# Thoughts on Richard King scraping and machine reconditioning class SLC April 2022



## jeremysf (Apr 9, 2022)

I just took Richard King’s class and thought it might be helpful to share a bit about my experience for any of those thinking about getting into scraping and/or those thinking about taking the class.

First off, shout out to our amazing host for the class, Doug Hales. Doug graciously opened his shop for the class, and truly made us feel at home.

The class I attended had 10 students, so in addition to Richard (as is often the case for larger classes) his son Alex planned to assist in teaching the class.

We learned right before the class that Richard was admitted to the hospital for a minor medical procedure and would not be able to fly out to SLC to teach the class.

After learning Richard was doing OK, I was not overly concerned by this news in terms of quality of instruction knowing Alex’s experience level with scraping and teaching. All I can say about Alex’s instruction is WOW. He’s a super approachable dude who obviously cares about his students, and his patient and positive instruction style was a perfect match for how I learn.







We started out learning on power scrapers, which is a pretty genius approach. It removes / controls several variables in the learning process and helps you learn “what good looks like” very quickly. No joke, within the first 4 hours of Alex’s instruction I had multiple “aha” moments that transcended probably 80 hours of my YouTube video and book based learning.

We received both printed and electronic materials, and after the past year of researching and collecting materials old and new on scraping and machine reconditioning, I was surprised by how much super helpful, structured, detailed information that I had never seen or heard before. If you take the class, ask the Kings for anecdotes around why their knowledge didn’t make it into the 1955 Connelly book for example 






By the end of the first day, I had managed to scrape in a test piece to >30 points of contact per inch! There is no skipping putting in the time and practice which I have barely scratched the surface of (lols), and looking back now at my results from the first day I cringe a bit sharing them, but it is somewhat shocking how far I came in a single day. 











On our second day, we started hand scraping. We covered everything from hand scraping theory like the various phases of scraping, to nitty gritty details like posture, grip, and how to grind and lap carbide scraping blades.






It was here that I recognized the strength of learning power scraping first, as I was able to concentrate on the additional variables introduced by hand scraping, building on the fundamentals I had learned with the power scraper.

I again cringe a little sharing my results of the second day, but despite that, I am again shocked at how far I came in a mere two days. 






On day three, we started on personal projects. I brought a few small ones to pick from, and decided to scrape in a Rucker 9” straightedge that I had machined immediately prior to attending the class.

Given the amount of time and I care I put into machining that raw casting, you would think I would have been nervous to start pushing my carbide scraper blade into it, but I felt totally confident given the foundations that Alex gave me in the first two days of the class.









						Video Apr 07, 3 34 56 PM.mov
					

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Near the end of day three, Alex instructed the class on scraping / flaking half moons. After I had hand scraped in both the sole and the 45 degree faces of my straightedge, I figured I would try my hand at scraping half moons on my test bar.

To my surprise, with Alex’s feedback and corrections over my shoulder, I got the basics within about 30 minutes and again shout out to Doug keeping his shop open “after hours” so I could continue practicing. 

Of course getting good at half moons will take dozens of hours of practice, but again, shocking how far I came over the course of the class 






The class runs five days, but unfortunately my own minor emergency came up and I had to leave the class after day three. Everyone learns at their own pace and the final two days provide time for continued practice and work on the personal projects we all brought.

The final two days also include several machine rebuilding topics such as the King Way tool/method, scraping Turcite, etc. I knew I would have to leave early at the end of day two, and Alex was kind enough to instruct some of these topics a bit “early”, covering some of them on day three.

One big benefit of the class I didn’t expect was how cool and interesting our eclectic group of students were. Our class spanned easily 40 years in ages and a wide variety of professional and life experiences. As one student said: “we are all a little weird, what would you expect from a group attending a class on scraping”. I learned a ton from the other students and loved the lunchtime conversations among a group of like minded folks. 

Bottom line: if you are like me and not sure if you know enough to attend a class taught by absolute masters of the field, YOU DO! As Alex said at the outset of the class “those with little or no experience with scraping have the least bad habits to have to undo” 

If you have the opportunity and means to attend a class taught by either Richard or Alex, I can’t recommend enough jumping on it immediately. I believe Richard is continuing to teach classes out of his own shop, but he may not be traveling to teach anymore. It sounds like Alex may travel on his own to teach, and if he sees this post, I want to encourage him to do so, as I think he is an excellent instructor.

Either way, these guys are treasures in the field and if you are interested in machine rebuilding and you can at all manage it, find a way to attend one of these classes ASAP!


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## Richard King 2 (Apr 10, 2022)

A BIG Thank You Jeremy.   I wished I could have taught you.  Possibly in the future we can do a CA class out there, before I hang it up.  This was the 2nd class I couldn't teach in my many years..at least 40 years I couldn't teach because of medical issues.   A few weeks before the class I had an Angioplasty on my left leg.  I had planned on doing the class as it was a simple procedure.   On the Day before we were to fly to Salt Lake the 4th of April as the class started on a Tuesday.  Well I had a hard lump in my left butt cheek and it hurt like heck, I went to Urgent care and they told me to get to the hospital ASAP. I had cist in my butt cheek that the doctor said 1 in 3 will have over their  lifetime.  Sunday they prepped me for surgery on Monday, spent the night in the hospital.

They said the cist was giving me blood poisoning and that was why I was so fatigued for the last few months.  So at 1:40 PM on Monday they put me out (100%) and operated.  Then I spent another night in the hospital.  I changed my airplane ticket to fly out on Thursday, but I couldn't go as I was still hurting and they had installed a drain tube in my butt cheek.  I had to sit cockeyed or it hurt like hell.  I also ended up in the ER yesterday as the surgeon put me on some powerful pain-killers, antibiotics that made me go psycho.  I was hallucinating and my wife thought I was having a stroke.   They had me stop taking those med, I'm feeling good now.   The other class I missed was when I had a motorcycle accident and broke 3 ribs, unfortunately Alex was maybe 12 then.


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## Richard King 2 (Apr 10, 2022)

I will be teaching alone again.  Bummer....Keep an eye on my posts in my forum.


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## Richard King 2 (Apr 12, 2022)

If the CA guys or anyone else around the USA want to organize a class Let me know as I will fly out to teach it.   I am feeling good now as my son won't be helping with anymore classes.  His choice not mine.


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## graham-xrf (Apr 17, 2022)

Somehow, somewhere, we need some of your notes to become an addendum to Connelly's book.
Anyone here with the least interest in how to make these ultimate surfaces will know of, and be using the collected wisdom of 1955. I am pretty sure that in 2022, there is more to be said.


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