I used to be one of those guys who would pull a return line and just slap the old washers back on, figured copper is copper and they look fine. Then about three years ago I had a 7.3 in the shop for a hard start and fuel in the valley, and after two days of chasing my tail it was a washer I had reused on a job six months earlier that had work hardened and stopped sealing. That miss your guy had is exactly the kind of thing that makes you pull your hair out, because a cracked washer acts just like a bad injector on a scan tool. Now I keep a box of them on the shelf and they go in the trash every single time, they cost pennies and the comeback costs me a whole day. Two hours of diag for a 40 cent part is a hard lesson but I bet that guy never reuses one again.

Did the longer handle actually make the mud easier to work, or did you just get lucky with reach? I've found long handles can throw off your control on a big pour, so I'd rather use the right tool than a cheap one that happens to fit.