We Have a New Winner

Sometimes I have the thought that I should do an interactive assignment at Home Depot or Lowes.  The idea would be that students would get a list of items and the first student to come back with a cart containing everything on the list would win.  Clearly there would need to be some negotiating with the store manager, and all things being equal it would probably be kinder to them to do it when the store is closed.  I guess maybe the carts are superfluous - we could just use phone cameras.

The root of the thing comes from being a summer stock TD (or strangely a commercial shop project manager).  From time to time I would need something I would have to put my hands on or see before purchasing and that would mean that the intern (or the runner or the purchasing agent) really couldn't do it.  In those cases I didn't really want to spend swaths of my day wandering the aisles of home centers.  Knowing where things are is a necessary skill.

Over the years I've stumbled across some items that defy normal home center navigation.  There are some things that that could be in multiple places and some that just really don't belong anywhere.  My recollection is that the progenitor item in this category was dryer hose.  The first impulse is that it would be with HVAC things, but that would be wrong.  Then maybe with other pipe and tube... wrong.  Maybe it will be with the dryers... close, but no.  It is in the appliance section, but it pretty much has it's own little counter space on the fringe of the department.

I don't know how many items have held the title over the years, but the previous champ was a bathroom exhaust fan.  HVAC?  No.  Plumbing?  No.  With the Range Hoods?  No.  Showers & Tubs?  No.  Bathroom Fixtures?  Not really.  Again, this is an item that sort of has it's own little department at the back of the store, kinda near the end of the Bathroom Vanity aisle.  It's also a frequent aisle cap item which is not helpful at all because that doesn't get you the whole product range.

And yes, FWIW I have needed to purchase both Dryer Hose and Bathroom Exhaust Fans for theatre projects.

The new reigning champion?

Survey Marker Flags.

Outdoor Patio?  No.  Indoor Patio?  No.  Plumbing?  No.  Concrete accessories?  No.  Signage (like mailboxes, address signs and driveway markers)?  No.  Electrical accessories?  No.  Decking & Fence Posts?  No.  That stash of stuff at the Pro Desk?  No.  By the marking paint?  No.

So where are they?  I'll put it in the comments so you can keep guessing.  FWIW I needed like 10 and you have to buy like 50.  A can of field marking paint was $5 and these were $8.  Also for what it is worth when I did ask someone the guy said "wow, that's a tough one."  He took me to his first guess (well, second after I told him they weren't on the outdoor patio).  Standing right in front of them he didn't see them, but I finally managed to put my hands on it.

Maybe I should have just used the paint.  I found that right away.

Outa Gas

Do you have one of these:

What is that? It is the Kobalt Portable Compressed CO2 Regulator distributed by Lowes.  The idea here is that you have a power source for pneumatic tools without the need of a compressor.  I bought one several years ago, worked great.  I loved being able to take air tools on site with me to jobs without having to haul out a compressor, and I love being able to use an air tool for half a dozen shots without feeling stupid.

The product worked on an exchange model like Sodastream.  When your bottle ran out of gas you would take it back to Lowes and exchange the empty for a full replacement.  In the entire time I've had mine I have needed to do this twice.  The first time I went to Lowes and the dude at the desk looked at me like I was crazy but when I found the thing on the shelves his supervisor was happy to ring the transaction.  The second time I needed a refill I happened to be at the store without the empty and thought I should look to see where the item was on the shelf so I would know when I came back.

Except it wasn't.  It appeared as if Lowes had dropped the item and so I would be stuck with a useless tool.

Interestingly this item is still listed on the Lowes webpage: here.  More interestingly is that it says it is not available for shipping, only for store purchase.  And then if you search for the item in a store you get this:

I did the due diligence to enter a bunch of other zips: 60035, 89117, 06405... all the same.  Although it appears Lowes is trying to give the impression this item might still be available my Spidey Sense is telling me it is not.

And so we mope for a while.

At this point I have three problems: the first is that the vendor appears to have abandoned the product (btw you might ask about going through Kobalt rather than Lowes - fwiw they are for all intents in this case the same).  The second is that I am out of gas.  The third is that the reason I am out of gas is that a gasket on the connection for the bottle has shredded itself.

