Somehow I managed to forget that I had my burnisher in my carry-on bag when Larry and I flew back to Vancouver from Calgary after the World Cups. The burnisher is a critical part of the sharpening process for my metal scrapers, and the metal scrapers are a critical part of the flattening process for ski grinding. Without that little bit of hardened polished steel I’m pretty much out of luck. Needless to say airport security didn’t like the look of the thing and my only option was to mail it to myself.  Nobody to blame but me - speaking of tools. If it had already arrived I wouldn’t be writing this post, but it hasn’t Unfortunately, Squamish doesn’t have an oversupply of woodworking supply shops, and I wasn’t able to find a burnisher in town. After making some unsatisfactory attempts with a hardened screw-driver shaft I figured that extreme measures were required so I started hunting for some hardened steel. The best option seemed to be some 3/8 inch drill rod - water hardening tool steel. I took out the angle grinder to reshape the rod - I want a much smaller diameter working edge than 3/8th inch, and followed up with sandpaper to get rid of the grinding marks and polish it up.

I don’t know much about hardening tool steel. Until yesterday I knew nothing about hardening steel. I just tried to follow the instructions that the guy have me - get the stuff really hot, then put it in water. Sounds simple enough. My first attempt looked nice, but when I tried to burnish a scraper it left a big gouge in the burnisher. That won’t work! At this point I have no idea whether you can try to re-harden steel after one failed attempt, or how I screwed up the first time for that matter. So I did a quick websearch and found a forum where everybody involved knew much more than me, but where there was some information buried. Apparently if you get steel really hot and cool it down quickly it will get much harder. The hotter you get it and the faster you cool it down, the harder it gets. And the more brittle it gets. Water-hardening steel requires the most rapid cooling, and is the cheapest. So I figured that I just hadn’t gotten it hot enough. Next attempt I got it HOT. Red hot - glowing nicely. But I couldn’t get the whole thing red hot at the same time with my little klister torch running MAPP gas. So I focused on the area that I use the most, and let it really cook for a while. Then I put it into slushy snow. Success! I’ve made my first tool. A nice blunt instrument. I think I’m ready for the 18th century now.

I did say this post was about the making of a tool, and the burnisher wasn’t the only tool getting made yesterday. Amy and I got the CVTC kids to hang-out with Gunnar in the evening so we could go up and do the Whistler Toonie Race - a regular Thursday evening occurance. I haven’t raced in three years, and it had been about another three before that one. I went up there with my sights set very high - beat Amy at all costs. In the past we’ve worked on a 10% handicap system - I need to beat her by 10% in order to “win”. Not this time. Mass start - race to the finish line! It was a heck of a fun race. Under lights for the first K or two, and then into the dark with an ineffective headlamp on trails I’d never seen. I was content to play follow the leader until the pack got so dense that equipment started getting broken. So I went faster for a little bit, and things split up with a few people coming along. Since I didn’t know where the course went I didn’t go too hard so I’d be able to ask directions from the other guys (good excuse, huh?). I was feeling pretty good about my first race effort in three years once  got the finish, and when Amy came in something over two minutes back I even started doing the 10% math in my head. But it turns out she had been about 45 seconds back and thought the race finished where it started, so she took a wrong turn and went several hundred meters down the wrong trail before coming back. Anyway, that’s one race down for this season. Maybe if I get a couple more Mike Wynn will make good on his promise to add me to his list of favorite ski racers!

I didn’t sleep much last night - too much coughing. This morning I was coughing up blood. The things I’ll do to beat my wife! Tool number two of yesterday? Me.