Those little bandits have zero shame. My neighbor left a pizza box out overnight and woke up to a full raccoon family reunion on his lawn. At some point you just have to accept they're better thieves than we are at securing our snacks.

My last kitchen install in Tacoma had a similar request. The homeowner wanted the faint chalk line from the cabinet layout left visible on the subfloor before the final flooring went down. It felt wrong at first, like I was leaving a mess. But @the_adam is onto something with that idea of flaws being the real mark. That chalk line proved the whole room was squared from one true point. Now I see those pencil marks the same way, a little proof of the human hands that measured and fitted everything.

How did you even get a forge going in that? I can't imagine trying to work hot metal with everything that wet. That whole week sounds like a special kind of misery.