On: Programming Is Mostly Thinking (2014)

[dorkwood]

Does it really take four hours to sharpen an axe? I've never done it.

[misswaterfairy → dorkwood]

Doing it right, with only manual tools, I believe so, remembering back to one of the elder firefighters that taught me (who was also an old-school forester).

Takes about 20 minutes to sharpen a chainsaw chain these days though...

[xandrius → dorkwood]

10/20 minutes to sharpen a pretty dull kitchen knife with some decent whetstones.

Also, as someone famous once said: if I had 4 hours to sharpen an axe, I'd spend 2 hours preparing the whetstones.

[taneq → xandrius]

If I had 2 hours to prepare whetstones I’d do 1 hour of billable work and then order some whetstones online.

[elwell → taneq]

If I had 1 hour of billable work, I'd charge per project and upfront, to allow me to claim unemployment for the following weeks.