-1

Spent 5 hours chasing a wobbly fade because my clipper blade was 0.3mm off

So last Tuesday I had a guy in my chair at the shop on 5th Street who wanted a skin fade, simple enough, I've done thousands of them. Halfway through I notice the blend line on the left side wasn't sitting flat no matter how many times I went over it with my trimmer. I kept blaming my wrist angle, then my guard, then my lighting. I re-leveled the guy's head twice, switched guards three times, even broke out my backup trimmer thinking the motor was dying. Dude was cool about it but I could feel the minutes stacking up, and I had two more clients waiting. Finally pulled the blade off and held it up to the light, and the corner was bent just a hair, probably from when I dropped it on the tile two weeks back and figured it was fine. Swapped in a fresh blade and the fade cleaned up in about 90 seconds. Five hours of my week, gone, over a blade that cost me less than 20 bucks. Now I'm wondering how many other tools in my drawer are quietly messed up and I just don't know it yet. Anyone got a quick way they check blades before a shift, or do you all just learn the hard way like I did?