tool abusers

[PJNJ]

Here is scenario:

1 am and you and the wife are driving down the expressway, Pouring down rain and 35 degrees just on your way back home from a party where you had to wear your sunday best. In the road you don't see the large piece of iron that fell off a semi trailer and hit it, destroying your tire. After getting it under control on the side of the expressway you get out to asses the situation. You have a spare so you start to change it. The weather is miserable semi trucks are whizzing by at 75mph within feet of where you are and your precious cargo (the wife) You start out trying to get the lugnuts off. Half of those damn chrome covers on the lugs are loose and wanting to come off. Your trusty tire tools that came with the car aren't worth a **** and you start to round the nuts. You remember the socket and ratchet set you have in the trunk and get that. By the time you get back to the wheel this cold rain has soaked in and you are cold and wet and just want to get the damn tire changed and get off the side of the road. No socket in your set fits perfectly on the lugs. You have to hammer them on so they stay. You forgot to pack that trusty perfectly balanced and weighted dead blow ball peen hammer. What do you do?

Walk back up to the car and say "honey I need to hammer this socket on to the lugs to get them off. All I have is this ratchet to use. That is not the proper tool and I was raised better than that. At the last exit I saw a Snap on truck sitting in front of a house so I am gonna walk back there and see if the guy is home and will sell me a hammer and maybe even the tool they make to remove damaged lug nuts. I will be back in a couple hours"

Or do you take that ratchet and beat that socket on the best you can and try to get the lugs off. They are tight (you forgot to get the 24" 1/2" drive breaker bar you have at home in your tool box) so you look around and find a pipe to help with leverage. You pull hard bending the ratchet but the lug comes off. Once you get it to spin off with your hand you decide to pull the socket off but it's wedged on. In your box of tools you find the biggest screwdriver you have and go to work getting the socket off the damn lug. After bending the piss out of the end of the screwdriver you free your trusty socket and go to the next lug. Repeat this process 5 more times. All you want to do is get this damn tire changed and get out of this weather and off the side of this damn expressway and get home. You do what you gotta do.

I was in nearly that exact position about 7 years ago, except that it was about 25 degrees, had snowed the day before and I was in my old pickup. Couldn't get the spare out from underneath, stuck lugnuts and I froze my rear off (and I have crappy circulation to boot).

Since then I make sure I always have my tools with me and use the proper tools for the job - I get out my cellphone and my AAA card and make the call.

 

[derosa]

Never understood the idiotic tire under the truck, had to change my dad's in the pouring rain and it was rusted in place. A tool or three might have been ever so slightly abused that day. Sometimes its the only way to get things done.

 

[PJNJ]

Never understood the idiotic tire under the truck, had to change my dad's in the pouring rain and it was rusted in place. A tool or three might have been ever so slightly abused that day. Sometimes its the only way to get things done.

"Abuse" might be too mild of a term for what I did that day. And God bless my wife - she heard every curse and epithet multiple times that night.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

It is sad to often see the mentioned abuse when the proper tools ARE available.

As long as they don't touch My tools, I don't say much unless they ask to borrow something.

 

[fastbike02]

I have some tools that I abuse... like cheap screwdrivers, I've used them for chisels to filler rods while welding.... HF free screw drivers make great filler rods.. the handle keeps your hands from getting burned and when your done just cut the handle off

 

[KEH]

I've had issues with the tire under the truck also, and I don't live in the salty road belt. If i did i would try to remember to occasionally take the tire down , clean and oil the mechanism.

KEH

 

[Tonellin]

Rather be a tool abuser than a tool polisher...at least they're getting used by the 'abuser'

 

[Fixed]

I find some of these discussions weird. Yeah, if you have the proper tool for the job on hand, it's just lazy to abuse another one that isn't intended for that use.

But sometimes you're up on top of a building, and someone forgot to punch out the knock out or something.

Do you go back to the lift, lower it, go find your punch in the truck, and take the lift back up? Maybe. Or do you take a screwdriver and just whack it out?

Now what if there are other guys waiting on you? What if there's a crane waiting on you? Is it a company tool? Is it -10 out with a driving rain?

All of these factors could change what you "should" do. I know for a fact my boss would rather I had busted a $5 company driver than hold up a $200hr crane and keeping 4 guy standing there...

