I guess the bright side was that he was raised in a home full of proper utility knives?
Used to have an auto parts job, the teeny boppers there would use single-edge blades for mundane tasks... then leave them around the place willy nilly. Drove me nuts.
How I got the metal Castrol shirt pocket box cutter (with single-edge razor blade) at that job, I don't remember, but I did. And this being GJ, of course I still have it.
@Squankum, I don't know when or where I got my little flat box cutter but it's from the '80s, advertising Johnson Wax's New Duster Plus Wax Free Cleaning. It doesn't have one of the Stainless blades but maybe I'll swap one in. Lately I've been using plastic razors because they do a good job scraping off labels without doing damage to whatever the label is on.
Hell no, I have single edged blades by the sink which I used to scrape the stove cooktop. We were sponsored by Castrol so we had a bunch of those cutters and other trinkets. We ran a synthetic oil in the motor and used to fill the Castrol containers with the synthetic oil so it looked like we ran Castrol.
He will never be GJ material he is not mechanically inclined I have tried got him to follow F1 and still play adult hockey
Michael, I use a stainless single edge blade the same way on the cooktop. It doesn't leave marks and doesn't melt if the burner is still hot.
Oh dear. I have to remind myself sometimes that the level of mechanical awareness -- and awareness of the physical world -- that we here at GJ tend to have, is often lacking in others to a degree we can't imagine.
Had a coworker who was aghast when his 20-something son was picking up a car battery to install into a car and said, "Gosh, this is heavy, what's in it, lead?!" My coworker lamented the state the schools in our region and I hinted that you can't leave a child's entire education to the school system.
@Squankum, I don't have that problem. Our children are classified as "old people who come to Florida to visit their parents" but they both live within 50 miles of us.
Squakum, don't sell yourself short... I've had to deal with my own machines, as I couldn't afford the biggest and the best machines out there. In most cases, my many machines are at least 100 years old. I learned what it took to make an accurate part on a 100 year old machine. More than once. You need to learn patience for one thing. Smaller cuts and so forth. The horsepower is not there. Doesn't matter. The accuracy isn't there. Doesn't matter. One of the things I did was to approach on a size, on a lathe, plan ahead. Try to take three cuts in a row. Three exact cuts, in a row, all equal depths of cut. At that point, I could hold tolerances of press fit on some things. About .001 per inch of diameter, shrink fit. I could do anything... It just takes patience. I was never into making long shafts and trying to hold diameters to some small tolerances, but most of my life, I haven't felt the need to do that. Most of my work was short pieces.
Rick, my only experience with metal cutting machines was admiring them from the woodworking side of high school shop class. My accuracy is measured in pencil widths. I can cut either side or right down the middle of the pencil line. Most days it's "eyeball accuracy" as in "Looks good to me."
@Squankum, I developed a lump on the outside of my lower jaw and tried to get our dentist to call in an antibiotic. Had to see him to determine what was going on (even though they refilled it in May). Definitely not a tumor but the X-Rays didn't provide enough detail to be sure. I was shocked it was only $80 for the visit and the X-Rays and pleased that he called an oral surgeon who could see me right away. Got some 3D X-Rays but still not good enough. Stood inside a small CT head scanner and bingo, it's not a tumor, just an abscess. Some time in a fancy chair and the surgeon had the abscess opened, drained and packed with gauze. This $1,250 visit included a fancy ice pack I could strap to my head so it wasn't a total waste. The Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, Amoxicillin and Chlorhexidine mouthwash came to $23 and the only thing I didn't already have was Amoxicillin (the drug I asked for in the first place).
Everyone looks at a lathe (to buy) that can do absolutely everything.... And that's the one to buy.... If that lathe can't do, exactly one thing correctly, nobody wants that lathe... What about the multitude of everything ELSE that lathe is capable of doing?? Nobody thinks that way... Nobody does. I can tell you that a somewhat less than ideal lathe can do some pretty nice work. It just takes experience and some patience.
Edit... Maybe that's why I own 11 lathes... Each of my lathes are good at something...
Rick, all I have to do is buy one lathe and you'll only be 10 ahead.
@Squankum, I need to go back to recording Saturday Night Live -- that's perfect.
