share your tool abuse horror stories

[tpolley]

the other day i had a fried help me install a power inverter which required running 2 gauge wire. i asked if he'd take some pliers and crimp a lug on each end of the wire then i was going to solder it. i went about what i was doing and heard hammering from under my truck. upon investigating i found him hammering the lug flat to crimp it, which was fine but he was using a freaking 3/8 socket extension as a punch!!! the thing looked like a freakin' question mark when he was done.

 

[gofastman]

My co worker striped his 3/8" Cman ratchet, he walked up to the counter at sears and said "my hammer broke"

 

[Elroy]

Ever use a tap as a transfer punch??

Don't actually consider that abuse. Just creative application.

 

[wrenchr]

Loaned a buddy a snap on 3/8 flexhead and he returned bent!! That was a hard deal to warranty!!

 

[BigK600]

I've also done the 3/8" punch trick with some not so great results.

 

[Paladin]

Loaned a buddy a snap on 3/8 flexhead and he returned bent!! That was a hard deal to warranty!!

Yeah, I recently decided I won't loan tools as a general rule after I witnessed a friend start to put a cheater on my Williams S-52. Man, I bit my tongue, but I also handed him a breaker! And this friend of mine has been a pro-wrench for 30+ years...

 

[wrenchr]

Yeah, I recently decided I won't loan tools as a general rule after I witnessed a friend start to put a cheater on my Williams S-52. Man, I bit my tongue, but I also handed him a breaker! And this friend of mine has been a pro-wrench for 30+ years...

Yah my buddy was like they have a lifetime warranty F-them, he does not understand how hard it is to warranty snap on Never again though

 

[Vinko]

Had a kid trying to fix a strapping gun (for strapping up crates) and I luckily gave him only a small craftsman screwdriver instead of a Wiha to take the screw out. Well, he took a rubber mallet and pounded the hell out of the driver, bent into in the shape of a "J". Then tried to take a pair of S-O retaining ring pliers to pry the damn screw out. Didn't bend those. I asked the kid what he was thinking. He just stared dumbly. Man that kid is dumb.

Most of our tool abuse, before we started locking up or keeping a strict eye on tools wasn't found out until much later. A guy would break a tool and then ditch it somewhere else in the shop. Now, we do a strict accounting. So we can warranty those that can be warrantied. And we don't let anyone use tools that aren't qualified to use particular tools. Or we give them cheapies. Which is too bad, because like my dad, I like having nice tools for everyone to use, but not everyone appreciates or respects or can take care of good tools.

 

[Art From De Leon]

Many, many, years ago, I was working at a really sh!tty GM dealer in Ft. Stockton, Texas. One of the other mechanics had a Snap On IM-5 1/2" drive impact that he absolutely hated, so we set out to destroy it.
Step #1 Clamp the square drive into a vise, and tie the trigger down and go to lunch.
Come back, still hammering away.
Step #2. Go to brake lathe, get metal dust, remove air hose, pack as much as possible into body of impact. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
We could NOT destroy it!

This is the same garage where we took a brand new Vega for an 85 mile test drive, and would take the K3500 Chevy pickups destined for the Firestone test track on off-road 'adventures'.

The owner was pretty much a shyster, as Ft. Stockton is out in the middle of NOWHERE, and I-10 was not completed thru town, and tourists were at his mercy. I had a chance to go to work for the company I have been with for 33 years, and except for one time when I went middle age stupid, and quit for 3 years after I had been with them for 18 years, never looked back.

 

[-B-]

My adjustable wrenches take the brunt; ask to borrow a wrench get an adj, ask to borrow a screw driver get the multi tool. I grew up in too many shops to just hand out tools to people I do not trust or know how to use them.

 

[garfunkle24]

Elroy

Please describe a tranfer punch.

Thanks in advance

 

[voidifused]

Elroy

Please describe a tranfer punch.

Thanks in advance

Its like a center punch but they make them to fit the diameter of the hole so that it copy's it on to the part below if you don't want to lay something out or it is hard to do the lay out on the part. Or just good old fashioned lazyness

 

[tsumetai-kokoro]

Ever use a tap as a transfer punch??

Don't actually consider that abuse. Just creative application.

i've done it!

i guess i didn't actually invent anything clever


i warranty creatively broken things all the time. couple twisted or jaw broken off flank plus wrenches -mostly 14 and 17s. extensions with no chrome left from using on a gun. bent prybars. cracked sockets, smashed sockets (press), etc etc. the snap on guy just throws them in the bin and says go grab another one...

