Since I’m a newby and still working on accumulating tools and knowledge, sometimes
I have to improvise in ways that get the neighbors attention. Though they may work,
other folks look and go ”What the h&ll?” We’ve all watched and admired how
McDesign does it with elegance. So let’s hear some stories about how the rest of us
do.
-D
Replies
I don't know if it is my greatest, improv., but last year I had to build some cherry cabs for a bar I was working on. I ordered all the doors from Walzcraft and made the boxes myself.
I ordered the doors per the drawings, but made the boxes to fit the actual dimensions of the stepped down soffit.
Why I didn't cross check this I'll never know.
Install day- everything fits except the two 12" x 12" flat panel doors. They are 2" too tall. So I cross cut the doors on the table saw, shortened the panels and stiles and then kreg jigged them back together. They looked good as new.
I was prepared to order new doors if need be, but since they were at 7' and looked good , we let it fly.
You cannot convey tone in an email.
OHHHHH? HE WANTS THE SCOOP ON BOOGERIN'????!!!!
I'll have to calm down a bit and try to remember some stories LOL!
It may not be the greatest but I was putting my kitchen together with free cabinets and I ended up with a 10" dead space. Instead of wasting it I made a pullout for wraps
http://members.aol.com/gfretwell/wraprack.jpg
i don't know if there is a greatest...
one of the things i enjoy is DOS (design on site) everything i do everyday is using others cast offs and working them into my designs so that in my minds eye it was all planned...
In every area of construction these things happen seamlessly or every job would grind to a halt... it's how you handle it or.... if it even slows you down that shows your craft...
it's a non issue and chances are no one ever knows the things that have to be done to get something built...
if you are fairly new to the craft of building as you gain experience things that would have stopped you in your tracks will barely slow you down... as the years pass and you look back on your work it's these things that you will remember, maybe you'd do it the same... but chances are you'll have added to your skill set and do it a completly different way...
I always go back to...
I've done so much with so little for so long... I can now do anything with nothing...
p
One of the things that draws me into building is the ability of long-timers to make
anything work. I was thinking more of improvising when the perfect tool may not
have been available for whatever reason.
-D
dcarrill3000
My greatest imrprovisation was my tower..
It didn't fit where I drew it and so I put it starting on the second floor. 1/2 of it went up and back down a 17/12 pitch roofline and then back up a 12/12 dormer.
I'm hopeless with math {what 2+2 again? Here let me use my calculator} so I did it on site.. every single timber was a differant length, angle and bevel going up and back down the roof and up and back down the dormer. When I was all done with it, the top plate was about a 1/4 of an inch off perfection so I simply squeesed them together with my fingers and finished it!
Perfect!
That's what I'm talking about! I could never figure that out on the fly.
I almost always need to draw it, fit check, and adjust. I can "see it" in my head, but
my hands have trouble finding the same path as of right now.
-d
Ok, here's mine: sorry its long friend and I worked in New Hampshire back in mid 80's drove up from RI every few days. him, a 1968 impala, v8, he would drive slow and steady, me, 1978 Sunbird, leave at the last minute drive like hell 140 miles to work!, well, one summer day, on rt 495, in MA, VERY early, I come on him at side of road, sitting on roof I stop and say Chalie whats? he say calm as can be not much, I ask why u stopped, he says transmission fell out! so I looked and yup, its draggin tail on the ground! Cross member rotted in half 1 side and other side, not far being bent like a hinge!
I said whats in the trunk? he said, a spare, and empty rim, a jack, some tools, well we jacked to the moon, w/ old bumper jack, no good! so we jacked ON a rim, then we got it all off the ground, slid the tire under, lowered the jack, transmission went back up. then we tool a patch/ joining strip off the guardrail! banged it in between the floor and the frame, wrapped w/ coat hangers and then lowered the mess, looked real good!
Now to cut radiator hose as engine twisted at angle when trans dropped and cut hose in half! well, nothing like 1 1/4" socket in between two hose sections and a few clamps!, add some water from a swamp near by, and were off and running in 45 minutes. Charlie drove the care like that for months, it was his bar story!
He was the best, a great guy, and he died shortly after this, our boss killed him while driving drunk, Charlie went out the sunroof. he left behind a wife and 2 kids. He was the best!
One of my best work-related improvisations happened on I-95 south, in Miami.