Had a friend who needed to make a part or two for his race car, picked up a lathe in his area. An old Sears/Atlas lathe that had spent is life in a NASCAR shop, dating back to when the sport was more grassroots. My friend did all of the homework he could to learn (and to be safe) and as the years went by, was tickled at how many things he could do with it.
@Squankum, just learning to safely run a lathe would mean the rest of my life would have to be put on hold. It would mean missing out on my 11 doctor, dentist and physical therapy appointments this week and next.
Keep plugging away at my Underground Lair thread! Eventually you'll get to my discovery of the museums devoted to measurement and machine tools of the Industrial Revolution, both in New England.
Yea, I'm at about page 45 or so. I've lost track on my way, (computer reboot) and was waiting for you to respond, so I could find you in "new Posts". I'm back in, now. Love yer stories, your research, everything you write about. I have a fond feeling about the Chevy 235 "Stovebolt" engine. My dozer (from Dad) has a transplant engine in it, and I wondered where the oil filter might be on that engine...
Rick, the 235 Stovebolt in my '56 Chevy had an add-on oil filter plumbed into the block with supply and return lines. Kinda like this one (not my car):
I have my Dad's Atlas/Craftsman lathe and it is very dear to my heart. I've only broke the lantern tool post, once. I welded things back together, and everything's cool. It is no match to my (4) Warner Swasey turret lathes.... Plenty of giddy-up up and horsepower for roughing cuts... Love those machines.
There's no substitute for some "snort" that the Turret lathes had to offer. Plenty of deep cuts, with carbide tooling. The machines were three-phase, but I made them work on 220 v. At the farm .
My biggest quest in life was to own a VTL, at home, (Vertical Turret Lathe) with some size to it... At least 36" swing.. My plans never came to fruition, but a guy can dream.... Something close to what I ran at the Company, so many years ago...
The one I ran at work was 72" swing, about 50 hp..
Just a sweetheart. I can't imagine having a machine that size at home..
I have no clue what to say.
Haha, well I used to live across the road from a nursing home and would often see the more mobile residents out and about for a walk up or down the streeet.
My favourite reply to my usual passing greeting of "Good morning, how are you today ?" was:
"Well Greg , at least I'm on the right side of the grass" . First time I heard it I nearly choked with laughter
(explanation in case different where you live: we have a lot of "lawn cemeteries" where you just have a small paver like one of those in the Hollywood stars walk of fame where you are buried usually in, basically, a field )
Greg, my family has a cemetery in New Rochelle, New York, founded by a Huguenot named Coutant. My father and brother have tombstones but my mother's ashes are buried over my father's casket with a small paver like you describe. It does stand proud of the ground just to make life more difficult for the groundskeeper.
Joel, I'm stopping by between PT sessions with Summer. A pretty young thing makes the pain more tolerable.
I'm afraid of Occupational Therapy because it might make me forget what working was like, It has been 27 years since I got paid for working. I prefer working for myself (and Liane) at home.
Actually, you should BE an OT. You've been inventing your own accommodations and modifications so you can get stuff done for years. Kind of an OT poster boy!
@Prospecter, the company that made my bionic arm asked me to address groups of technicians and patients. They stopped asking for my help because old cripples are supposed to stay in some lane I'm not in. Mentioning water skiing was a good way to build strength may have been one of those things that hastened the end of my OT career.
Bob you’ve always amazed me at your abilities to do maybe more than most of us with two good hands can and I (we) always love your stories which seem to be endless.
You and I have always differed in our opinion of the medical community so I’ll never suggest you do anything different than do what your gut tells you to do. What I can do is wish you and yours the very very best and hope to see your posts as long as you are able.
Here’s to another good day above dirt and let’s make someone smile today even if it’s only our not so young brides.
Hi
Drives. I tend to accept medical advice because I live with someone who has a lot of it. Not based on education or training but someone who refuses to accept anything wrong with me is untreatable.
"Class, we have a special visitor today, a man who has been working one-handed for more than half a century."
(Bob walks in with running chainsaw, demented grin.)
Bob: "And this is my new assistant groundskeeper!"
(Emiliano comes in, one leg, crutch, swinging a machete.)
@Squankum, his name is Marcos.
