Hand Carved Cancel Evolutions

I read an article today that opined that in busy post offices like Providence RI Bank Note era hand carved killer cork and wood devices would often only last 3-4 days before becoming unusable. The author noted that they were also often modified or re-carved to help them last a few more days.
On the surface, this does not seem logical to me. I do believe that this might have occasionally happened but it seems that the parsimonious folks of that era would not continue to invest time and effort in a device that did not last more than a few days. So my question is this, does anyone know of any significant studies or exhibits which included any evolution of boxwood, cork, and other hand carved cancelling devices and resulting cancels over short periods of time?

Does anyone have any covers they can post in this thread which shows any evolution over time?
Don

An aside:
Some moons ago, I witnessed a 4-5 page exhibit at the Western Australian Philatelic society, of a mechanical meter impression, where a small dot, evolved into a major flaw, over time.
The author may have been Mr. Brian Whittaker.

My point is, if collectors are aware of something Philatelically happening, they generally will record it.

For the Brits, the best known woodblock, was the Mulready envelope,
alas, it may have not been in use long enough to record wear.

My foggy memory recalls some cork cancels shown in a catalogue, where images shewed "repairs". May have been US or Canada.

Nick Kirke was trying to estimate the wear on NYFM cancels using information on the dates of use of a given cancel and the mail volume through the NY exchange office.

Nick Kirke recently gave a talk at the Collectors Club of NY; he has an AMAZING collection just based on the 20 frames he showed.

Don,
Here are a few cancels from Springfield, MA. The top six are dated 1875 and the last card is from 1876. The first three show a progression of use.

Found this article in the July 1995 La Posta by Tom Clarke