Originally Posted by
FBinNY
Your problem is that you're trying to apply QC rules to craftsmen. Factories have been using tensionmeters as intended as a QC instrument for decades. But not to measure relative tension of spokes. They're used to measure average tension and make sure that all the wheels conform to the intended spec. and reset their machinery if/when needed.
Craftsmen, hand building wheels might likewise use the tool to check the calibration of their fingers, as I do from time to time, or with odd builds where I can't trust myself.
But skilled craftsmen turn out good work without needing the added tools and steps that an unskilled or production worker might need. The QC is built into the pride and skill of the craftsman, not into the kind of calibration you seem to think is necessary. Good process assures good product more reliably than poor process with lots of after checking.
Now if any of my or Sixty Fiver's clients feel cheated because we didn't measure the tension of every spoke, they're very welcome to find a by the numbers builder, but I assure they won't get a better wheel.
Bolding mine... and we are the same page here.
I don't think the customers who have been riding on the wheels I have built for thousands and thousands of miles and who have never had a problem feel like they have been cheated... to date I have had 2 wheels come back to my shop after they failed... one had been hit by a car and another one had been run over by a car.
A few have come back because the rims had worn out after 25,000 - 30,000 km where they needed no servicing.
My partner has been building wheels for over 40 years and uses no tension meter... I have never seen better built wheels than these and he passed on a few secrets he learned from master wheel builders.
Nice to have self proclaimed amateurs tell us how we should be doing what we do, and I do break out the tension meter to calibrate the fingers from time to time but it is not a tool I depend on to build a fine wheel.
Like I said, there are other ways to determine optimal tension with a tension meter and the proof is in the pudding.