That mirror finish on a knife guard is exactly what sold me too... I spent maybe two hours on an old cabinet scraper, just slow passes with a fresh file, and it came out looking like polished glass. It feels like a totally different kind of smooth compared to a grinder. You're right, that one extra step changes everything.

Tell my hair that, it still wakes up looking like a crime scene.

Actually, that's a fair point about air sealing being huge, but skipping on batt thickness can backfire in older homes. The math from building science often shows you need both for a full package, especially with our big temperature swings here. Just last winter I saw a house with great sealing but thin attic insulation that still had massive heat loss through the roof. Getting the balance right is what really locks in the savings.