A NEW TOOL - MADE IN USA - WORKS QUITE WELL!
- Thread starter chief38
- Start date
I am truly lucky!
Wife believes a man cannot have too many tools or guns.
I sincerely thank her Dad for this, unfortunately he has passed on.
Wife believes a man cannot have too many tools or guns.
I sincerely thank her Dad for this, unfortunately he has passed on.
The guy who runs the radio shop where I used to work is OCD to the max. He would not accept using these to cut wire ties. Not only did he specify what tool would be use to "torque" and then cut the wire ties, he specified EXACTLY how far apart they would be spaced in the radio cabinet of our ambulances.
He would delay putting a new ambulance into service until he had personally inspected each one to be sure the specifications were met.
This only stopped when he refused an order by the chief to put an ambulance into service immediately. He was told if it wasn't done by the end of the day, he'd be suspended pending termination for subordination.
Back on topic, I've used my cheap HF cutters for several months. In fact, when I was in SC doing some work at my son's house I went out and bought another set because he didn't have any wire cutters.
He would delay putting a new ambulance into service until he had personally inspected each one to be sure the specifications were met.
This only stopped when he refused an order by the chief to put an ambulance into service immediately. He was told if it wasn't done by the end of the day, he'd be suspended pending termination for subordination.
Back on topic, I've used my cheap HF cutters for several months. In fact, when I was in SC doing some work at my son's house I went out and bought another set because he didn't have any wire cutters.
I have a tinge of resentment at chief38's tool stash. But just a tinge, because I have a pretty fair stash myself.
My plier drawer is not as neatly laid out. I have several depths of pliers as that is a limitation of space available and proximity. The hemostats are in a separate small drawer designated for very small precision tools.
For gun work I have a separate milsurp steel box that is about 8X8", broad and shallow that holds everything I need to work on guns. I have a similarly equipped identical box that stays in my gun box (Pachmyar from my PPC days) for any issues that may arise when out shooting. These two boxes, with some degree of redundancy, contain the specific tools I need for these purposes. Some of these are firearm specific, such as screwdrivers. Others are adapted for the purpose. The third such box (unfortunately the last one) contains cleaning supplies/gear except for fluids and longer rods. Except for the box in my shooting box, the other two reside in a cabinet that contains most of my other shooting supplies. The Pachmyar gun box sits on top of this cabinet. Perfectly organized for my purposes.
All tools, regardless of type, are always put back completely clean in the drawers or boxes at the end of the work session, even if the project is not completed.
I am quite particular about taking care of my gear, all of it in any category. My bride asserts I am OCD about care and maintenance. But I am not. I am just resolutely reasonable. (I am OCD about being termed OCD, so don't call me OCD!).
The only frustration to any of this is there seems to be no further joy to be derived from browsing the tool departments looking for something I did not know about, but having seen it, must have it.
My plier drawer is not as neatly laid out. I have several depths of pliers as that is a limitation of space available and proximity. The hemostats are in a separate small drawer designated for very small precision tools.
For gun work I have a separate milsurp steel box that is about 8X8", broad and shallow that holds everything I need to work on guns. I have a similarly equipped identical box that stays in my gun box (Pachmyar from my PPC days) for any issues that may arise when out shooting. These two boxes, with some degree of redundancy, contain the specific tools I need for these purposes. Some of these are firearm specific, such as screwdrivers. Others are adapted for the purpose. The third such box (unfortunately the last one) contains cleaning supplies/gear except for fluids and longer rods. Except for the box in my shooting box, the other two reside in a cabinet that contains most of my other shooting supplies. The Pachmyar gun box sits on top of this cabinet. Perfectly organized for my purposes.
All tools, regardless of type, are always put back completely clean in the drawers or boxes at the end of the work session, even if the project is not completed.
I am quite particular about taking care of my gear, all of it in any category. My bride asserts I am OCD about care and maintenance. But I am not. I am just resolutely reasonable. (I am OCD about being termed OCD, so don't call me OCD!).
The only frustration to any of this is there seems to be no further joy to be derived from browsing the tool departments looking for something I did not know about, but having seen it, must have it.
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Fingernail clippers are in every tackle box I have. We even used the big ones for our Parrot's nails.
fishwishin
Member
And here I am thinking I had a very well stocked plier drawer. Chief38- You sir are the king!!
"I have more tools than I need, but not more than I want!"
OP
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Hemostats are the very definition of "multitasker".
