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How did you get started? Reason I thought about this was I was rearranging my tools into a new cart. Seeing all these Snap-ons, reminded me of my Dad.
Tools lasting several generations...
Follow Ups:
I can handle repairs around the house, electrical, plumbing, paint, etc. but not very good at 'wood working' or carpentry. Our cars are nothing like the ones I worked on myself in my younger years. Now I just want the cars to start and take me where I want to go.
I've had many cars in my past so it took me a while to remember and compile this list:
- 69 Ford Torino Squire station wagon with fake wood panels. A sleeper 351cu-in V8 under the hood that was always up for burning rubber and waking the neighbors. Busted the motor mounts drag racing a poser 'secretary' Mustang. Fixed it myself. Had no money, had no choice! Did basic tune-ups... plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, condenser, contact breaker, timing light or advance/retard by ear. Brake drum shoes.
Still kinda broke and enjoyed working on these:
- 70 Datsun 510
- 71 Datsun 240z
- Chevy Luv pickup truck
- 83 VW GTI hatch
- 88 Toyota Camry 4 cyl.
Stopped working on cars around the 1990s after landing a decent job and launching career in Silicon Valley. Finally making some decent money working long hours. More cost effective to let competent expert mechanics work on these:
- 91 Toyota Camry SE V6
- 95 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6
- 98 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6
- 03 VW GTI hatch
- 02 BMW X5 SUV
- 07 BMW 330xi AWD sedan
- 98* Toyota Tacoma truck SR5 AWD V6
- 08 BMW 135i coupe (dinan stage 2 + perf exhaust)
- 12 Toyota 4Runner Limited SUV V6 [sold it in short order]
- 13* BMW 335xi AWD sedan
* Current vehicles. If I could keep only ONE vehicle it would be a truck (as much as my wife hates trucks).
I've had my '99 Nissan Maxima since October of '98. Haven't had a car payment in YEARS.
Although, I am thinking of getting a Hundai Sonata after the Spring hail storms.
:)
...too many cars!
And now that's been extended again, thanks to another hernia.See below.
And I garden, growing fruits and veggies.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 09/23/15
But, I guess one surgery can uncover other problems. Bilateral kinda thing.You need to wait some length of time, before the next surgery. Right? Like 6 months?
Hopefully by this time next year, all will be healed and good-to-go.
insert :fingerscrossed: emoji.
Edits: 09/23/15
out of my hands.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
We hired contractors to replace our shingles. Heights bother me, and our roof is way up there and steep. Other than that we've done everything the house needs - structural, electrical, plumbing, appliance repair, etc. We built our garage with the help of children and friends. Vehicles are taken care for the most part in my garage. If the automatic transmission dies, well, that's one for the professional. Body work and painting also.
Parental influence was the genesis. My father and uncles all lived the same way. They were raised by homesteaders who had to do it all, and it passed down the generations. My sons are following in their footsteps also.
Too early to tell for the grand children. With luck I'll live long enough to see.
Doggone it, FenderLover, ya darn near made me tear up.My Dad grew up on a farm, so he was no stranger to taking care of things. That's where I got it from.
I have not only the tools I bought, but also the tools he bought, and the tools which both of my grandfathers bought. Good tools are forever, and are a link to our past. Heck, the thick string with the cool knot which ties the drill chuck "key" to the drill cord, he tied that over 50 years ago. I can't ever use the drill without thinking of him.
Having installed numerous commercial sound systems, I acquired several tools specifically for that. A long time ago, my son asked "What's that?" I replied "that's a wire stripper", and showed him how to use it. (I still need to show him how to professionally solder and shrink-tube an XLR connector, though. In fact, now that I think about it, I've got a brand new Switchcraft connector which needs to be put on a microphone cable. Hmmm.)
When I'm done with my tools, my kids get 'em. (Actually, I've already given both of them their own tool boxes and some new tools, and have started giving them some of my tools of which I have duplicates.)
