Alfawrench
Member
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2012
- Messages
- 13
Signed up a few months back, and just love the site. Have not posted very much, but, I have learned an incredible ammount. I especially like the banter and sarcasim back and forth in many of the threads. Makes it fun.
About me. Navy vet. After active duty, went back in to the reserves with the Seabees, and eventually made Construction Mechanic, Chief, hence, the name Alfawrench. In my civilian life, wrenched and managed at several motorcycle dealerships selling BMW, and later the 4 major Japenese brands.
After the kids came along, my wife kept complaining about starvation and no money in the winter, why am I hanging around the house, so, I went to work as a service writer at a car dealership. Hated it, but, the money, if not always good, was steady year round. I had the idea that eventually I could find a position as a service manager, but, my ethics thwarted my attempts. I was too straight up during interviews with dealers/owners that I would not be a party to screwing over customers. I have this weird therory that if a customer is treated fairly and honestly, he will come back again and again to do business. Strange, I know.
These days, I work for an IT service provider performing phone support for field technicians fixing computers and printers.
My tools. Predominantly Craftsman, with some Snap On, and a smattering of Hazet/Gedore thrown in from the BMW days. The choice of Craftman was primarily due to availabilty and conveinence. Back in the 70's, metric tools were hard to find. There was a huge Sears just down the road with a very well stocked tool department. They offered a whopping 24 metric sockets in the 3 drive sizes. The cost was a secondary concern. If I saw the Snap On guy twice a year, that was a lot. My shop was off the beaten path and it was hard to find a place to park the truck, so, he just didn't want to waste the time. Even with the higher prices, the credit plan would have made it easier to manage. And we never saw any of the other tool company trucks either.
I see choice of brand is a volatile subject, with very strong opinions about what consitiutes quality and value, and perhaps the competence of the owner by implication. In my case, Craftsman has served me extremely well, with very few broken pieces. And every time, it was due to my abuse.
Some of the stories I read in the Journal about quality, regardless of the brand, make me wonder just what are some people doing with their now broken tool. I still don't understand why my 3/8 drive 12mm shallow chrome socket split when I used it on my 1/2 impact wrench to remove a frozen external spline bolt. Must have been hardened too much.
And my bench vise now has a varible pitch lead screw and a shattered nut in the static jaw from using a pipe on the handle. I will follow the advice I found here to replace it with the largest mechanic's vise I can find one day, maybe even a Wilton if the pawn shop/garage sale gods smile upon me.
I don't wrench as much as I'd like anymore, but, I have been slowly expanding my tool collection anyway to fill in many of the skips from years ago. 4 more top knurled Craftman metric sockets and I will have every one they ever made.
I hope this doesn't bore everyone to death and I look forward to visiting again
About me. Navy vet. After active duty, went back in to the reserves with the Seabees, and eventually made Construction Mechanic, Chief, hence, the name Alfawrench. In my civilian life, wrenched and managed at several motorcycle dealerships selling BMW, and later the 4 major Japenese brands.
After the kids came along, my wife kept complaining about starvation and no money in the winter, why am I hanging around the house, so, I went to work as a service writer at a car dealership. Hated it, but, the money, if not always good, was steady year round. I had the idea that eventually I could find a position as a service manager, but, my ethics thwarted my attempts. I was too straight up during interviews with dealers/owners that I would not be a party to screwing over customers. I have this weird therory that if a customer is treated fairly and honestly, he will come back again and again to do business. Strange, I know.
These days, I work for an IT service provider performing phone support for field technicians fixing computers and printers.
My tools. Predominantly Craftsman, with some Snap On, and a smattering of Hazet/Gedore thrown in from the BMW days. The choice of Craftman was primarily due to availabilty and conveinence. Back in the 70's, metric tools were hard to find. There was a huge Sears just down the road with a very well stocked tool department. They offered a whopping 24 metric sockets in the 3 drive sizes. The cost was a secondary concern. If I saw the Snap On guy twice a year, that was a lot. My shop was off the beaten path and it was hard to find a place to park the truck, so, he just didn't want to waste the time. Even with the higher prices, the credit plan would have made it easier to manage. And we never saw any of the other tool company trucks either.
I see choice of brand is a volatile subject, with very strong opinions about what consitiutes quality and value, and perhaps the competence of the owner by implication. In my case, Craftsman has served me extremely well, with very few broken pieces. And every time, it was due to my abuse.
Some of the stories I read in the Journal about quality, regardless of the brand, make me wonder just what are some people doing with their now broken tool. I still don't understand why my 3/8 drive 12mm shallow chrome socket split when I used it on my 1/2 impact wrench to remove a frozen external spline bolt. Must have been hardened too much.
And my bench vise now has a varible pitch lead screw and a shattered nut in the static jaw from using a pipe on the handle. I will follow the advice I found here to replace it with the largest mechanic's vise I can find one day, maybe even a Wilton if the pawn shop/garage sale gods smile upon me.
I don't wrench as much as I'd like anymore, but, I have been slowly expanding my tool collection anyway to fill in many of the skips from years ago. 4 more top knurled Craftman metric sockets and I will have every one they ever made.
I hope this doesn't bore everyone to death and I look forward to visiting again