And yeah it's easy to say that you should just bring the right tool, but there are a hundred different specialized tools you might need, and sometimes it's hard to know what's waiting for you, and let's face it: **** happens.

/end rant

 

[byoungblood]

This is exactly why I discount the ability to warranty a well made tool. I figure that probably 95% of the folks obsessing over warranty on a tool probably fall into the abuser category. If you're using the proper tool for the job (something that everyone has to come to terms with eventually) most tools will usually outlast the life of the user.

 

[stercorarius]

I think most of us that are out in the field on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week and get maybe 3-4 hours of sleep a night in between problems making minimum wage were cringing throughout this thread. I may be a tool accuser though I guess. If it's tool abuse to hammer a ratchet out of a tensioner at two in the morning in freezing rain then so be it. If it's tool abuse to hook a 48" pipe wrench onto a bent steel support and lift on it with the Hyster to get it back into shape because you have two loaders needing your attention then so be it. I had a set of flats go down last night and was out there till one in the morning. If you think I was above using a ratchet as a hammer your out of your mind. All tools are just consumables. Maybe try working on a farm for a summer.

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[Jon_E]

Here is scenario:

1 am and you and the wife are driving down the expressway, Pouring down rain and 35 degrees just on your way back home from a party where you had to wear your sunday best. In the road you don't see the large piece of iron that fell off a semi trailer and hit it, destroying your tire. After getting it under control on the side of the expressway you get out to asses the situation.

I call BS on this. I wouldn't even be getting out of the vehicle, I'd be on the phone with AAA in a split second and have the dude with the tow truck figure this one out. Sometimes it ain't worth the effort.

 

[EOC_Jason]

people who use a screw driver as a chisel

How about people that use a wood chisel as a cold chisel... *cringe*

 

[PelicanPines]

Had a guy... I still shutter thinking about this.

He owned a 5 hp compressor that went to 150psi... it had a 90degree throw switch on/off...

HE BROKE THE stops on the switch because he thought if it could go past 90 degrees... it would go higher than 150PSI !!!

This was his thinking with everything... he had a complete set of 18volt dewalt tools... totally ruined them... every single one... because he would charge hot batteries... etc etc... even WIRED A charger TO A battery that he could plug into the tool... so he thought it would work as a wired tool.

His wife dumped him and I bought HIS storage locker from HER for pennies. There were a few tools worth salvaging... but that's a different thread.

 

[damnesia]

I think most of us that are out in the field on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week and get maybe 3-4 hours of sleep a night in between problems making minimum wage were cringing throughout this thread. I may be a tool accuser though I guess. If it's tool abuse to hammer a ratchet out of a tensioner at two in the morning in freezing rain then so be it. If it's tool abuse to hook a 48" pipe wrench onto a bent steel support and lift on it with the Hyster to get it back into shape because you have two loaders needing your attention then so be it. I had a set of flats go down last night and was out there till one in the morning. If you think I was above using a ratchet as a hammer your out of your mind. All tools are just consumables. Maybe try working on a farm for a summer.

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What does work schedule and pay rate have to do with this discussion? Makes it seem like you're just bitching about your job. And to address you're "All tools are just consumables. Maybe try working on a farm for a summer." comment, I grew up on a farm. It's not like we were rolling in dough, so I tried to take care of our tools. I'm not trying to imply that I never used a tool for purpose that they weren't intended for, but when I grabbed something that cost a lot of money I tried not to break it. In my early teens I already knew 99% of the tools that I'd need and just had my kit stocked appropriately.

 

[Corndoggeh]

When it comes down to it people.... the only reason we give snapon, mac,williams, craftsman, etc such high regards is because they dont break and pull through the times we HAVE to abuse them to get the job done. Heck I give credit to HF extendable 3/8 ratchet for taking some pretty heavy beatings at the junkyard.

 

[openwheelracing88]

people who use a screw driver as a chisel

Hey, sometime I use my demolition slotted driver as chisel for rough work. Don't lump me together with the low life that use ratchet as hammer.

