...but I fixed a shotgun with a nail file the other day. I'm still pretty jazzed about that.
(You have to understand that I am as mechanically inept as it is possible to be and still operate a light switch. Sure, I can explain in tedious detail the mechanical functioning of... well, all kinds of things, and yet my actual manual mechanical skill level is such that every morning's shoe-tying session is a nail-biting cliffhanger with the outcome in doubt.)
Whereas for me, I can't explain how things work worth a a three legged hamster pulling a chariot, but if I can pull it apart, odds are I can get it fixed. Eventually.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a good feeling to take a problem and make it go away with what's available. I'm one of those sorts who could be called shade-tree gunsmith with not a whole lot of exaggeration, in that I have detail stripped all my guns with nothing more specialized than a walmart multi-tool and several of my guns have dremel marks if you look carefully in the right spots. Still, I have yet to break one by my efforts, so I'll take that as a plus.
(word verification, 1856 calendar. A very interesting year that does not lend itself at all to pithy summary save that there was lots of killin'.)
Might be a mere question of motivation.
ReplyDeleteAs to the shoe-tying, keep them cliffhangers comin'; I can't quite see you in the vecro-strap model...
That really is pretty badass, just sayin'
ReplyDeleteFixed a car once with chopsticks. Strutted around for hours.
ReplyDeleteI love the chopsticks reference. I once fixed a friend's Caddy's hood, that would not stay closed, with a magnesium strip, scavenged from an inertial guidance system frame from a minuteman missile in my garage, some electric fence wire and a few odd screws, nuts and washers. It actually worked as it should and stayed closed at highway speeds.
ReplyDeleteI guess I do not need to tell you how I tie my shoes.
If its broke, I can fix it. And I can describe it as well.
ReplyDeleteYour shoe tying kind of reminds me of watching my son do shoe laces.
Oh well, such skills as I have are said to skip every other generation so his kids can keep his stuff running. I hope.
I don't "fix" things.
ReplyDeleteI "unbreak" them.
http://jokideo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/I-dont-fix-things-I-unbreak-them.jpg
@Scott: You have a Minuteman Missile in your garage?
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty awesome, you're right.
ReplyDeleteMy theory is, the more moving parts a machine has, the more inefficient it is. So, if I put something back together and have a few bits left over, I've actually made it better. See, that's why surgeons will remove your appendix, but never, like, add tentacles or whatever.
My father was in the Merchant Marines in WWII. My grandfather was an immigrant who worked 30 years in a steel mill. I come from some seriously mechanically-inclined people.
ReplyDeleteI grew up unable to drive in a screw with anything less than a 3 pound mallet. Nails, hopeless! Completely incompetent mechanically.
Over the decades of my life, however, through sheer dogged perseverance and an inability to recognize my inherent shortcomings, I have managed such feats as rebuilding an old Impala carburetor, installing and starting up high tech factory machinery to make microchips, building my kids a passable playfort complete with slide and swings, and repairing household appliances.
I still use the proverbial hammer to drive in the screws once in a while, but I get things done.
You are on your way to mechanical eptness, starting with using an impractical tool to accomplish a fix in which you had a vested interest.
I'd send you a rattail bastard in celebration of your accomplishment, but I can't find mine at the moment. I think I left it in a playfort or a carb.
You do get major cool points for that...not that you need any more.
ReplyDeleteDrang, I have the inertial guidance system frame, that I procured from CBU in Memphis in the late 1970's. This was after they were salvaged from some of the silos in Arkansas. The school stripped out the electronics for labs. Although my wife cannot understand why I still have it, I think it is a cool reminder of why we hid under our desks in the mid 1960's.
ReplyDeleteMikee, screwing stuff in with a 3lb mallet is easy. All you need is one of these: http://www.harborfreight.com/7-piece-reversible-impact-driver-set-93481.html :)
ReplyDeleteNail file is awesome. But Leatherman could probably replace the saw on the M.U.T with a file.
ReplyDeleteOne might be able to do that ones self, using other Leatherman model's parts. Weekend puttering coming up.
M.U.T saw replacement definitely doable. Real life interfered today. But I'll bore out the old Leatherman file a tad on Sunday; will fit nicely. Pic will follow.
ReplyDelete