Looking for some help with a school interview. please anybody.

[NWARvet]

I need an active practicing gunsmith to answer the following questions; I don't have a local gunsmith to interview.

Safety and Shop Practices

• What are your top 5 non-negotiable safety rules in your shop? 
• Can you share an example of a safety incident you've witnessed or experienced? What did those involved, or yourself, take away from that experience, and did that experience impact the operational safety habits practiced in the work environment? 
• What safety mistakes do you see new gunsmiths make most often? 
• How do you maintain a safe working environment when working with customer firearms? 

Professional Development

• How did you get started as a gunsmith? 
• What are the most important skills for a new gunsmith to develop? 
• What resources do you rely on most to stay current and improve your skills? 
• If you were hiring an entry-level gunsmith tomorrow, what would you look for? 

above are the questions I need answered, the assignment is to interview a gunsmith and write an essay around their answers. please respond in a way that I can clearly see answers from questions.

 

[Sniperhandle]

#1 Rule:

Mount several fire extinguishers to the wall and close to work areas and go through a fire scenario in your mind often, Drilling yourself on using the fire extinguisher if it becomes necessary.

Keep cords and hoses rolled up to prevent tripping hazards, Preferably
with reels.

Wear safety glasses and use respirators.

Make sure guns are unloaded and never use live ammo for feed function testing or any other testing in the shop, Make yourself dummy rounds or use action proving dummies that are available from companies that make them or use snap caps.

Always mark fluids and chemicals clearly if they are used in something other than their original container.

I'm just a hobbyist so can't answer the second half of your questions.

Edit to add:

I did have a fire once about 15 years ago and it changed everything for me when it comes to fire safety.

 

[swd]

Make sure the gun is empty the moment it walks in the door along with muzzle control.
No long sleeve shirts around machinery.
Safety glasses.
Chuck key out of the lathe at all times except when using it.
Never ever play with chips coming off a lathe.
And there's many more!

I watched a guy get a stock blank get kicked back into and break a guys nose while running it through a table saw. LOTS of blood.

I wanted to be a gunsmith since I was about 12yo. And put myself through gunsmithing school in my 30's.

Skill. It depends on what you want to do. For me. Machine skills which I already had a lot of. Welding. Wood working skills. Learn how to swing a file properly! Learn hand skills. Eg, there are so many triggers that aren't adjustable. Almost all can tuned with diamond lap and stone and spring work. You can buy an aftermarket Glock trigger for $130 or do it yourself and make that in labor in 30 minutes. But you HAVE to understand triggers and know what you're doing! Learn some metallurgy and hardening. Make a stock from a blank, not a semi inlet.

To hire an entry level gunsmith, he would have to be honest in what he does and doesn't know. Have decent machine skills, welding skills. Have as broad of skills as possible and examples of work to show. We used to have guys stop by asking for applications and they would bring 2 Remingtons that they did trigger jobs. BFD, anyone can do a 700 trigger job, show me some real skill. That happened quite a few times.. There's a million of those guys and they never got a second chance.

And the number one thing for GS school.
Be the first guy waiting to get in the shop and the last guy to leave because you're doing so much work and learning everything you can! If the shop you put in application at calls your instructor and you were that guy, you've got a job! If you can't be that guy, do something else.