Recent content by Downwindtracker 2

It's pretty easy to strip aluminum.

I got the couple planted. They were for an 5mm bolt. But my old hands didn't have the squeeze strength . I had to use a couple of cheater pipes. If I was to do more, I would get a HD double lever style like I have for large pop rivets .

Just a lever hand tool, like the common pop rivet tool. I had to buy one today. 5mm bolt size.

Installation into sheet metal. I'm hanging a new control valve on the back of a fireplace/heater. The old Belgium made one packed it in. Since there are no parts available , I'm using a NA made Robert Shaw. That's how they hung the original, of course the holes don't line up. chuckle.

Any thing special I should be aware of ?

I have some of their tools. I can't complain of their quality, but I tried to get warranty on a pair of their mini-bolt cutter which I tried to cut high carbon steel wire in tight spot. The end chipped out. Our local tool store deals with them, so I tried warranty. No Go. I should have cut...

opps

In my years as a carpenter, I have had Skilsaws jump. It's pretty unnerving. (I hate left handed worm drives, BTW.I never seen a right handed one.) Never stand in the bight or the line of fire. Track saws can easily break down sheet goods into cabinet level of accuracy. A bit of carelessness...

My brother had his place broken into. They stole his tools as well. He had poor Dad's hand tools, which they stole with his. The insurance paid for the tools. What hurt was the loss of a set of Gray open end wrenches. After the war, consumer goods were still very hard to get in '47. My parents...

I once bought a bunch of Great Neck tools from my local tool store. They had purchased them at scrap prices from a company that replaced the Great Neck with their brand. They were so cheap the tool store didn't even bother pricing them, I had to do that for them from a list. They were in a...

Between construction jobs, I once worked for an importer. A pretty standard breakdown of costing went like this He would pay $1 and then wholesale it for $10, the retailer would charge $20. They all would make money, but not a great deal.

In my search for old Gray open ended wrenches, I have stopped by a few pawn shops. I was always amazed at finding Hilti concrete drills. These are expensive contractor tools, which I would think are rarely pawned by the contractor. Maybe by his ex-employee, though.

If you have ever had to drag 2 or 3 hundred feet of 12ga SO cable across a site you would understand why we would use our cordless handsaws a lot of times. It was both easier and quicker. But that was 50 years ago. Our foreman got us a Milwaukee 18volt 1//2 impact gun. Since we had mill air...

I dislike electric impact guns, corded or cordless. But, I have a cordless one for the travel trailer. Lithium Ion batteries have made the question of cordless realistic.

We all pay for theft , in higher retail prices and higher insurance premiums.