Tell you what, watching that gather slide around at first was so defeating. My early stuff looked like crooked spaghetti because my wrist just wouldn't keep a steady rhythm. I spent a whole afternoon just rolling the pipe back and forth on the marver with cooler glass, feeling that sweet spot. Once your hand learns the even pressure, it totally locks in and you stop having to think about it.

Soil compaction is one of those steps everyone wants to skip until their fence looks drunk. Without a solid base, rain and frost will push those posts around no matter how deep you dig. Rent a plate compactor for an afternoon instead of pretending to stomp it down with your boots. It's a boring job, but fixing a leaning fence is a much bigger pain. Good foundations are boring until you don't have one.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks used to skip those but it changed my mind.