Nothing to be done about problem number one.  (That line has a particular cadence.)  Maybe I can solve the rest.  Briefly toward the end of its useful life I overcame the gasket issue using teflon tape.  Lacking a better solution I guess I can go back to that.  So the real problem is gas.

I have no doubt that any number of the commercial gas dealers in the area could likely fill the bottle.  On the one hand though I think I would feel awfully stupid going into a commercial gas dealer with my 2.5# gas bottle.  On the other hand I have no experience with any of the local commercial gas distributors.  So that notion goes on the back burner.  It does occur to me that over the years a few people have had the same response to the tool when they first see it: "it's like a paintball tank."  So let's run with that.

Dick's refills paintball bottles in "the Lodge."  Off we go to Dick's.  Dude behind the counter looks at me like I am crazy but after a brief explanation he says "ok, I'll try."  Let me say at this point I was REALLY worried for dude as there's no max psi rating on the tank and I have no idea to what pressure they charge paintball tanks, so, you know: BOOM!  But the fates are with us this day and the threads match up and the tank takes a charge and the fine people at Dick's charge me $4.

This works so well I decide that teflon tape is for losers and I need to find a new o-ring.  I measure up the top of the bottle and head off to Lowes.  I haven't had to buy o-rings before and what I think I want is an assortment, but for the second time in this adventure Lowes lets me down and I can't find an assortment.  What I do find is a packet of No. 10 o-rings containing 10 each o-rings that appear to be the right size.  I take a chance and take them home - another $4.

This is a case of measure twice cut once letting me down as the No. 10 o-ring appears to be incorrect.  It fits the fitting all right, but when I go to screw on the regulator it stalls, feels like it is cross threading, and then shreds the o-ring.  So we're looking for something smaller.  Off to the store again.

This time we go to the Home Depot.  Not so much as I don't think I'll be able to find what I need at Lowes and more so because I hate going to the same store twice on the same day - some kind of summer-stock PTSD.  At the Depot I do find an assortment of o-rings (now fat by 9 No. 10 pieces) purchase it and head home having forked up another $9.

Selecting the No. 9 o-ring the regulator goes on and off with no drama and I have a working tool again!  All it took was about a year of moping, a day of errands, and about $20.  Next time maybe no moping.

Postscript: The next time I used the thing the regulator shredded the No. 9 o-ring.  I'm beginning to get an inkling of why they may have dropped this particular SKU.  So next time I will try a No. 8.  Good thing I got an assortment.  Also, while at Dick's I noticed that they have the same sized tank for $20.  Maybe it has a more robust gasket.  Have to check that out sometime.

Good Idea/Bad Idea

Festool has a new barrel grip sabre saw.  It looks really cool and has a bushel of interesting features.  The "killer app" feature seems to be an LED based work light that strobes and is synched to the travel of the blade.  Time the light properly to the speed of the light and it appears to stop moving...


So my question is: is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Looking at the press it seems to suggest that having the appearance of the blade not moving makes it easier to follow a line while cutting.  A little bit I think the plastic chip insert will probably have a bigger impact than the strobe.  But not having used the saw I guess it isn't fair to talk about the ease of use.

I just can't get over the thought that if the blade doesn't look like it is moving that there's that much more chance that an operator will have a brain burp and stick a finger in there.  There'll be a piece of debris by the blade and when looking in there won't appear to be any danger and before your brain can shout "HEY THAT BLADE IS ACTUALLY MOVING" your hand would be moving and then bleeding.

But maybe not.

I wonder if this is going to be a trend with all tools.  I could easily see timed strobes with drills or circ saws too.  Gonna have to be something to get used to.

A Complete History of David's Toolbox

I found myself today spending some time talking about tools and toolboxes. For me it all started with the belt above. When I went to work for Chicago Scenic one summer I had to buy a list of handtools and something to carry them with. I bought this pouch then and still have it today. It's a little more broken in now than it was then.