 

[arms1970]

I think most of us that are out in the field on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week and get maybe 3-4 hours of sleep a night in between problems making minimum wage were cringing throughout this thread. I may be a tool accuser though I guess. If it's tool abuse to hammer a ratchet out of a tensioner at two in the morning in freezing rain then so be it. If it's tool abuse to hook a 48" pipe wrench onto a bent steel support and lift on it with the Hyster to get it back into shape because you have two loaders needing your attention then so be it. I had a set of flats go down last night and was out there till one in the morning. If you think I was above using a ratchet as a hammer your out of your mind. All tools are just consumables. Maybe try working on a farm for a summer.

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Why the hell are you going through this for "minimum wage" ?

 

[stercorarius]

What does work schedule and pay rate have to do with this discussion? Makes it seem like you're just bitching about your job. And to address you're "All tools are just consumables. Maybe try working on a farm for a summer." comment, I grew up on a farm. It's not like we were rolling in dough, so I tried to take care of our tools. I'm not trying to imply that I never used a tool for purpose that they weren't intended for, but when I grabbed something that cost a lot of money I tried not to break it. In my early teens I already knew 99% of the tools that I'd need and just had my kit stocked appropriately.

Sorry. The original post that started this thread was to ***** about people who use their own tools in ways the OP disagrees with so that must have just put me in a bitchy mood. I don't see why it's a problem for a guy to use a "no name" ratchet as a hammer. I'm obviously not trying to break my tools, but hey if I need to put a cheater bar on something I will. I don't go out of my way to damage tools, but if abusing a tool is what gets the job done and gets the guys back in action or me home sooner I will abuse a tool. At the end of the day, I can handle replacing a $2 screwdriver if I have to. They all are replaceable and well consumables. Theres a reason I buy Pittsburgh breaker bars in pairs. If it works with a cheater bar for $10 and breaks after 100 bolts that's a win. I'll chuck it and grab a new one, but I'm not going to make my life more difficult just because a cheater bar might make a stranger on the internet upset if he saw it in a pawn shop. I really do apologise, I tend to use a more antagonistic tone than is really necessary and come off as a total ****.


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[stercorarius]

You guys see tool "abuse". I see an opening in the market for the first ever...

48oz 1/4" drive - dead blow - shock absorbing - 100 tooth - swivel head - locking - unobtanium shot filled - HAMMERATCHET!

Now all I need is a foundry, forge, induction furnace, ceramic polisher, chrome plating dipper, and some other odds and ends and I've got the market covered.

Bunch of suckers.

Someone had the same idea and thought it was marketable. Well maybe they didn't see the full picture like you, but they saw some of it.

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[mudflap]

Sorry. The original post that started this thread was to ***** about people who use their own tools in ways the OP disagrees with so that must have just put me in a bitchy mood. I don't see why it's a problem for a guy to use a "no name" ratchet as a hammer. I'm obviously not trying to break my tools, but hey if I need to put a cheater bar on something I will. I don't go out of my way to damage tools, but if abusing a tool is what gets the job done and gets the guys back in action or me home sooner I will abuse a tool. At the end of the day, I can handle replacing a $2 screwdriver if I have to. They all are replaceable and well consumables. Theres a reason I buy Pittsburgh breaker bars in pairs. If it works with a cheater bar for $10 and breaks after 100 bolts that's a win. I'll chuck it and grab a new one, but I'm not going to make my life more difficult just because a cheater bar might make a stranger on the internet upset if he saw it in a pawn shop. I really do apologise, I tend to use a more antagonistic tone than is really necessary and come off as a total ****.


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I get what your saying...I try to keep our field service trucks properly stocked . But something gets broke, or borrowed out to another job, etc.. and you really don't know what your gonna find when you get there.. I can also understand...somebody who has always worked in a shop..and never been sent out into a blizzard to put tracks back on a loader.. not understanding how a tool could be "abused"... I do have some tools in my box that are just for show..... But like you said...most are "consumables" ...lol

 

[damnesia]

Sorry. The original post that started this thread was to ***** about people who use their own tools in ways the OP disagrees with so that must have just put me in a bitchy mood. I don't see why it's a problem for a guy to use a "no name" ratchet as a hammer. I'm obviously not trying to break my tools, but hey if I need to put a cheater bar on something I will. I don't go out of my way to damage tools, but if abusing a tool is what gets the job done and gets the guys back in action or me home sooner I will abuse a tool. At the end of the day, I can handle replacing a $2 screwdriver if I have to. They all are replaceable and well consumables. Theres a reason I buy Pittsburgh breaker bars in pairs. If it works with a cheater bar for $10 and breaks after 100 bolts that's a win. I'll chuck it and grab a new one, but I'm not going to make my life more difficult just because a cheater bar might make a stranger on the internet upset if he saw it in a pawn shop. I really do apologise, I tend to use a more antagonistic tone than is really necessary and come off as a total ****.


