Was installing some replacement basement windows today, which involved chipping away some of the old mortar.
Well, I forgot my lump hammer, so I started using my 18 oz. Douglas.
After 3 windows, it started ringing like my old Estwing, and shortly after that, the head broke in two.
Boy, am I annoyed with myself. I do know better than to use a regular hammer for masonry, but didn’t feel like running home to get the right tool. Now I’ve gotta go place an order for a new hammer.
Oh, well, at least I’ll have something for the “what tool did you buy today ” thread.
Replies
You broke a Douglas? That's gotta be at least ten Hail Marys. The shame, the shame . . .
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
I even went to choir practice tonight, but I didn't feel any better .
Or smarter.
Perfect excuse to go titanium.
Who Dares Wins.
I don't use my Ti-bone if pounding a brick chiesel,or my Douglas either. Thats what my fiberglass disposable Vaughn is for.I DIDN'T DO IT...THE BUCK DOES NOT STOP HERE.
I should have clarified that the titanium isn't good for demo either. Having broke the douglass he can now make the switch, is what I meant.Who Dares Wins.
Gunner-
I'm always interested in new toys,er, tools.
What's the Ti equivalent for the 18 oz. douglas?
Gotta start looking thru catalogs.
http://store.stilettotools.com/Page.bok?template=policyWho Dares Wins.
Here's a little sales primer.
http://store.stilettotools.com/Page.bok?template=plightWho Dares Wins.
Thanks.
Decisions, decisions!
Just WELD it back up. use stainless steel rod, it will never break in this same area again, guaranteed.
Unfortunately, welding is something I don't know how to do.
But many welders do if they have about 5 minutes free time.
Weld it back together?! I do a little bit of gas welding but I must confess: I have no idea how the heck you would clamp that(?!) Hats off to you, I dont think I could do that. Gas or Electric??
Thats why I have so many dbls and triples of tools.....I run to the closest yard or hardware store and buy what I forgot....funny enough...everytime I need a stupid slot head screw driver I can only find the phillips and visa versa.
My excavation guy that was here today told me he has that same problem...and thats jus' a dopey screwdriver....so dont feel bad.
Knowing me.I'd probably have tried looking for the right size rock before I used a hammer
Be Fred Fintstone
andystoned
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Andy, I swear...I haven't picked up the right screwdriver in 30 years! Honest. And the worst thing is that I own so many, yet whatever box I look in has only the opposite.
If I need a torx, I can find everysize but the right size too.
It's spooky.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, some of it is viewed as boogerin and not consistent with views of those who prefer to overbuild everything...including their own egos
Additionally, don't take any political advice from me. I'm just a parrot for the Republican talking points. I get all my news from Rush Limbaugh and Fox and Friends (they are funny...try them out)!
Spooky is right !!!
I have a kajillion screwdrivers. I have so many, because I keep buying them when on sale, so that I can toss several of both kinds, in every toolbox, and in every other place there might be a need for one or the other.
And I swear, EVERY TIME that I look for a screwdriver, I find tons of the one I don't need, and not a one of the one I do need. Couple hours later, I need the opposite, and somehow every freaking one of those screwdrivers I found before have changed type.
What IS that ?????!!?
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
I love screwdrivers, don't ask me why, even I don't know.
When Sears has those sale where you buy like 20 in a package, I'm done.
Makes x mas shopping easy though, if I can find enough people who like screwdriver sets minus the one I took out to replace the ones I broke.
EricI Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
Makes x mas shopping easy though, if I can find enough people who like screwdriver sets minus the one I took out to replace the ones I broke.
There are at least 2 or 3 companies that have 'lifetime' warrenties on their screwdrivers. Craftsman is one. I've taken a few of my Craftsman drivers in and gotten them replaced without a problem. Even have a friend who had found a Craftsman flat-head along the road... thing looked like it had been through a grinder, but the logo was still visible, so they gave him a new one for it.
Of course the problem then is:
1. keeping track of the broken driver long enough to take it in
2. having it with you when you're at the store.
cuz otherwise you just think, "its only $3, I'll just buy another one."
jt8
I love screwdrivers, don't ask me why, even I don't know.