When I returned to school in the fall I needed an actual tool box and so I got something solid and modest:

Again I am not sure how or why but I still have the thing, it's empty now just sitting in the garage waiting for some kind of task. This box was pretty basic. Hard to find anything. But it did the job.

Once I left school and started work I needed something a little more... more:

This was my box through my stint as a LORT carpenter and all the way through stock and grad school. I beat the hell out of this thing. It was rode hard and put away wet. That right latch no longer functions and didn't for some time even when I was using it. This box was great, really easy to keep organized - simple to find things. If anything it was just too heavy. Ok to leave at a worksite. Not so great for packing in and out. Thankfully I didn't do much of that.

The Rally Box and the Original box were joined by a Rubbermaid thing and a box Sears called the SST for my summer stock years:

This was a pretty good lineup. My regular tools went in the Rally box and then I had a lot of space for overflow and safety gear and hardware. That SST box was (ok, is - yes, these are ALL still sitting in the garage) a beast. Way WAY to heavy to be practical. Eventually they reissued the thing with wheels and a handle for dragging. Much more practical that way. But still, I was starting to travel with power tools and while most of them had their own boxes I still needed the volume.


Somewhere in here there is a missing toolbox. When I worked in the NYC shop I had to pack tools in and out but had too many for the pouch. The rally box was too heavy so I bought a soft side bag. It was a blue synthetic thing and somewhere along the way I must have totally trashed it, because it is not hanging out in my garage.

After that things may have come off the rails a little. When I went out West I ditched pretty much all of the individual boxes in favor of one big box:

The idea was that I would have secure storage for all of my tools in one place. So all of the power tools tht had their own cases got pulled out, the cases hung out in the rafters of my parents garage and the individual tools lived in here. Boxes just took up space. So because of that, the four box summer stock line up got reduced to a milk crate that lived in the JobBox and then these:

With the missing soft side bag that would make three. While I was working in Vegas the bag on the right did the heavy duty, in and out of the site every day. I wrecked the d-rings holding the shoulder strap because I would try to carry too much stuff.

I never really liked these softside bags though. They had the same problem as the first toolbox - can't ever find anything. Plus with these there are hidden nooks and I often got poked and cut by bits and blades hiding within. So the whole time I was using them I was looking for a replacement. Eventually I found one.

So here we have the bag of choice. Its a soft-sider, but there is also a place for everything with everything in its place. Of all the solutions this one has had the longest staying power. I've been using it continuously for more than a decade now. For a while I couldn't find it for purchase anyplace, but today when poking around I saw that CLC now deals direct from their website and this bag is still there. So maybe I will retire this one and get an identical replacement (except without the broken plastic buckle that succumbed after I'd had the thing maybe 5 months).

The future? I'm glad you asked...

I think between my backpack and this guy I ought to be set for a while.

David Wastes Time at Lowes

I had to go buy a replacement mop head today. Hardly seems like enough reason to go to the store actually. Since I was by myself I figured I would do a little recreational shopping - the kind where getting out the door without buying something is "winning."

Although I guess since I actually needed something I couldn't actually win this time.

Row by row through the tool department at Loews isn't something I've done for a while. American's do have a love affair with tools, don't they? The range and options available for something as narrow as a stud-finder are frankly bewildering.

Have you ever heard of a chalk line anchor? I might be getting old, but back in the day we called that a "nail." Check out this thing:

Isn't that what that tapered hole on the clip at the end of the line is for? Kids today...

Here's another thing that caught my eye:


I think this is a cordless, rechargeable matt-knife. Now, if it works, I could see this as a decent tool to have in your bag if you are someone that does linoleum or carpet work often. Those two items always seem to be more than a match for a standard utility knife. But that's a *big* if it works. Even then, $50 seems like a bit much for this application (I can't help but notice only one company makes the thing too.)

Then there was this:


I almost, just barely almost, purchased this thing. When you see it in the display it appears to be some kind of speed-square, but it isn't.