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No need to apologize. My reply was probably a little dickish itself ;-)

 

[BDT/NWMN]

Figured out why there is a lack of hammers in the pawn shops.

They were broken

 

[desertdog256]

In our shop, there are two kinds of people. Those who have a dedicated screwdriver for use as a chisel/prybar/punch, and those who use ALL of their screwdrivers as a chisel/prybar/punch.


We would never use a ratchet as a hammer. Everyone carries at least one electrician's hammer. Usually the Channellock 420 model.

I saw what you did there.

 

[American Locomotive]

If I'm far away from the garage/barn/tool-box, and I need to tap or lightly hammer something, I'm just going to use my wrench/ratchet. Now, I'm not going to beat something senseless with a ratchet, but if I don't have a hammer on me, and I need to hammer something at the moment - I'm using my ratchet. Same thing with using flat-heads as pry-bars or scrapers.

I could waste 10-15 minutes walking back to my tool box (or driving back to the shop) every time I need to get a tool I didn't expect to need - or I could just make what I have work.

Here's an example: I was once in a junkyard helping some friends pull a door off a Jeep that was unexpectedly held on with Torx fasteners. Well none of us had any torx on hand, and we weren't about to drive back home, or pass up on this excellent condition door.

So we chiseled the hinges right off the body of the Jeep using the pointed end of the Jeep's tire-iron. We used a tire-iron as a cold chisel. Abuse? Certainly. Did it get the door off? You bet.

 

[racinfarmer]

I think most of us that are out in the field on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week and get maybe 3-4 hours of sleep a night in between problems making minimum wage were cringing throughout this thread. I may be a tool accuser though I guess. If it's tool abuse to hammer a ratchet out of a tensioner at two in the morning in freezing rain then so be it. If it's tool abuse to hook a 48" pipe wrench onto a bent steel support and lift on it with the Hyster to get it back into shape because you have two loaders needing your attention then so be it. I had a set of flats go down last night and was out there till one in the morning. If you think I was above using a ratchet as a hammer your out of your mind. All tools are just consumables. Maybe try working on a farm for a summer.

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I only impersonate a farmer on the weekend and still have the ability to realize that both tools and money are a finite resource to me and don't exactly grow on trees.

There is a difference between using a $2 screw driver as a chisel or a punch and pounding the piss out of a $50 ratchet because you are tool lazy to walk 10 feet to the truck to get the right tool for the job.

 

[fasteddie313]

I blew a tire wayyyy out of town not too long ago and had no lug wrench..

But I had a 1/2 drive socket that fit my lugs and a pair of channellocks..

Pounded the top jaw of those channellocks into the 1/2 square drive hole and used some sort of cheater on it..

It worked fine..

 

[kctyphoon]

Most of my pliers at work will get used as a SMALL hammer at one time or another.. never to the point of destroying them, or even really beating them.. for what I do, alot of times the pliers are better to use than an actual hammer anyway..

I do NOT belive in beating tools to the point they get damaged.. if there's even a chance of that happening, I get something else.. I'd rather have to wait a second than regret breaking something I care about..

 

[Thumper68]

To me a tool is a tool and nothing more if I need to use a non hammer as a hammer so be it.

It is completely different working in a shop than out in the field there are times I have been hours away from even a mom and pop country store where I could maybe find something to do the job at hand, if so i use what I have.

There is no way I will charge a client for my not having the tools to get the job done or my giving up several hours and clock time to save a $50 tool.

 

[LB-1911]

I blew a tire wayyyy out of town not too long ago and had no lug wrench..

But I had a 1/2 drive socket that fit my lugs and a pair of channellocks..

Pounded the top jaw of those channellocks into the 1/2 square drive hole and used some sort of cheater on it..

It worked fine..

Have you put a lug wrench in your vehicle as of yet?

 

[ecotec]

Most of my pliers at work will get used as a SMALL hammer at one time or another.. never to the point of destroying them, or even really beating them.. for what I do, alot of times the pliers are better to use than an actual hammer anyway..