 

[Paladin]

i've done it!

i guess i didn't actually invent anything clever


i warranty creatively broken things all the time. couple twisted or jaw broken off flank plus wrenches -mostly 14 and 17s. extensions with no chrome left from using on a gun. bent prybars. cracked sockets, smashed sockets (press), etc etc. the snap on guy just throws them in the bin and says go grab another one...

You have a good SO dealer. Make sure you stay on his good side!

 

[jerk_chicken]

I used a 1/4" JC Witney extender on the female side to insert a timing pin into a flywheel through the starter hole. I had to wack it in there really hard and for a while. By the time I was done, the ends were mushroomed, but the timing pin was in. That's all that mattered.

I've seen mechanics in Queens use long extenders through the spark plug hole on cylinder 1 to hold the engine so they can remove the crank bolt without a locking tool.

I'm sure I have a lot more, but that's all I can think of for now.

 

[jeep44]

Getting the rusty old 1 1/2" lug nuts off my '41 Dodge truck was a challenge-aside from the fact that The left side is LH thread, they were stuck! I was standing on a five-foot piece of steel pipe on the handle of an 18" Ridgid pipewrench,when the handle snapped

I went and got a Craftsman 3/4" drive breaker bar with a socket. By the time those lugnuts were free, it was bent like a "U"

 

[Jared]

Tool abuse doesnt really bother me, usless your putting a cheater bar on 1/4 drive or something i hammer on my screwdrivers all the time just not my snap-ons. You do what you have to to get the job done quickly.

 

[Tool Pants]

Left handed 3/8" ratchet.

Pawl broken in 3 pieces, and pawl pin in 2 pieces.

 

[jerk_chicken]

Oh, I didn't think using my old CM's as axle nut wrenches with 4 feet of pipe on the handle counted.

 

[J.A.F.E.]

Perhaps not in the same category as some of these but a good friend has three 36" extensions, two 3/8 and one 1/2 that he uses as ground stakes for his tent.

At this point that's all they're good for. What a waste.

 

[beelsr]

or using the extension as a punch? note how the top is domed in....

cheap-o china extension, no warranties were harmed in the destruction of this extension.

 

[Keep]

Using a screwdriver as a punch/alignment tools. Well the "rubberized" handle did not like it to much and shattered all over the place. Once the handle was gone it worked rather well...lol

I really need to get a nice set of alignment tools and punches!!

 

[tonydanzah]

keep them coming

 

[MattT]

Ever use a tap as a transfer punch??

Don't actually consider that abuse. Just creative application.

That's why they grind the end of taps to a point ain't it?

I've used screwdrivers for everything SO tells you not to on the handle. Like some other posters my priority is getting the job done. If a tool gets trashed along the way oh well.

 

[FoMoCoPower]

I`ll have to admit,when the Craftsman ratchets are close to new they hold up well to abuse. Like using a floor-jack on the ratchet for leverage under a vehicle!!!

 

[toolman1967]

I was trying to get a countershaft sprocket nut off of an old Shovelhead and it would not come off. I used an 18 inch Craftsman pipe wrench with a 6 foot cheater bar to no avail. Well I broke the pipe wrench and another one just like it. I took them back to Sears to replace them, when I pulled the first one out, the salesman said, "WOW, I've never seen one of these broke." I said "Really, if you think thats weird...heres another one just like it." He didnt give me a hard time, he just replaced the tools and wished me better luck next time. I have since bought a 3/4 inch impact for that job, and that works just fine.

 

[jmh21586]

When I was younger I tried pressing a new wheel bearing into the hub off my Honda 4 -wheeler with a bench vise. Course not enough leverage so I put a pipe on the handle of the vise. In turn I ended up wrapping the handle all the way around. Still not enough oooomph. So... went over to granpas shed where his Caterpillar was. Put a bottle jack down on the concrete and used the hitch of the cat as a place to press the bearing in. It worked, although I had the back of the Cat off the ground about 8".
Thinking back it's a wonder I didn't crack the concrete where the jack was. Also lucky the hub didn't slip and shoot out. Lots of things could've went wrong.

But........ I fixed it.

 

[onesickastre]

Tool abuse doesnt really bother me, usless your putting a cheater bar on 1/4 drive or something i hammer on my screwdrivers all the time just not my snap-ons. You do what you have to to get the job done quickly.

This^^^^^ i get paid by what i do, dont have time to walk back and forth to my toolbox!!!

 

[onesickastre]

boy do i have some stories!!!!

the classic " multi tool crescent wrench, used as: pliers, hammer, punch, and finally for turning fasteners!!!

or the Ukranian breaker bar!!! using two wrenches together to break a stubborn bolt free!