What it is is a piece of 1/4 plate set up with various perforations in it sized to different shapes and sizes of stick stock. There's a hole for 1x2, and another for 1/2" conduit, one for 2x4's, and another for 1-1/2" pipe. The idea is that this thing becomes your foot for when you are cutting something on the floor. You know? When you need to cut that board and you run it over your foot and then cut it off on the end? So instead of using your foot, you use this thing, which is good for your foot.

Beyond being good for your foot though, the holes are sized such that you get some cam-action from the plate as it settles to an angle between itself and the stock. This not only holds it up, but also according to the display can keep round stock from turning. Pretty slick.

I get the feeling that in the smaller stock sizes one could wind up with more of a bender here than a vise, but maybe not. And for the larger sizes it seems like a really cool idea.

Another One

Want

I Know What They Say

But this deal looks SOOOOOOO good...

I checked other sites and mostly this is about half.

Half as good too, you say?

Harbor freight is always so cheap.

It's not what *they* say, it's what *Kevin* says:

"Buy cheap tools, get cheap tools."

But then, maybe I'm in the mood to buy a cheap tool.

Maybe.

Shit.

Don't Be Stupid

George Carlin has this routine, I think it's about kids and bicycle helmets, where at one point he declares that it's all about evolution: "the kid that swallows the most marbles doesn't grow up to have kids of his own."

Something tells me that most of the people discussed in this article aren't Carlin fans...

News - Investigative Report: Nail gun safety under fire as injuries soar - sacbee.com: "As the tool's popularity surged during the building boom of the 2000s, a Sacramento Bee investigation found, nail gun injuries also took off despite decades of warnings from researchers and doctors that the guns are dangerous, especially in the automatic mode known as 'contact trip.'"

They make contract trip sound like fully automatic, like you pull the trigger and fire an entire clip of nails. Although I've seen it happen due to fasteners getting jammed together in the gun; regardless of how the trigger is configured the gun is only designed to fire one fastener at a time.

I have the utmost sympathy for people with injuries, but after a read of the article I didn't really see anything that was more attributable to the trigger mechanism that it would be to laziness or foolhardiness. And, as the article itself says, often even when the triggers are configured in that awful pull the trigger hit the safety release the trigger per fire mode, people on the job often alter the tools to fire more freely anyway - just like they take the guards off of saws, or weld without gloves, or, or, or.

The strangest assertion in the article is that the vendors want the guns to free fire because they sell more nails that way. I guess maybe you fire a few more nails that way, but thats not about the tool or the trigger, that's about being a noob. People just learning to use air tools like to fire a lot of fasteners. After a while you realize that's stupid and you use as many nails as you need, regardless of how they fire. I am not sure that altering the way the tool works to offset injuries by people that might maybe should not be using the tool unsupervised is the best idea.

They say "suchandsuch was injured while carrying the gun by the trigger and then contacting his leg." Don't do that. It's a trigger, not a handle.

"suchandsuch left the tool on contact fire and hanging at chest level over the scaffolding and then bumped into it." Don't do that, you could get hurt.

"suchandsuch was injured wile trying to fire a fastener through a metal fitting." I cannot tell you how many times I have been tempted to do this and haven't. Know why? Because it is stupid and you could get hurt. Don't do that, wrong tool for the job.

Unfortunately I think they're more right here than wrong, it's just that the wrong people are taking the rap. The guns are too dangerous I guess, but it's the fault of the users and the supervisors not the manufacturers. When Joe Weekend Warrior decides to use a nail gun instead of a hammer and nails or a screwgun he is assuming a larger risk, and one he may not be trained to handle. When Attila the Site Manager makes his guys go faster or use the wrong tool, that's on him, not on Senco.

But changing Joe or Attila will be operationally more difficult than forcing the manufacturers to alter their designs. So, I guess we have more convoluted safeties to look forward to. Bummer that.

Gotta Love This

Last Minute PTM Type Gift Ideas

Got some last minute shopping to do for someone in the Production Technology field? Well, I've got some gift giving suggestions that might be helpful. Even at this last second many of them ought to be available locally so you could do a Monday shopping spree and still be done before the sleigh comes to a rest on your roof. I imagine that even if these things are not available locally they can still be used for inspiration (or gift card fodder).

