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"Any old iron, any old iron........."

shushshush Posts: 6,259 Senior Member
".............. Oh I wouldn’t give you tuppence for your rusty old watch chain........."

An old friend of Mrs.Shush asked if her husband could borrow a couple of my large sash and g-clamps to do some work on their caravan, of course, any friend and all that.

That was no little time ago, telephoned mrs. old friend could I have them back, a small job had came up.

"Oh yes, certainly. He is well finished with them". It appears said job had been completed sometime ago.

Popped around to collect them;

"They're not here, a friend is using them on his boat but I think he is finished with them. I'll drop them off". Says he.

He is at ours, couple of evening later, they are in his boot(trunk to some). "Bit of rust but they will be fine".

His friend's boat must have been kept at the bottom of the dead sea.

Tight smile and we carried them thru to the back of the Shed.

" I see you have a scaffold tower, I have a job for one of them, I'll have to borrow that soon."Says he.

"What?" I was just on the cusp.........

Mrs.Shush gave me her look, so we said our goodbyes.

Spent the weekend cleaning them up, time spent in the Shed is always good.

They looked far worse than they would have been if left. Not the point though, have had them a long time, well used but never abused, until now.

Lesson learned, again, I think. Every day is a school day.


cpj, I am afraid I overused that special word you have for me, whilst doing the clean up, but I did put lots of ing's in front of it so I do not think I damaged it in anyway.
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Replies

  • Farm Boy DeuceFarm Boy Deuce Posts: 6,083 Senior Member
    It is a rather trying thing to let folks borrow tools.
    I am afraid we forget sometime that the basic and simple things brings us the most pleasure.
    Dad 5-31-13
  • VarmintmistVarmintmist Posts: 8,305 Senior Member
    Been down that road. Mrs Mist has "loaned" out tools without me knowing about it. After I couldnt find X tool, I found out it was on vacation. Then when they come back with a tan....... Well I think we solved the problem of her loaning my tools.
    It's boring, and your lack of creativity knows no bounds.
  • FisheadgibFisheadgib Posts: 5,797 Senior Member
    I won't even loan tools to my brother anymore. I had a pretty sizable set of wood turning chisles stored at my parents house when I moved years ago that I had since the mid seventies. My brother bought a lathe and asked to borrow my chisles and being my brother, and that it would be a few years until I had a shop set up again, I allowed it. I've been shopping for a new lathe and told my brother that I would like my chisles back and his answer was "I think we sold those a long time ago in a yard sale"
    snake284 wrote: »
    For my point of view, cpj is a lot like me
    .
  • JayhawkerJayhawker Posts: 18,364 Senior Member
    If I borrow something and break/lose it I figure it's mine to replace...consequently I don't borrow or lend stuff....
    Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
  • TeachTeach Posts: 18,428 Senior Member
    Back when I was working for a living, I had a big sign on my tool box- - - - -"If you value your life as much as I value these tools, DON'T MESS WITH THEM!" Someone might as well take money out of my pocket as fool around with the way I make a living!
    :angry:

    A woman who messes with a man's tools should be worked over with a belt sander and made to swim laps in a vat of alcohol!
    Jerry
  • jaywaptijaywapti Posts: 5,116 Senior Member
    Many years ago my dad told me " if you borrow something always return it better condition than you borrowed it"

    JAY
    THE DEFINITION OF GUN CONTROL IS HITTING THE TARGET WITH YOUR FIRST SHOT
  • bisleybisley Posts: 10,815 Senior Member
    This reminds me - I need to put new tires on my trailer and fix the lights - the neighbors have been complaining, lately. :tooth:
  • zorbazorba Posts: 25,293 Senior Member
    Probably about 30 years ago, I came home from work to see some flower pots hanging from the front eaves of the house. "What the Hell?", I go and look, sure enough my wife had drilled a hole right through the eave and the roof...

