just stupid.


Here's a case in point. I have a Lyman 358429. I HATED this mold since I got it. It makes a beautiful boolit and is very accurate but it is a miserable bastard to get to work. It has always fought me tooth and nail handing me back a good 60% scrap rate.
I haven't cast with it in almost two years because of it. Well, I finally ran out and had to dig it out. I use the same pot, same alloy, same ladle, same temp, everything. Now the sucker spits out perfect boolits left and right with less than a 10% cull rate. Why? Nothing has changed. It's something I'm doing different. I know this because since I used it last I have went through several other molds that were equally difficult to master and I DID IT.

So? What the heck did I learn to do differently? This is one example of what time teaches. I could go on at length with several examples. How does one pass on things you don't realize you've learned?

Kinda silly ain't it?

[Texantothecore]

Just part of the learning process. I went through the same scenario with my first molds and I am not sure why they now throw perfect boolits.

[VintageRifle]

It is finally seasoned and broken in. Annoying isn't it?

[DeanWinchester]

It is finally seasoned and broken in. Annoying isn't it?

It was well used when I bought it!

[wvmanchu]

I'd say you and the mold are now seasoned and broken in, I on the other hand continue to have problems.

[runfiverun]

you learned to tilt your head a bit more and moved how you hold your tongue.

no seriously you know there is a temperature zone that works best for a mold and you looked for it without even thinking about it.

[dilly]

Interesting point you raise. I know I started off with mostly Lee molds and had gotten pretty sick of the Lee ones until I started ponying up the money for Saeco. I wonder what part of my discontent with the Lee molds was part of just being new at it.

[easymoney]

That's easy. You've aged and you've learned. When you started you were impatient and expected instant results. Now you've aged, become wiser, more patient and learned. You've developed a method that provides results and without thinking applied all that you've learned to this mold. As the great Jedi Master Yoda said "balance you must have patawan". It's easier that or you lowered your standards and are just accepting mediocre results. I don't know.

[SciFiJim]

How do you teach a child to walk? Do you remember each part of the learning process when YOU learned? Probably not.

Part of the process of learning each new task is learning what DOESN'T work. You now have practice at that and have learned to balance all of the forces at work when casting. Why does that 358429 mold work well now when it didn't before? Perhaps it is something as simple and as complex as how you grip the handles. Or it could be lots of other little or big things.

Unfortunately, knowledge cannot be passed wholesale from one person to another. It must be painstakingly learned by each individual. The only thing you can do is give your friend some basic starter tips and then help him correct his failures.

I would love for knowledge to be able to be passed wholesale. If so, I would put a brain tap on a lot of the members here. The accumulated knowledge of this website in a wide variety of fields is enormous.