 

[nolatoolguy]

sounds like what i do, i exoect my tools wo work as hard as i do.

heres a good song about that

this song sounds exaclty like what your talking about, its a little old country music type but check it out

 

[BlindViper]

I had a 24" mac 1/2 breaker bar on a socket trying to remove the axle nut on a 96 honda civic. I used heater, oil, nothing would get the nut off. Final I got so pissed I put all my weight on the breaker bar and sheared the drive head off the bar. However before it broke the tire was turning on the concrete driveway and it was in gear! I ended up using a oxy/ac torch to cut the nut off the axle!

 

[DanCo]

one of the many idiot sh!theads that work @ my shop, took an innocent Snappy 1/2 drive torque wrench and used it as a breaker bar while changing out some bumper bolts on a Mack truck. when he was done, he put it back into the other guy's box he borrowed it from...without permission.

I went and told the mechanic what numb-nuts did with his torque wrench, he went to the boss & and numb-nuts got docked 2 days pay.

 

[toymn6366]

back when i was still millwrighting we were puting up a 80 foot corn bin when i came around the bottom cone i looked up to see a handle of a 2 ft sk screwdriver used as a filler rod and it was mine off of my service truck i was pissed i found the guy who did it and give him a couple of choices one was a&& whiping or pay me he payed didn't matter to me i was much younger then.

 

[quneur]

I occasionally put bad tools in the closet for punishment. BTW, I once hammered a slightly smaller 1/2 drive socket unto my oil drain plug so I could torque it off. As far as I know, its still there. I don't have the car anymore.

 

[Goinlow]

I occasionally put bad tools in the closet for punishment. BTW, I once hammered a slightly smaller 1/2 drive socket unto my oil drain plug so I could torque it off. As far as I know, its still there. I don't have the car anymore.

You didn't just buy one after you got that one off?

 

[DARKSCOPE001]

well this isnt a tool abuse story but it happend at the hangar where I go to school. so me and my buddy are on break just hanging around. Admiring the new airplane we just got. when all the suddon this kid that like nobody likes comes walking in and he has a cigarette in his mouth. Now I dont mind if you smoke or not but this was in the hangar! wtf so we start saying take it outside and **** and he blows a big smoke puff. and goes relax guys its a E-Cig (wtf an e sig really? be a man) and proceedes to tell us that it was like 200 dollars (I dont really care how much you spent on a useless piece of garbage I just want it out of my face) the he has this obcession with showing how "strong" he is and is amazed when he can pick up the nose of an airplane so he tried it with our brand new wheeler express and smacked the tail on the ground and put a crack in the fusalage. OF A BRAND NEW AIRPLANE! then he tried the same **** with a leer 25 and i told him if you tip that one up to far it wont come back down (engines in the back its rear heavy) Oh and one more rant we were doing a inspection on a cessna 210 vertical stabalizer wich required the removal of the bolts well Since this kid was not in anybody elses group he got stuck with me since we only had a 2 man team. well I took out my bolt and inspected the area put it back in and tourqed it. layed the tourqe wrench down and walked off for a break. this kid takes out two of the 3 bolts so now only 1 rear bolt and two front bolts are holding the vertical stab on. Doesent know how to do a Dye pen check.Well he only put one bolt in and just assumed that the tourqe I had the wrench set to was the correct tourqe (the bolt I did was a 7/16 The rest were 5/16) and he only puts one bolt back in. and then asks to use my tools. and tightens the **** out of them with my 1/2" drive ratchet and then gets the tourqe wrench out and it immediately clicks and says done. Well I tell him to put the pannel back on. I get out my flashlight to see how he did. There is a bolt missing?!?!?!? So I ask him about it and he says "oh its not important"

 

[quneur]

You didn't just buy one after you got that one off?

Because I'm cheap. Whenever I changed the oil again, I just took out my ratchet and stuck it in the (Chinese) socket. The socket wasn't going to come off the bolt head and the bolt threading wasn't damaged. It was actually pretty convienant, didn't have to hassle with finding the correct socket ever again.

 

[arkangel06]

I cut the female end off of one of a chinese 1/2'' drive extensions and used it as a punch.

No regreats either

 

[paramedic]

the wrench on the back of another wrench we always called a piggyback, anyways when they break like that it always seems there is a chunk of box end flying at my head never anywhere else. the one thing that i thought was genious but fired my dad up was i broke the head off 2 exhaust manifold bolts so all i had were studs when the manifold was off i couldnt get anything to hang on to them. so i grabbed my dads vice grips, clamped em and welded em. then threw them away with the stud. by the way that was the day i learned how much 2 MAC vice grips cost. boy was i dumb

 

[fordbroncodave]

i don't loan my tools but when dad borrows them he beats on them. i really hate it when he does that but what ever