As usual, I'd gotten a late start so I cranked my Kawasaki H-1 hard going up the on-ramp, hitting 90 as I merged with the morning traffic. Finding a long space, I kept the throttle open and was quickly going 100+, headed for Key Biscayne and the job.
Within a few seconds I noticed something flashing in my left mirror. It was a State cop, in a big Dodge hemi, closing on me. I pulled over one lane and began to slow down, thinking that I was had. Instead of staying behind me, he decided to block me from in front. So he went past, then motioned for me to pull to the right shoulder.
As we slowed to normal speed and moved over, I recognized the two lane off-ramp to the big airport coming up on the right. Remembering that my bike had NY plates on it, I saw the perfect opportunity to avoid a very expensive ticket. As the cop's front fender passed the off-ramp, I took evasive action.
When the cop saw me bank right, his hands turned to fists and he pounded the steering wheel, several times.
Ah...that kind of improvisation?I was driving a double decker bus measuring 14'5" tall. I took a long blind interstate ramp and 3/4 mile later I was looking at a 14'2" bridge. I pulled over to the side and early the next morning, we chopped the entire roof off and the bus was only 14' tall!I still crack up thinking about that. Your story sounds like more excitement though.
So you made a hardtop into a convertible, on the spot.
I'd like to contribute a real job related story but they're mostly simple responses to small problems that come up every day.
Ingenuity is more a state of mind than anything else.
Friend of mine snapped a pic of a truck that didn't stop in time, and couldn't go forward or back under that bridge. His pic made the back layout, MISCELLANY, in LIFE magazine back in the 60s. Just after he snapped it, a twelve-year-old kid walked up and solved the problem: let some air out of the tires, and drive away!AitchKay
Dang!
I guess I should read all the posts before answering. LOL
Yeah, well, Read all of my posts on this thread to see how awake I was. Oh, well, it's all good, right?AitchKay
I've heard of truckers who let the air out of the tires , enough to get under the bridge.
I'm not sure how long they ride on them until they get the tires re-inflated, tho.
We gave that a few moment thought. The next bridge was significantly lower so that idea was ruled out fast.
Air brakes need air, same as tires.
Joe H
Long ago and fara away....
actually it was real close - when we builtout house, I trusted the kit cab girl to detail the cabinet order for me. ( never do that again) and when I went to install - the cab above the rage was too tall to fit a micro/venthood there. It left only 19" above the range.
So I re-ordered another shorter one and used the 24" one in the bathroom above the toilet for all the extra soaps, shampoos, and TP
Probably not my greatest by any stretch abut all I can remember now.
OK - another -
Pella screwed up a door order three times - custom door replacement 2" too short. I asked the service rep where he was going to put such an odd size init? He said in the dumpster back in New Hampshire.
I saved him the cost of hauling and I have both installed in my place when I converted a garage door into a passage for office space in the ex-garage. customized the openning / jambs to fit the doors.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
That reminds me.I once set a bank of upper cabinets that hung from the ceiling of a beautiful tongue and groove cedar ceiling. Someone had built a beautiful cedar drop for the cabinets. All I had to do is hang them for this meticulous tool and die maker...the kind of person who works in the thousanths.The ceiling was 1 1/2" out of level in 6'. The tool and guy and I discussed the situation and he agreed to let me "compromise" a few things to get it to look right. By the end of the night, he called me " the greatest compromiser" of all time. LOL! And that was before I learned how to booger!
Pocket knife, avocado, tin-foil, and chewing gum. It's not too late, it's never too late.
Wasn't me but a buddy who's wife told me the story.
Buddy had the whole family loaded in the van and was out in the sticks of Oklahoma somewhere late when a flat tire came up don't know about the spare.
Can't recall how he patched the hole but being an AC/Heating guy he'd had an AC tank and charger with him
and somehow was able to swipe enough air from the other three tires into the tank for transfer to the flat
to get back on the road to make it to a filling station.
He was the hero that day.
I was in the desert in N Mexico in my '57 Chevy stepside straight six, when the oil pump blew a seal.
This was easy to reach - it was mounted on the firewall...maybe it was the oil filter now that I think on it....doesn't matter, I'm improvising here....anyways, I openned the hood with engine running and got an oil bath!Killed the ignition and then wiped my face....Scrounged around under the seat and found an old pair of moccasins, and used my knife to cut out a new gasket - which was still working fine over a year later when that truck and I parted ways....
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
The NewMexico desert is not a place to be breaking down.
I've had some desert situations that made one think. Being stonecold sober and seeing a face appear on the windshield can be... well, quite an adrenalin rush.