This machine, with a fairly large part on it... Once you (me..) would start the chuck, approach the part with a cutting tool, start taking a rather large depth of cut, turn the coolant on... At that point, the machine makes its own weather happen. Coolant bouncing off the chuck jaws (and the part) creates quite a bit of mist. The coolant pump had a 10 HP motor on it. In the case of a steel part, those c-shaped chips, dark blue in color, once the water-based coolant hit those, and the water turned into steam, then eventually, only the oil was left, started to make smoke, to fill the building... With smoke. Every time that happened, my boss would walk over and see me with a grin his face. I guess he knew I was making some money for the Company. Ha. I had to be very diligent on keeping my chips cleaned out, from around the part, but still inside the sheet metal guards in place. I had a chunk of 2x4, about 4 feet long, to use like a paddle to shove the chips toward the chip conveyor, to go into a dumpster that the forklift had to empty. Good times.... Some days, I miss running machines like that.
Rick, once again I have no clue but it sounds like you had fun at your job.
I had a Atlas/Craftsman 6x18 given to me a number of years ago, complete with the countershaft speed reducer and the complete set of change gears. It had been left in a shed and the unpainted ways and other parts were covered in a light layer of rust. Twenty years later, I'm getting around to finishing the painting and making a list of upgrades (mostly changing the tool post). I may put some updates on my barn build page in the next few days..
Gerry, sounds like you are about to make that machine a great addition to your barn.
Well, there you go,
@scooterbum46. Have a fun time with that machine. My Dad used this one so much, I ended up making a new lead screw for his while I was in voc-tech, learning Machine Tool Technology. That worked out for his machine. I should tell you that Dad wanted this lathe for a Christmas present. That was back in the late '60s. According to Mom's stories, Dad kept hinting for something for Christmas. His hints were, something like this... (In Dad's words...). He wanted something that starts with L. ends with an E. And has ath in the middle... In Mom's words, she got tired of his hinting, so she bought the lathe for him.
Dad used that machine for many things it wasn't intended to be used for... He made his own steady rest, out of mostly large re-bar, meant for concrete work. Dad was very innovative with his machines, and always found a way to get a job done with the equipment that he had available to him. I've softly followed in his footsteps, but I'll admit that he was a hard act to follow...
Rick, I make hits like that but still get socks and shirts for Christmas (she knows those brown boxes have whatever I need/want in them) .
Another time, he got into rebuilding hydraulic valve assemblies... He quickly learned about the very small tolerances involved to make this happen. Next thing you know, Dad made his own OD grinder, with a spindle, a grinding wheel and a 1/3 HP electric motor, left over from a dismantled Maytag wringer washing machine. Oh, the stories I could tell about my Father.. ha.
Rick, years ago I did a lot of Rube Goldberg stuff to get things done but now I can usually find what I need floating down Jeff's River.
Haven't seen him for a decade or three but way back then I had a "Gym Buddy" whom I met whilst training -heck of a nice bloke , he was the biggest womaniser and obviously oh so charming and I do think "a bad boy". He was pretty much more Vinny Jones than Brad Pitt in the looks department but always had at least three women on rotation, who also seemed to know about each other , and were still chasing him like he was on "The Batchelor".
One day, resting between sets , I asked him: "mate, why do you not want to have just one girlfriend at a time , you must be exhausted ?"
His answer pretty much mirrored your take on lathes
Greg, I have no lathes and sixty-plus years with one woman is my limit. I don't really understand Liane most of the time so figuring out another one would be impossible. A third would put me in a straight jacket.
OK, now I have to track down the old poster.
@Squankum, I think that's a World War II poster. They had penicillin but it was needed for the GIs so keeping one's tool safe was important for the war effort.
Haha. Love the responses about my lathes. Not sure how to respond to
@Coolabah. How did my lathe stories turn into pretty girls? Ha. I was going to let Bob take control with any answers that needed to happen.
Rick, I think
@Coolabah was implying that handling all your lathes is like juggling mistresses.
Well, we all have our hobbies
What's really scary though is
@Squankum 's poster : I never knew you could actually catch Syphilis from a lathe, I just thought at worst I might lose a finger, not "something" !!!!!
Greg, I agree. The US has always had a Puritanical outlook so maybe the lathe is just a simile for a *** partner.
It didn't strike me at first, but the poster's creators have really forced us to think about that guy gettin' it on with the ladies.
@Squankum, based on his posture, I was thinking more like a dude gettin' it on with him.