    She hasn't touched a drill since!
    -Zorba, "The Veiled Male"

    "If you get it and didn't work for it, someone else worked for it and didn't get it..."
    )O(
  • FisheadgibFisheadgib Posts: 5,797 Senior Member
    SIGgal wrote: »
    That's not very nice Teach. My boyfriend gets mad when I "borrow" his tools, like when I used his electric meter thingy to hang a picture lol........ but he wouldn't hurt me, although I'm sure he has thought about it. I don't get the love Affair between boys and their tools ��. Like, did y'all ever try to hang a picture with a stiletto? Lol.

    Quality tools will far out last a person's looks.
    snake284 wrote: »
    For my point of view, cpj is a lot like me
    .
  • VarmintmistVarmintmist Posts: 8,305 Senior Member
    cpj wrote: »
    We need an English to Merican translation.
    G clamp?
    Sash clamp?

    I'm guessing C clamp
    It's boring, and your lack of creativity knows no bounds.
  • breamfisherbreamfisher Posts: 14,124 Senior Member
    Fisheadgib wrote: »
    Quality tools will far out last a person's looks.
    Don't forget that quality tools also allow someone to save money to be used to purchase other things for other folks, or to save time to allow quality time with other folks, or to maintain a lifestyle so that others can be taken care of.

    I remember about a year ago I had to change the headlight on the wife's car. Her particular model requires you to take the front fascia off, then pull the headlight out to replace the bulbs in. The fascia's held on by 20+ fasteners, of which 5 separate tools are needed to remove them (torx driver, Phillips screwdriver, needle-nose pliers, standard screwdriver, and socket wrench) and it takes a while to remove the fascia without messing things up. Took me over an hour to do it, as I wasn't sure how solidly rooted some parts are, and how tearable others are. Anyway, to change a $5 light bulb local shops charge over $100: $90+ for 1 hour's labor, and $15 or more for the bulb. An assortment of quality tools made my job much easier, and allowed me to save some $$$ for my family which we could better use for other stuff. Plus at my pay, that headlight repair would have taken about a day's labor to pay for that one repair, once you figure in taxes.

    Oh, and if you're using a woman's shoe to hang a picture, a flat is preferred over a stiletto, unless you're trying to "pre-drill" a hole in the wall material.
    Meh.
  • bisleybisley Posts: 10,815 Senior Member
    SIGgal wrote: »
    That's not very nice Teach. My boyfriend gets mad when I "borrow" his tools, like when I used his electric meter thingy to hang a picture lol........ but he wouldn't hurt me, although I'm sure he has thought about it. I don't get the love Affair between boys and their tools...

    Depends upon the couple, I reckon. I do love my tools, though.

    I have a drill press that I love to use, given any opportunity. It was the short size that fits on a cabinet top. I had it sitting on a rolling cabinet, about 4 feet above the floor, and plugged in. My wife, at some point, decided to roll the cabinet out of her way, and dumped it on its head, smashing the sheet metal housing and knocking everything out of kilter. I guess she panicked. She picked it up and piled it all up to look normal (to her), and left it in the same place, so I didn't notice it for several weeks.

    When I realized what had happened, I was furious...for a few minutes. Luckily, she wasn't home, so I had time to regain my composure, and started straightening the sprung parts and fixing what I could. After about an hour, I had it running fine, although it still doesn't look too good. I decided to keep my mouth shut, and wait for developments, since I really didn't know if she or one of the grand kids was the culprit. I used it several times and pretty much forgot about it, until she confessed, a year or so later. When she told me, I just grunted, and changed the subject. Neither of us ever mentioned it, again.

    How'd I do?
  • jaywaptijaywapti Posts: 5,116 Senior Member

    I remember about a year ago I had to change the headlight on the wife's car. Her particular model requires you to take the front fascia off, then pull the headlight out to replace the bulbs in. The fascia's held on by 20+ fasteners, of which 5 separate tools are needed to remove them (torx driver, Phillips screwdriver, needle-nose pliers, standard screwdriver, and socket wrench) and it takes a while to remove the fascia without messing things up.