Yep , that is the kind of thinking. I "jury rigged" my way out of many a situation with what was at hand. over the years.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
making do without tools?
Used my leather belt as a strap wrench to tighten a fuel filter that was seriously leaking on a big rig once when hitching across Montana back in the early seventies. Earned me a $50 bonus for being a smart guy.
Made an emergency repair to a broken fan belt with a piece of braided nylon rope by using the "Chinese Finger Puzzle Knot" and pulling the alternator tight in the direction of the tensioning of the rope's knot.
That one got me out of the middle of Kansas once.
For carpentry hanging a 2'6" and a 2'8" set of doors into a custom jamb to make a set of French doors on a project after being supplied with the mismatched size doors. No one notices unless it is pointed out to them.
My dad used to tell this story and my Mom would verify it.
Back in 1938 when they were on their honeymoon in the PA. mountains the fuel pump diaphragm went out on their car. Dad asked her for her girdle, cut a piece out of it and made a new diaphragm for the fuelpump. Made it home to Cleveland on it.
I think that would actually be a Chinese Windlass Knot, but it's still a great idea.AitchKay
We all have to wing it sometimes, and we usually can pull it off. Most of us wouldn't be doing this kind of work if it didn't ask us to dig deep every once in a while.One of my favorites was finishing off T & G wainscot on a return parallel to, and only a few inches away from, an old brick wall. My nails were entering at too low an angle, and were bouncing off of the substrate. So I held a clip of nails in a pair of sheet-metal Vise Grips, and ran them over my belt sander. I had to take light strokes: the first time, I melted the glue that holds the strips together, and ended up with a pile of nails. The second time,though, I got a good, one-sided (chisel-style) bevel on that clip, and they caught and curved in perfectly.I can now do this over my shoulder, using a mirror, while wearing a gingham dress.AitchKay
Edited 8/24/2008 11:41 pm ET by AitchKay
what color of gingham dress?
I had to think of how to describe what I did because I have no idea what the name of that "knot" is. I simply did what I remember seeing done, and doing, on braided water skiing ropes. Feed one end into the open end of the braid and keep pushing slack along until it got short enough to make the size I needed. Chinese Windlass Knot huh, I will try to remember that .
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Oops. No, you're right, I was just reading sloppily. I merged the fuel-filter-wrench story with the fan belt story in my head.The Chinese Windlass is a way to make a rope and shaft act like a chain and pulley: 6 to 12 wraps around the shaft, depending on its diameter, and you can turn the shaft by pulling on the rope.Or, traditionally, the other way around: turn the crank on the shaft, and wind up the rope, pulling your bucket of water up out of the well.So you could use a Chinese Windlass Knot to remove a fuel or oil filter.But you were talking about a fan belt, hollow poly braid, and, yes, a Chinese Finger-Puzzle Knot. I like your fix.AitchKay
Edited 8/25/2008 12:38 am ET by AitchKay
the first time i owned a pool i found out you needed to add water to make up for evaperation so i asked the pool guy how to do it and he said just fill it with a hose & dont over do it
i went to about half a dozen pool stores and none had a automatic pool filler
i got to thinking why wouldent a auto filler for a horse tank not work
picked up a plastic one from a farm supply store and replaced the cadmium parts with stainless steel including the hinge pin
next i bent the bars to equal the proposed water level ,tapconed the apparatus to the pool deck added a plastic checkvalve and a shut off
this system kept the water leved to within 1/16 " & when ever i wanted to use the pool i just shut off the water
the pool man claimed he serviced over 200 pools and never saw such a device
I have a fluidmaster toilet valve as a pool filler. The pool was plumbed with an overflow pipe (that I don't use) going out in the yard, I intercepted it at the edge of the pool deck, set a piece of 6" PVC as a "well" and set the toilet valve in there. Works great.
I think you win the award in this thread so far. Doves stuff was good but the toilet thing is too classic.
I had a Fiat 124. I was driving to work through a very deserted part of town--all forest, no houses. The car stops.
I get out and opened the hood. Fortunately it had a hood light (did I mention that it was dark?). I noticed that the coil wire from is not attached to the coil. Looking at it, I saw that the wire is actually burned off.
I DID have a set of Kleins in the car. Nothing else. I looked around, and on the ground I see the tab from a pop top (this was a while ago). I look further and find a paper clip on the floor of the car. I bent the clip into a "U" and cut it off, and pushed one end of the U into the center of the coil wire. I nibbled down the pop top and wrapped it around the wire and pushed it into the coil and put the rubber boot over the coil.