They have served me well for over 4 decades.
They have served me well for over 4 decades.
Ahhh, but the upside is the delight in finding something you completely forgot you had (unless you'd gone and bought a replacement recently.)
I have a year on you and am resigned to admitting that "getting organized" just isn't going to happen. The best I can hope for is to clean things up - my workshop especially - so as not to be an undue burden on whoever has to sort through it after I'm gone
You are not OCD. If you were, you would refer to it as CDO (compulsive disorder, obsessive), with the letters in alphabetic order.
OP
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I did some electrical work just yesterday after my best fried recently brought home a new Tesler. I installed a 240 volt charging outlet for him and he said to me," I have all the tools we'll need so you don't need to bring yours". I know my best friend for 67 out of my 69 years and so I brought my electrical bag with me anyway. Thankfully I did!!!
His tools were cheap ****, totally rusted up to the point his pliers barely opened up, screwdrivers were basically paint can openers, and he could not even find his hammer drill bits (no problem - I brought my Hammer drill and bits). We could not use his workbench for anything because it was buried under stacks of rusted tools, scraps of wood and a few tangled up extension cords. I used a short file cabinet he just got to work off of and thankfully I did not need to do any heavy duty work on it.
The job went smoothly and it took almost as long for him to find 4 Tapcon screws than it did to wire everything up but now he's in the Tesla charging zone. When working under conditions like that one can spend more time looking for things, finding a clean place to work and finding tools and hardware than the actual job takes. After 67 years of best friendship, I still go nuts when I do work for him at his house. The good news is he lives right down the block so getting stuff out of my shop isn't a big deal.
His tools were cheap ****, totally rusted up to the point his pliers barely opened up, screwdrivers were basically paint can openers, and he could not even find his hammer drill bits (no problem - I brought my Hammer drill and bits). We could not use his workbench for anything because it was buried under stacks of rusted tools, scraps of wood and a few tangled up extension cords. I used a short file cabinet he just got to work off of and thankfully I did not need to do any heavy duty work on it.
The job went smoothly and it took almost as long for him to find 4 Tapcon screws than it did to wire everything up but now he's in the Tesla charging zone. When working under conditions like that one can spend more time looking for things, finding a clean place to work and finding tools and hardware than the actual job takes. After 67 years of best friendship, I still go nuts when I do work for him at his house. The good news is he lives right down the block so getting stuff out of my shop isn't a big deal.
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OP
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BTW as mentioned above Manson sells a Reamer Handle for around $30 bucks or so. I always enjoy fiddle futzing so I made my own out of a steel rod. Simply bore out a hole, drill and tap a perpendicular hole for s set screw to hold the flat, then drill another hole for a cross handle and you are in like Flynn. For most guys who don't want to be bothered, the Handle does make sense. For me..... it's a couple of hours of fun. 
I never thought of using hemostats as a tool. After seeing this I actually used them to help me change an extractor on an old 22 rifle. Great for splinters, too.
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A new tool.......
Appreciate the point Model56Fan. Since if I don't refer to it as CDO, I therefore can't be OCD.
My insistence on taking proper care of gear means my bride has often called me 'stubborn'. I of course am not. She is a short feisty strong willed Sicilian who very much has a mind of her own. So I gently (very gingerly even) call her stubborn. I contrast the two different personality types by describing myself as 'resolutely reasonable'. One has to maintain a degree of calm smugness to properly express that objective assessment. When we are in a social group and this discussion comes up, the guys, who of course are objective independent thinkers, back me up. The wives just blindly back my bride up.
After decades of this, it does not look like the dynamic is going to change. But my gear is clean and organized, as it should be.
Now where were we before I digressed into Domestic Tranquility 101?
Appreciate the point Model56Fan. Since if I don't refer to it as CDO, I therefore can't be OCD.
My insistence on taking proper care of gear means my bride has often called me 'stubborn'. I of course am not. She is a short feisty strong willed Sicilian who very much has a mind of her own. So I gently (very gingerly even) call her stubborn. I contrast the two different personality types by describing myself as 'resolutely reasonable'. One has to maintain a degree of calm smugness to properly express that objective assessment. When we are in a social group and this discussion comes up, the guys, who of course are objective independent thinkers, back me up. The wives just blindly back my bride up.
After decades of this, it does not look like the dynamic is going to change. But my gear is clean and organized, as it should be.
Now where were we before I digressed into Domestic Tranquility 101?
