Make Every Lick Count
August 12, 2004
by David B. South
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When an amateur cuts down a tree, they hit the tree with the ax over and over again ? each time hitting a different location than the first cut. Each time getting the same result as the first. It is only when you hit exactly where you hit the first time that you have achieved secondary penetration.
The same principle applies to a carpenter. If he hits the nail hard on the first swing and then misses the nail with the next blow he wasted his energy and probably made an ugly mark on whatever he is nailing together. If he misses the third time, he has done more damage and made no progress. Hence, the term ?make every lick count.?
Every Day Life
Our lives are a lot like that. We can go around randomly pounding at nails and missing or we can line them up and drive them in with consecutive blows with the hammer. Part of the process requires practice and part of it requires thought and planning. We must decide what needs to be done and consider all the ways it can be accomplished most effectively. Certainly, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that if a nail is hit one, two, three or four times, one hit after another, the nail will penetrate far better than if it's hit just once and missed the other three times. There is a parallel here to our everyday lives.
We need to make every lick count each day of our lives. We all know folks who always seem organized. They know where everything is, never miss appointments, they're never late and they make one trip out and get five things done at the same time. Becoming that way is nothing more than thinking it out, training ourselves and making some notes along the way. For example, we could save an extra drive to the grocery store by planning ahead before the first trip. That's simple. All we have to do is think about what we need and write it down. Then while we're at the grocery store, other errands could be done at the same time.
Dome Building and the Little Licks
The same principle applies to dome building. So often I see anxious dome builders trying to shortcut the system. They want to get involved doing the big stuff right away. They want to spray foam before they've taken the time to place the door and window bucks. They want to spray concrete before they've made certain rebar is hung properly. They sometimes even want to spray concrete in a hurry and worry about straightening it out later. In that case, later means twice as much work. It requires a jack hammer and alot of time and hard labor. If you take your time and make your licks count, it only calls for a shovel to clean up around the edge while the concrete is still wet. A scraper can be used to take off excess concrete so multiple layers of concrete don't have to be reapplied to correct the problem.
The point again is to "make every lick count." Do the little licks. Don't skip over the small steps. You never see a carpenter hit a nail as hard as he can with the first blow. He sets the nail, makes sure it is where he wants it before he hits it hard. I recommend you do the same thing building Monolithic Domes. Plan for and complete the small things up front. It will save huge amounts of time, labor, and money as the project progresses.
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