I do NOT belive in beating tools to the point they get damaged.. if there's even a chance of that happening, I get something else.. I'd rather have to wait a second than regret breaking something I care about..

I always have found that if you use the side of the linesman pliers without the little man on it, you are all good.

 

[ecotec]

I have never actually ruined the joint on a pair of linesman pliers, though. I have blown a hole in 2-3 pairs in the last 23 years.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I always keep a hammer within arms reach, actually probably about a dozen different hammers... Cuz I know I'm going to need one or two of them...

 

[ilovevocs]

In the roofing trade I have learned allot of new ways to use tools.

Like using slip joint pliers to tighten torches and such to propane tank in lieu of a box end or even adjustable wrench.

Tin snips can be used to cut extruded aluminum termination bar.

Funny part is watching the guys try to cut sheet metal with them afterwards.

The cardinal rule if anything doesn't work you always hit it with a claw hammer before calling for service.

Also no need to carry sockets or wrenches. All you need are vice grips.


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[Eric29]

I have a friend who is a carpenter. When he grabs an electric saw to make a rough cut, he pushes hard on the saw and if it bogs down, he calls it junk and grabs one of his own.

He prys on screwdrivers all the time.

He says the difference between junk you can buy at harbor freight and real tools is that you can push them and they last. He has no time to baby tools if he's going to finish jobs on time and make money.

I guess some would call that tool abuse. His tools don't last a lifetime - he wears out sawzalls, etc. but he's a successful carpenter and buys good tools. Works for him.

 

[EOC_Jason]

He says the difference between junk you can buy at harbor freight and real tools is that you can push them and they last. He has no time to baby tools if he's going to finish jobs on time and make money.

I guess some would call that tool abuse. His tools don't last a lifetime - he wears out sawzalls, etc. but he's a successful carpenter and buys good tools. Works for him.

Volume cures all... Many people don't watch their expenses because "they are so busy" and since they are currently making a profit don't really care. But when business slows down, those that were wasteful spending usually end up going out of business...

 

[Eric29]

True, but people who support themselves with their tools do not use them like homeowners do, either in terms of volume or in terms of harshness. A saw from harbor freight could last a homeowner years. It might last a professional a week. Most pros I've seen take good care of their tools. The tools are used much harder and much more often though.

Volume cures all... Many people don't watch their expenses because "they are so busy" and since they are currently making a profit don't really care. But when business slows down, those that were wasteful spending usually end up going out of business...

 

[maintguy]

Volume cures all... Many people don't watch their expenses because "they are so busy" and since they are currently making a profit don't really care. But when business slows down, those that were wasteful spending usually end up going out of business...

so true. If they knew how to bid the jobs correctly. They would not have to push a tool to it limits. The thinking of they have to do every single job fast as possible is wrong. Craftsman ship takes a bit of time.

No point in tearing tools or your body up, just to make a cheap *** customer happy. When either or both need attention. The cheap *** customer isn't going to give 2 flops. They will just move on to the next guy

 

[BDT/NWMN]

Thinking this stuff over; some of those cheapo ratchets would make a BETTER hammer than a ratchet..

 

[Keel]

This thread is comical as 1) it's not your tool, so :stfu:

and 2 They keep the tool companies in business

If a person wants to kill a tool over going back to the box or truck to get the "correct one" unless you are paying the tool bill, It should not matter to you , one I-oh-ta!!!!

And frankly if you have enough time to watch someone else working you are not... get back to your station and back to work, ya bum..

 

[getbent4x4]

Had a guy... I still shutter thinking about this.

He owned a 5 hp compressor that went to 150psi... it had a 90degree throw switch on/off...

HE BROKE THE stops on the switch because he thought if it could go past 90 degrees... it would go higher than 150PSI !!!

This was his thinking with everything... he had a complete set of 18volt dewalt tools... totally ruined them... every single one... because he would charge hot batteries... etc etc... even WIRED A charger TO A battery that he could plug into the tool... so he thought it would work as a wired tool.

His wife dumped him and I bought HIS storage locker from HER for pennies. There were a few tools worth salvaging... but that's a different thread.

usually on drugs, like a knuckle dragging sloth with zero mind processing.