Me too. Seem to have every different kind, if I go through all of the tool boxes . . .
Of course, if you have the vodka out, I'd really rather have a kamikaze, Absolut, with a lime twist.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
All you cats with the millions of screwdrivers.....
That's your problem. I have one straight blade Cresent that I got 10 years ago or so that fits most blade jobs and another #2 phillips that I use for everything. I treasure these two tools cause they are just made the way a good hand tool should be made. When people ask to use one of my screwdrivers, I dive back into my box and pull out some old thing that was left by the last guy who forgot his tool. And at the end of the day, I won't leave until I know where those two drivers are.
I'm that way about a couple other things too. Maybe it's a little bit weird but when I have to use a tool and I've taken the time to pick out ones that I really like a lot, those are the one I want to use. It drives me crazy to use other screwdrivers that people have laying around.... they just don't work like mine.
Rob Kress
I got tired of that too. Started using the kind w/a kajillion bits in the head. Now I just have one or two of those in my car, tool box and home. Doesn't help on the torx though. LOL
I don't know Luka. It happened to me the other day.again.
Once, I even bought those two ended screwdriver..figured I'd always have at least one of each.....Nope! All I have left is the empty handle!
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
solution to the screwdriver problem:
Klein -- 10 in 1 screwdriver ( 5/16" and 1/4" nut drivers, #1 and #2 Phillips, 1/4" and 3/16" slotted, #10 and #15 TORX¯, #1 and #2 square-recess).
Model #32477 -- available from HD ($10-12)
And then you lose the bits from those and you are left with an expensive... Handle...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
You'd have to work at it to lose these bits. I've been using these drivers for a couple years and haven't lost one yet.
BTW, these are not "store in the cap" bits -- they're like 4 in 1 drivers, only more complicated (more bits).
And then you lose the bits from those and you are left with an expensive... Handle...>>>>>
Ya know how many of those handles I have? lol
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
and I thought it was just me..dammmm.. I wuz up on the roof hanging down in the chimney chase,,,,,fiddlin w/ a bolt..said to self "do not drop this"..soon as I did, I had like magnet hands ( all bloody and shid) ...any way..flipprd the screw driber bit to the #3 phillips..( i thought) and it was GONE..
Where do they go?..gonna replace my fingers tips w/ 1/4 hex fittings..that'll do it.
Playin tha giut fiddle, or hurting it?..
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
>> gonna replace my finger tips w/ 1/4 hex fittings
Ever read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress? Guy with eleven different prosthetic arms, for every kind of job. If you designed them right, you'd never have to change arms up on the roof and risk losing one.
Edited 11/13/2004 5:06 pm ET by Uncle Dunc
Yes..great read. I knew a satellelite TV installer with a HOOK, he welded a 9/16 socket to part of it ( he had more than one hook, this was his work hook LOL) and always had just the right socket for mounting the dishes..pretty cool to watch him work.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
I've got a Craftsman screwdriver that stores a bunch of heads in the handle. Neat thing is, they're same size as my drill-driver bits. So if I'm getting near home ona screw and don't wanna drill the beejesus out of it, I can pop the driver out of the drill and into the screwdriver (or just find the same size bit among the screwdriver bits).
Pretty handy screwdriver. Wish I had a couple more of them.jt8
OK, here is the driver I was mentioning earlier. Magnet holds the bit in the shaft. leading ring pivots and base pivots. Bits are located in the handle. Nice fat handle is easy to get a good grip on.
Darn handy item that came with a box of drivers I got a year or two ago. I've tried to find the driver by itself without luck. The youngsters working at Sears aren't much help. They come up and say, "can I help you find something?" I tell them what I'm looking for.... and they just give me a blank stare. So I go over to the box of driver bits that includes the driver and point to the screwdriver. Tell them I want one of THOSE. They continue to give me the blank stare followed by an uncertain, "I don't know if we carry those." Bah!
The closest I could find packaged by itself was a ratcheting one. I don't WANT a ratcheting one, and besides which the dang thing costs $25!!! For $25, I can buy a whole freaking set of drivers.
