It was a father-son pair looking at a seized bolt on a lawn mower deck, and the kid asked what to do if the WD-40 didn't work. Dad just shrugged and said that line without even looking at the bolt. I bit my tongue because I wanted to mention a breaker bar or some heat, but I figured he'd find out the hard way when the head snapped off. Has anyone else had to stop themselves from giving free advice to strangers in the tool aisle?
Was at a restore shop last weekend and this old timer saw me looking at a set of Stanley chisels. He said 'son you don't need new ones, you need to learn how to sharpen what you got.' He pulled out his pocket chisel, had to be 30 years old, and it shaved hair off his arm. Told me he sharpens after every 15 minutes of use with a 1000 grit stone. Now I'm rethinking my whole 'buy better tools' approach. Anyone else have a pro tell you something obvious you been missing?
Last month I was over at the HackRVA makerspace in Richmond helping a buddy set up his new workbench. We were squaring up his fence to the table saw and I pulled out my trusty old combo square to check it. This older guy walks over and starts saying I'm wasting my time, that combo squares drift over time and you need a solid machinist square for anything important. I've been using combo squares for most of my woodworking for like 8 years and haven't noticed issues, but he made a point that if you are off by even 1/64th of an inch on a long cut it adds up fast. On the other hand, my machinist square is a pain to use for bigger setups since its only 6 inches. Anyone else run into this debate and figure out a middle ground that works?
I spent years fussing with water stones and flattening them every ten minutes, then a guy at the flea market let me try his DMT plate on a chisel and it cut faster with zero mess. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized you'd been making things harder for yourself with the "traditional" method?
Last Tuesday I was running my old Bridgeport and the pump seal just gave out. Coolant went everywhere across the concrete floor before I could hit the kill switch. Took me two hours with a wet vac and kitty litter to soak it all up. The worst part was the smell of tramp oil that lingered for three days. Has anyone else had a coolant pump fail on them suddenly or did I just get the bad luck card?
Spent probably 5 hours trying to free up a stuck valve on my water heater last Tuesday. Turns out the wrench I grabbed from my dad's old toolbox was worn down so bad it just slipped every time. Borrowed a newer Ridgid from my buddy and it came loose in like 2 minutes. Has anyone else wasted a ton of time because their tool was just too beat up?
I was building a deck in Cleveland last fall and a guy walks over from the next site, says I'm gonna split every board and be back here in two years replacing them. He was right, been pre-drilling everything now even with those fancy self-tapping screws. Anybody else have some old timer give you a tip that actually saved your work?
Switched after I spent 4 hours fixing a crooked switch box in a kitchen job, so what made you ditch the old method for something more precise?
I always swore by my HF torque wrench for lug nuts and stuff, figured torque specs were just suggestions anyway. Then I borrowed my buddy's Snap-On digital tester and found mine was off by 15 ft-lbs at 80, so I bought a CDI micrometer style instead and now I actually trust my readings. Has anyone else gone through the pain of calibrating their own wrenches?