Had a chat with an old timer that made me rethink my brush setup

I was sweeping a flue in a 1920s house up in Portland last Tuesday and the homeowner, a retired sweep who did this for 40 years, watched me wrestling with my segmented rods and said 'son, you're fighting the pipe instead of reading it.' He showed me how he uses a stiff poly whip with a slow spin to feel the liner ridges before deciding if he needs a chain knocker, which cut my time on that job from 2 hours to about 80 minutes. Anyone else ever get thrown off by a stranger's old-school trick that goes against what you learned in training?

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1 Comment

the_quinn2d ago

Ever had a vise grip save your whole afternoon? Old guys know weird stuff.