Heck, I've got pliers and wrenches that are older than me. Can y'all say "wooden mallet"? I've got an old Stanley No. 5 plane, in excellent condition, which I've used maybe five times, but you'll have to pry it out of my cold dead hands before I'll give it up. And I've got an 80 year old crowbar you could use to do it. LOL
Anyway... I/we do our own yard work, basic maintenance, etc. I do NOT do replacement siding or windows. For about a year, we had a guy come to mow and trim the yard, 'cause our mower broke for the third time, and we couldn't repair it (self-propel transmission), and the shop wanted about $120 to fix it, so I eventually bought a new one. I do basic plumbing repair, although since that time when I turned a 10 minute $10 shower handle repair into a two month $800 repair, I've gotten a little gun-shy on some of that.
Cars are an entirely different story. I used to do basic maintenance like oil changes (and, yes, I have an oil filter wrench), spark plug changes (I have the gapping/feeler gauge set) and carb adjustment, but these days, car maintenance is a pain in the butt, so, not anymore.
And, there was the time when I wanted to fish a wire to a new outdoor floodlight. Well, the damn fish tape somehow got hung up somewhere in the wall, so I had to just cut it off, and ended up running the wire externally through conduit, which may or may not have met code.
But, like I always say, "You can never have too many tools."
:)
Edits: 09/23/15 09/23/15 09/23/15
Front and center, a post in my workshop... hangs my dads old red hammer. Never use it, just for me.
Tools leave quite a legacy. And all those things they fixed.
8^)
I have a coat tree which my Dad made with the tools I have.
:)
I can't be bothered for oil changes for our van for the small amount they charge. My car I do pretty much everything (last winter project was headers). House; plumbing, electrical, framing... let's just say I have an 8 x 12 "workshop" behind my garage (which is single, but ~30' deep) which is used only for storing most of my tools.
How did I get started? When I was 14-15 and my dad was doing some reno's on our house. He came down with rheumatoid arthritis, I took over, plus. My stuff is spread thru the garage and back room. Table saw, tile saw, tool cabinet, cut off saw, router, air compressor and tools... it would be a very long list.
Built the cabins, but I just pointed and described objectives. The trades folk and craftsmen (women too) know their trade and craft and materials.
Cars? I gave up with SU carbs. I get no pleasure from the efforts involved...
Stereo gear? Different story.
Same with Mac software and stuff...
Camera's, yep, Playing with them is fun.
I support those in the trades.
But I built 4 of these with a little help.
Edits: 09/22/15
I do very little other than typical 'honey-do list' type stuff. I did throw these up today though; I have a very long and dark hallway which is kind of a bear at night especially with the kids and wife's shoes sometimes on the floor.
No outlet anywhere to place a night-light so I made my own 'night/track light. $38 at Home Depot; 3 lamps in one solar setup. I mounted them using the supplied surface mount and tossed the spikes. I could've gone through the crawl space with the wiring and may do so in the near future but for now I just used molding. I also had to splice the wires so there's no excess and ran them parallel as they're designed, then ran the wire up through the crown molding and out the door's bottom and into the front lawn (wiring is not seen). And viola' free lighting all night.
I use a home owners warranty service (1st American) which I pay about $300 a year. I've used them since 2003. They cover all the appliances, central air, pool pump, all electrical, and plumbing. My dishwasher went out about 4 months ago and they came out to service it ($60 service fee); found out it needed a new circuit board and ordered it. When it arrived they found the old wire harness would not support it and they're no longer made. Long story short they gave me a choice of a new dishwasher or $900 cash. I took the cash and bought a lesser expensive dishwasher for $500 installed.
On my cars, I buy 'new' cars with warranties.. So the only thing I do to them is change the oil. Which I really like to do.
The wife and I do just about everything around here. Appliance repair, building fence, repairing the car/truck/cycle, painting, landscaping, roofing, building/erecting ham radio tower, reloading ammo, repairing tube gear and radios, making speakers, making furniture, building a deck, etc.
My Dad get me started when I was just a little kid. I still have some of Dad's tools. Somebody broke into my detached garage a few years back and got all of my Snap-On tools. Well over a grand worth. It was a bad bad time when we found out about that.
roN
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