Had an old customer tell me my brush work reminded him of his grandpa's, 20 years to the day I swept his flue

I was up in a 3 story colonial in Nashua last month, doing the annual clean for this guy I've had since I started out with my own rig back in 04. The liner's getting rough, so I was taking my time with the poly brush, doing those slow pulls instead of the fast scrubbing I used to do when I was chasing volume. He's standing by the fireplace the whole time, watching me over his reading glasses. After I got the cap back on, he goes, "You know, my grandfather swept chimneys in this town from 1947 to 1975, and you pull that brush just like he did. Steady, like you're listening for something." That hit me weird, because I've never met the man, but I've always had this habit of pausing every few strokes to feel the wire shift in the liner. I asked him if his grandpa had a nickname in the trade, and he just laughed and said, "Only one that stuck: 'Slow Eddy.' But he never had a call-back." It got me thinking about how much of this job is just feeling, not speed. Back in the day, no cameras, no rotary kits, just a ladder and a horsehair brush. Has anyone else had a moment where a customer's story about an old sweep made you stop and see your own method differently?

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finleyfox24d ago

Nashua's a small world for that. Slow Eddy probably knew every brick in that town better than Google Maps. That steady pull thing is real though, the brush tells you what the liner can't.