Once while visting another shop to buy some used equipment and tooling, I got into a long and fun yarn with the owner,
it was a vast shop and we were there alone
rumaging, and in comes a man, wanting a gear made "for his jeep" ,with the damaged one in hand,"can you do it" Earl listens and says "shure shure, leave it there by the door", we get back to our yarn, and after a bit the guy inerupts with "can you do it",Earl again "says sure sure leave it by the door", back to yarning, and the third time the guy interupts with "can you do it" Earl turns and says "Ive fucked up better jobs than this" and we wander off to rummage somewhere else.
Knowing the little bit I do about gear making, I class the skill to make gears as one of the great underrated skills.
And what almost nobody knows, is just how
complicated and expensive thd entire process becomes, when making critical gear sets for things like aircraft turbine engines, a small gear that you hold in your hand, costs as much as a car, not that anyone is going to let you hold one.