    When i get a job like that I try to replace all those different fasteners with ones with the same head so if I have to do it again it only takes one tool.

    JAY
    THE DEFINITION OF GUN CONTROL IS HITTING THE TARGET WITH YOUR FIRST SHOT
  • breamfisherbreamfisher Posts: 14,124 Senior Member
    jaywapti wrote: »
    When i get a job like that I try to replace all those different fasteners with ones with the same head so if I have to do it again it only takes one tool.

    JAY
    That would be nice, but the fasteners also have different sized holes, some are holding plastic cladding to plastic cladding, others are plastic into metal, and still others into who knows what. Plus some are "flush mount" fasteners because of clearances when the hood is shut. Ford really did a number on this vehicle. It's bad enough to where when I told a few friends who are mechanics what I did, they all responded with some form of "Let me guess: took you over an hour for one headlight, and you went through your whole took kit? I hate that job on that body style..."
    Meh.
  • jaywaptijaywapti Posts: 5,116 Senior Member
    That would be nice, but the fasteners also have different sized holes, "

    I should have said " with the same diameter and length "

    JAY
    THE DEFINITION OF GUN CONTROL IS HITTING THE TARGET WITH YOUR FIRST SHOT
  • breamfisherbreamfisher Posts: 14,124 Senior Member
    Oh, I understood that. Unfortunately, Ford decided to make everything varied in size, length, etc.

    EVERYTHING.
    Meh.
  • breamfisherbreamfisher Posts: 14,124 Senior Member
    cpj wrote: »
    I don't get why makers do that. In designing my rest, I've spent a lot of time making things SIMPLE. May take more time in design, but gets made up production. Common fasteners seems to be.....a simple idea.
    I can understand some of it: if you're joining 2 pieces of plastic together you can use a different fastener than say plastic into a metal brace. And it might even be more appropriate. But the company could have gotten by with just 2 fastener types and been fine. Using Torx screws and small bolts when both are self-tapping? Can't explain that.
    Meh.
  • Gene LGene L Posts: 12,820 Senior Member
    I'm guessing C clamp

    It does actually look more like a G than a C.
    Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
  • TeachTeach Posts: 18,428 Senior Member
    Fisheadgib wrote: »
    Quality tools will far out last a person's looks.


    Buy tools- - - - -rent companionship. It's cheaper, and you don't have to live with 'em!
    Jerry
  • shushshush Posts: 6,259 Senior Member
    It now appears friend orifice may be coming sometime this week to ask to borrow the scaffold tower , Mrs.Shush told me whilst taking her to the airport;
    "Now, play nicely" said She.

    But being that my young bride is off on her travels all of this week, (some poor group of misbegotten foreign chaps are going to get a right ear bashing, in their own lingo too she speaks this one).

    I just may take this opportunity to enlighten aperture face the meaning of "Cold day in Hell"

    In a good christian, play nicely way sort of way, of course.




    SIGgal wrote: »
    I..................Honestly, I don't see the problem with it 

    Now pet, I would have been fair mazed if you did, mind.




    cpj wrote: »
    We need an English to Merican translation.
    G clamp?
    UltimateClamps012.jpg

    Sash clamp?
    UltimateClamps008.jpg

    There you go mate, anything to oblige.

    I'm guessing C clamp

    In the early Cyrillic alphabet maybe.
    Gene L wrote: »
    It does actually look more like a G than a C.

    Thank you, you are a true scholar.
  • Gene LGene L Posts: 12,820 Senior Member
    Don't know what a scaffold tower is, though. A step ladder?
    Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
  • shushshush Posts: 6,259 Senior Member
    Gene L wrote: »
    Don't know what a scaffold tower is, though. A step ladder?


    saturnladdertower10.jpg

    Same make as mine but mine is taller when fully assembled.
  • shushshush Posts: 6,259 Senior Member
    cpj wrote: »
    I'm guessing he means scaffolding.
    Like his "G clamp" is really a C clamp. Like his "sash" clamp is really a bar clamp.

