Recent content by itstippy

It's a kitchen gadgets drawer jammer. That one's in great shape; usually they're bent all pear shaped.

Madison, WI Craigslist is stumped. I'm betting you guys won't be. https://madison.craigslist.org/tls/d/sun-prairie-what-are-these-clamps-for/7203260147.html

Big Stick is a survivor of the old Borg-Warner plant in Beloit, WI. He was destined for the scrap heap when I threw his bail of $25. He's an old industrial Hobart stick/Heliarc machine. I don't have the Heliarc electrode and helium gas setup, just the stick stinger. He gets very little use...

Wow, some great setups! Little shops like mine need to melt metal too sometimes, but space and money are at a premium. So, the MIG and TIG share a mobile cart and Big Stick lurks in a corner. The welding table sits outside, on wheels so it can be pushed into the shop bay when needed or in...

Thanks guys, I got 'er done. At one point I had that thing clamped six ways to Sunday. I used wood blocks and metal shims (the bar from a bar clamp and the bolt from an antique lockset). It looked like garage art. Lessons learned: * Aluminum window channel can be clamped tightly and coaxed...

I backed up my pickup with the cap door open and mashed it into a tree. The plexiglass shattered and the aluminum window frame bent in a lower corner, quite impressively. I want to straighten the bent frame so the window repair folks can put in a replacement piece of plexiglass. They did this...

The wood-handled tool is an ice pick. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00125UT5I/?tag=atomicindus08-20

They used a rig like that to get the whitetail buck I shot last year out of the woods. Around my place the deer eat corn and grow big. I forgot to take pictures, so don't ask. Other than that I don't know what you'd use it for. Lifting steam locomotives?

Tools were scarce as a kid. If you had a big nut to get off and no big socket that fit and couldn't get at it with a pipe wrench you'd bang it loose counter-clockwise with a cold chisel and a hammer. Re-install the same way, going clockwise. Big nuts that were removed/reinstalled multiple...

Thanks. It's an odd one - the teeth on the upper jaw are not all the same width. I also notice that he added a brass lock wheel to the Vice Grip's adjustment bolt so he can do repeated squeezes with precise, identical force.

Another modified tool. Someone did a very skilled job of grinding down the original jaws on this Vice Grip and welding on custom jaws. The pictures are blurry, but the jaws themselves are crisp and squarely cut. When closed the jaws are parallel. So, what did Mystery Man need this odd tool...

Why upgrade?

Last week I ran a 2" screw through the web of my hand and into the wall, striking a 240V power line. I jerked back from the pain, knocking the car off the floor jack and into the paint cabinet. A 5 gallon pail of outdoor carpet adhesive fell and spilled all over me, the car, and my cat Ringo...

I can also easily change my customer service policy depending on which friend/relative stops over and what project they have in mind. I just open the bench storage door 2" and voila.

More garage art "humor" 1- Watch the puddle, not the arc 2- Actually, that heater's supported by a plant hanger, a GI belt clip, and a chain 3- This is apparently not "Paw Paw's Garage" 4- Grinders are the most dangerous tool in the shop. Say a prayer. 5- Smokey says only you can prevent...