BUT ANYWAY... I am very fond of this driver. Wish I had a couple more of them to disperse throughout my tool boxes.
jt8
Edited 11/12/2004 10:19 pm ET by JohnT8
Ask Pro-Dek where he gets his.
He gets the same thing, but in green, and a different manufacturer on the handle. But I swear they are identical.
I wouldn't mind having two or three of those myself. They really are good.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
I got a buck bros 4 way driver that has lasted since at least 97 when I got it I thought this won't last long...I beat on it,I put pliers on it and multiply the mustard till I was sure the shaft would bust plumb outta tha' handle...Scribe once, cut once!
You need to do what we did in the boat. Set up a stop frame camera on the tool box. That way you can record the devils as they morph. We set up a camera on a coil of rope and overnight filmed it changing from the tight, properly stored coil to the tangled, knotted and useless mess that it was in the morning.
An ex-boat builder treading water!
Edited 11/10/2004 9:52 am ET by Bob
Ah !!
There you go !!
Maybe we should put one in the dryer as well, to see where all those socks get off to...
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
I actually had 2 lump hammers at home.
AFTER I broke my Douglas, I went out and bought a third lump hammer.
Maybe I'll be able to remember one of them.
I considered running out when I realized I had forgotten the lump, but I thought "what can go wrong?"
Now I know.
Tin snips and caulking guns....I can neve find the damned things when I need them....I buy one or the other every few months....I gotta own six of each....all brand new!
Folks are gonna be scratchin` their heads at the yard sale that follows my funeral.J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
Folks are gonna be scratchin` their heads at the yard sale that follows my funeral.
My Dad was the king of un-organized tools. He could never find the screwdriver, so would just buy another one every time he needed to put a screw in.
When we cleaned his place out, we must have found over 100 screwdrivers... most of which were the same 4 or 5 sizes. And he only bought the CHEAPEST! So most of them are only good for 2 or 3 screws before the heads starts wearing away.
Blech! Give me a few good ones and you can keep the box full of crappy ones.jt8
Got an old 'black rubber cover over the plastic handle' Stanley slotted that must be 30 years old anyhow as I've had it that long and it wasn't new when I got it.
Needless to say it has been thru many a war and still works like a charmer.
Boy, was I tickled when I found an identical at a garage sale.
Got an old 'black rubber cover over the plastic handle' Stanley slotted that must be 30 years old anyhow as I've had it that long and it wasn't new when I got it.
Needless to say it has been thru many a war and still works like a charmer.
Boy, was I tickled when I found an identical at a garage sale.
Sometimes I'm amazed at how some little thing like that can put me in a good mood for the whole day. Like I'd found buried treasure or something! Then I stop and think, "geeze, its only a $3 whatever". Guess I'm easy to please.
jt8
Nailsets are my bane. I must have 3-4 sets of the same size.
I'll tear my van apart looking for them, go out and buy new ones, and then , and only then, find the old ones.
I don't know where they hide, but I hope to find out one day.
what he has to go out and buy a new digger when he forgets to take his to work??!!!!!
Scored two from my yard the other day for around $15 each..the ones withthe swivel tops ..I don't care if the bits are enclosed or has that swivel top to let em' drop out.
I loose em' non the less.
Be lost
ydnaThe secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Next time you're missing a slot-head screwdriver, don't go buy another...do the right thing and use a wood chisel.
If you feel queasy about that, then use a butter knife.
Or if you think your wife will yell at you for that, use the edge of one of your 3-1/2" carbide raised panel router bits.
But please...don't waste another couple dollars on another screwdriver that you're just going to lose again...
Smarten up fer cryin out loud!
Heathen!
Sinner!
For a punishment equal to the crime, I sentence you to six months of Estwing confinement. That'll teach you.
Ooohhhhh!!! You are harsh!!!! Really making him pay penance. Now let us all have a few moments of silence for our dearly departed Douglas.
-m2akita
p.s. Dieselpig, nice post in the why you do what you do thread.
You are tough!
I was hoping never to use an Estwing again.
My wrist and elbow can't take it anymore.