Tools

Tips and Recommendations from Guru Mike Nixon

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mikenixon
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Tools

#1

Post by mikenixon »

I shouldn't admit this. There is a part of my brain that stops working whenever I want to buy a new tool or piece of shop equipment. All thoughts of budget or price or do I already have something similar or will the wife object or will it fit in the toolbox or could this one additional tool tilt the earth off its axis -- it all just vaporizes in the multicolor rainbow of happiness that fills my brain. It's a sickness. Or a drug. Every ten years or so I have to cull out the second-string pieces, relegating them to ebay or friends or the to-be-modified-usually-by-grinding-and/or-heating-and-bending-for-some-one-time-esoteric-use -- drawer, so the newest and nicest tools can take their rightful, honorable place.

Have you ever used -- even just handled-- Stahlwille brand metric wrenches? Heavenly. Jewel-like. Mac's pre-1980 are nearly as nice. How about factory Honda made-in-Japan tee-handles? Did you know their engineers used these? Angels sing, dogs quit barking, flowers bend gracefully toward the sun. Yes. Ever use a genuine Sunnen floor-mounted cylinder hone? Unlike others it's all about feel, feedback to the hands, communicating hand-to-heart for the gentle and precise nuance of removed material. It's absolutely cathartic, mind-state altering, satiating. Or have you used a properly set up quality gear-driven full size lathe? All is right with the world with every quietly, calmly, exquisitely-controlled displacement of a metal sliver finer than a human hair. Time stands still, becomes meaningless. And the micrometer, ah, that inflexible tyrant! Always master and oftentime mistress, indulging this soulless arbiter is supremely pleasurable.

Recently I discovered a different kind of screw starter, you know that vaguely screwdriver-looking thing that holds the screw so you can put it into position? I stumbled upon this unusual, American-made, beautifully-crafted implement, unlike any I had ever seen before; so ingeniuously-devised it's hard to believe these ever existed. Made in the 1960s and at one time carrying the Snap-On name, instead of gripping the Phillips screw torsionally as most do, and poorly at that, it does so radially, splaying outward like the leaves of an artchoke -- thus holding the screw far more securely and elegantly. They should all be like this one!

Yeah, I'm a tool nut! I love the feel of a newly sharp tap as it precisely carves out a thread, the valve seat tool's satisfying first violin bow-like pass on the cylinder head, the deburring tool's scrape as it smooths an edge, the quality fine-toothed ratchet's satisfyingly metallic voice, the soldering iron's businesslike 250-watt hum, the cordless nutrunner's soft efficient whine, the ultrasonic cleaner's cicada-like trill. I love it all!

And, oh, oh! Gotta tell you--after being around them for most of my career and wanting one for decades, a few years ago I finally got a real, honest-to-goodness, infrared-scanning exhaust gas analyzer! What a marvelous tool! So fulfilling to see the real-time effect carburetor adjustments have on the running engine, in vivid, believable LED characters revealing such meaningful though normally hidden insight.

One thing though. As much as I love tools, and I surely do, a tool is just a tool. It takes the hand and mind and emotions behind it for it to do its work. Maybe that is the ultimate mystery. As wonderful as tools can be, it's the symbiotism between wielder and wielded that does the real magic. When the torque wrench subtly clicks, it's the satisfaction, the peace, coming from this harmony that makes me celebrate tools!
Last edited by mikenixon on Sun Aug 02, 2020 9:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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5speed
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Re: Tools

#2

Post by 5speed »

Image
lol..great description of buying a new tool.
I'm a back yard shade tree wrench spinner and am not trained, qualified to even consider running a milling machine,lathe,etc so my tools are pretty much limited to hand tools.
But I've always tried to buy the best I could afford. MY wedding present to myself was a micrometer style Snap-on torque wrench.
I have bought a few specialty tools over the years that have made my life a lot easier over the years.
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mikenixon
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Re: Tools

#3

Post by mikenixon »

:)
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desertrefugee
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Re: Tools

#4

Post by desertrefugee »

lolol :lol:

Thought-provoking and hilarious read - started my morning off in fine fashion! Thank you, Mike. Peter Egan couldn’t have said it better!

I am definitely not a tool connoisseur, but have enough to get by. I still pick some things up on occasion, but many of mine are quite old - some decades old. I do replace high wear items fairly frequently and don’t buy junk, but I don’t buy the really good stuff either. Maybe I will treat myself to some Stahlwille wrenches.

I could use a religious experience - and stop the darn neighbor’s dog from barking...
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Re: Tools

#5

Post by Rat »

I’m an amateur .... but I recognized the symptoms ....

Gord anim-cheers1
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mikenixon
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Re: Tools

#6

Post by mikenixon »

desertrefugee wrote:...and stop the darn neighbor’s dog from barking...
:-D
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Re: Tools

#7

Post by rcmatt007 »

zen
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Sidecar Bob
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Re: Tools

#8

Post by Sidecar Bob »

Some decades ago, when we were suffering the financial burdens of buying a house and raising a family I lamented to my wife about not being able to afford some tool I thought would be useful and she told me that we would always find a way to afford the tools I needed (this is the same wife who, when we saw a Honda Elite 250 scooter ad on TV and I commented that something like that might be good to have told me I should take our then 7 year old son to the local Honda dealer on Saturday morning to look at bikes).

She knew I was financially sensible enough to not go on a spending spree and I still tend to view our budget as it was in those days but over the years my shop has become pretty well equipped for a guy that mostly just keeps a couple of old bikes running and the house from falling down :-D
And I do have a lathe fund waiting for me to find one that I can afford that's big enough to do what I want...

Now if you'll excuse me, I just received an email from Canada Post that my latest order from Princess Auto (similar to HF but in Canada) is waiting for me to pick it up :roll:
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Re: Tools

#9

Post by mikenixon »

I can tell you've got the sickness. :-D
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