    Gosh darn it to heck, I cannot hide nowt from you. :wink:
  • shushshush Posts: 6,259 Senior Member
    Wambli Ska wrote: »
    .......My wife has one tool that fixes everything in the house. It's the mouth she uses to say, "Hey hon..."

    Mine is away for the week but I have a list.
  • earlyearly Posts: 4,950 Senior Member
    When I close my eyes real hard, the passage of time brings the hallowing echo of my Dad's angered voice ringing through the house. Something about me putting his tools back where they go or recieving a rectal bootagrahm. He seemed to be a bit high strung when I was a teenager.
    My thoughts are generally clear. My typing, not so much.
  • tennmiketennmike Posts: 27,457 Senior Member
    shush wrote: »
    saturnladdertower10.jpg

    Same make as mine but mine is taller when fully assembled.

    That's the fancy schmancy scaffolding with the outrigger braces for people that do stupid stuff like leaning way out over the top safety bar and turning said scaffolding over, causing scuffing and injury to said scaffolding and stupid person! :tooth:

    I personally prefer the 4foot wide by 8 foot long scaffolding. Lots more room to put a bunch of tools on the flooring so you have something to trip over and fall....................and say bad words. :roll2:
      I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer”
    ― Douglas Adams
  • shushshush Posts: 6,259 Senior Member
    tennmike wrote: »
    That's the fancy schmancy scaffolding with the outrigger braces for people that do stupid stuff like leaning way out over the top safety bar and turning said scaffolding over, causing scuffing and injury to said scaffolding and stupid person! :tooth:

    That's the one, I need all the help I can get. :tooth:
  • LinefinderLinefinder Posts: 7,859 Senior Member
    cpj wrote: »
    Common fasteners seems to be.....a simple idea.

    YES!!!!! Engineers....are you listening?

    AND......if threaded, use as large a fastener as space can possibly allow.

    Before I realized I knew enough to bitch out a degreed mechanical engineer, I tapped a #2 fine thread 1" deep into 304 SST.
    And he had 2" clearance all around, totally unused.

    We both learned something that day....I'll never hesitate to point out the path of righteousness to the ignorant, and he'll never piss off a toolmaker...

    Mike
    "Walking away seems to be a lost art form."
    N454casull
  • LinefinderLinefinder Posts: 7,859 Senior Member
    cpj wrote: »
    Unless it's a repair and there's no other option, there will never be any fastener smaller than #6 in my shop.

    Lest I appear to be presenting myself as smart.......Let it be said that a real toolmaker would have spotted this right off and asked the engineer "have you ever seen a #2 anything an inch long?". Instead I wasted a day and a half and about lost my mind in the process.

    The only consolation is that he's no longer there.....the downside is we've replaced him with worse.

    Metal meeting metal when <.001" really counts is truly a tough way to make a living.

    But, it's interesting, and everyone (except the front office staff) forgives you if you scream "uk it!!!" several times a day. They damn sure don't want the job.

    Mike
    "Walking away seems to be a lost art form."
    N454casull
  • tennmiketennmike Posts: 27,457 Senior Member
    The problem with automotive, and other, engineers is just that. There's more than one on each project and they don't talk to one another. This leads to stupidity like multiple fastener types/styles when it isn't necessary and is actually counterproductive in the assembly process. The solution is really simple, though. Don't allow anything but fasteners with hex head or torx heads and make the engineers choose the right ones for the application, after, and ONLY AFTER, they've been down on the assembly line and consulted with the people doing the assembling. An engineer should, BY LAW, only be able to get to the design department after spending a minimum of two years on the assembly line. That way the smart ones would develop a distinct hatred for stupid engineers, and make their lives miserable.
      I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer”
    ― Douglas Adams
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