I drove another few thousand miles before I got a new set of spark plug wires.
McGiver!
<<McGiver!>>
Had to be. It was a Fiat.
Greatest improvisation?
Like many here at Breaktime, I've made chicken salad from chicken droppings a number of times. An old friend once called and wanted me to hang a couple of doors for him. I knew that he lived in a "manufactured" home, and that he had done quite a bit of "hillbilly engineering" to it -- so I was a bit worried about his request.
But friends are friends, so I went.
He had two classroom doors from a nearby school that had been demolished. Claimed that these were the doors to his first grade classroom, and his sixth grade classroom. He was REAL proud of the acquisition.
And he wanted these doors to be the new grand entrance to an addition he was about done with -- he had backed a trailer up to his trailer and connected them, and had cut a huge hole in the end of the add-on. Couldn't I think of a way to make a double entrance door out of these classroom doors? Please?
Yup! Chicken salad.
Out off roading with buddies and guy in front of me kicked a stone into my radiator..squirted out all my aunty-froze and kinda ruined my day.
Got the water jug and found a quarry, filled the rad. and threw in a pack of cigarettes, crumpled up, out of the pack, no filter.
Made it 65 miles home.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
Sphere,
Have you tried the egg trick with a leaky radiator? I did, it works!
Fresh outta eggs in the back woods. LOL
I have heard of that trick and it did work.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
Sphere,
I found a duck egg in the swamp!
I think finding the Duck egg in the swamp tops the toilet float automatic filler.
-D
Ans after reading cudavid's post with the tranny and swampwater I'm thinking there's a whole slew of awards being due.
frenchy,
How much did that egg cost?
How much would it cost today?
Russell
"Member of the Jewish Carpenters Union"
Huntdoctor
The radiator sprung a leak and when I discovered it I was down in the river bottoms.. I used a plastic bag to carry water to the radiator and while looking for a way to get reasonably clean water from a swamp came upon a ducks nest with eggs in it.
The water and the egg both were a gift from mother nature..
Fixed a set of rear brakes on a car late one Sunday night for a couple of friends headed to Ca. from Or. They had split a hydraulic line to one of the rear wheels and were leaking fluid. I bent it back on itself and clamped it tight using a pair of vice grips, sent them on there way
Told them to pull over at the top of the pass into Ca. and check it though as a precaution.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
I think my greatest accomplishment short of having children was building a set of winding (went back and forth) stairs with a deck part way down a very steep bluff that led down to the lakeshore....that alone is tough for anyone but since I had never built a set of stairs before in my life kind of complicated things. Took alot of thinking but got it done. And is still standing after 10 years.
Ebe
There is always my bodacious bolt story. Sometime in the early 60s when they were building the Washington Beltway I found some great big, galvanized carriage bolts laying under the newly installed guard rail. I put one in my pocket and it ended up in my tool box.
Skip ahead 30 years, my wife owns a flower store and the AC on her delivery van goes. Her guy comes to the house with a new clutch that he figures is the bad part. I don't have the tool to press it off the shaft but I am digging around in my tool box looking for inspiration. My antique bolt is a perfect fit in the clutch hub. A minute with a welder to put a handle on it, swap the clutch and we are blowing cold air. Valentine's day is saved!
If im playing in the key of G one can just hit all the open strings on your geetar as thats a G6 i think.
One time i was fishing in my dory in the ocean in the pea soup fog and was lost as could be.
my friend said the fogs not lifting we are never going back in. i said dont worry we are going to follow this big ship, we will wind up home or in china.
One time i was hanging doors in a cannery in Alaska but had no hinges, so i went to every existing door and took the middle hinge off, Not only did i steal every middle hinge but i stole kudos for telling them i was making sure there doors worked ok.
when i was first married my wife called and said her car did not start, i went and had no tools at all, I asked her for her nail file ran it through the points and it started right up, thats the only time she taught i wuz smart;]
Best one I can think of offhand was when I was in the Army. They sent me out to a construction site to look at a 5 ton dump truck. The trucks had two rear axles. One of the braces that held the front axle had broken. That axle had slipped back far enough that the tires were mashed against each other. I jacked up the front axle and tied it up to the frame with some pieces of chain. That was enough that we could winch the thing up on a low boy and get it back to the shop.
I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.