So a sort of top ten countdown of PTM gifts...

#10 - Flying Alarm Clock



This one will be of particular use to students in the field, but I will also admit to having a little difficulty getting myself out of bed on occasion. I've seen the "puzzle alarm" and "the sonic boom" and "clocky" but this one seems to me to have the most chance of actually working. When the alarm goes off, the propeller flies into the air and you need to replace it before you can shut the signal off (although I guess this is rapidly solved with gaff tape - but maybe not). There are several students I would recommend this to directly, but I bet people giving them gifts don't read this blog.

#9 - Getting Things Done, David Allen



So this is a sort of Bible to the desperately anal set, and I think that the GTD community might actually be a cult; but let's face it, there are worse cults a person could fall in with. If your gift give-ee never answers your emails this might be the gift for them. Lot's of good ideas about how to keep up with life without letting the keeping up overwhelm you. My boss recommends the audio-book.

If I'd actually read this book I probably would have done this post two weeks ago.

#8 - Stylish Safety Gear

There's so much cool safety gear these days. People are that much more likely to use gear that's actually fun. Pictured here are DeWalt's DPG82 Concealer Goggles which I recently got myself. They are comfortable, don't block peripheral vision, and they don't fog up - but mostly they look cool. If you don't want to do goggles you could do tinted safety glasses - I think amber is still safe for shop work - or some kind of hearing protection. There are also like a million new kinds of cool work gloves available and they all look like something from a sci-fi film - very cool.

#7 - Label Maker

Especially if you are going to go the GTD route, you are going to need a label maker. As I understand it, David Allen specifies a label maker as one of the primary tools of organization. Even without that glowing recommendation I think we can all see the use of having things cataloged in a way that makes sense, you can only remember so much for so long and it is easier to read a label than it is to unstack an entire pile of bankers boxes only to disover what you were looking for isn't there. Just remember, don't label the walkie-talkie before you drop it down the well.

#6 - Tool Bag



It's all bags now, you need a refresher? Pictured here is my personal favorite, the CLC 26 Pocket Backpack Bag. I bought this thing several years back and could not be happier. David Allen would like it too because with this bag things need to go where they need to go. It might look small, but it can hold A LOT. How much? Check here. Although this is my favorite, there are dozens of cool options out there. Overall, I think smaller and more dividers is better - but that's me, you should see Kevin's toolbox.

#5 - Shop Geek Clothes



Did you know you can buy Craftsman pants? How about DeWalt shoes? I swear it's a shop rat dream come true. I haven't sprung for the shoes yet, but I always feel like just the right kind of geek when I wear my Craftsman pants - even more special than with Carhartts or Dickies.

#4 - Forbidden Lego, Ulrik Pilegaard and Mike Dooley



There are apparently rules that the designers at Lego have to follow for models that become sets for sale. There's no glue, no altering of pieces, and no automatic advancing magazine part guns. In authoring this book, these designers were not so encumbered. A nice read for any Lego fan, which is most Technical Directors.

#3 - Feet and Inches Calculator

Quick: What's 3'-2 5/8" + 6'-4 15/16" - 1'-11 1/2"? What? I don't know either, but I can tell you I have to do that sort of thing all the time when I am working. Remembering the decimal equivalents will help, but nothing gets it done as well and as quickly as having a feet and inches calculator. It's just indispensable for adding up a row of fractions on a drawing before the guy in the shop finds the problem for you. (oh, and I think it's 7'-8 1/16" but my calculator is in the office).

#2 - Theatre Geek Tools


Really you can never go wrong with gadgets. Every stagehand in the world has a multi-tool and a flashlight. I think I have two multi-tools and at least four flashlights. MagLite is the standard for flashlights. I won't even get into a discussion over Leatherman or Gerber or SOG or Victorinox or or or. Pictured above are the Streamlight Stinger Jr. LED and the Leatherman Skeletool. I think with both of these your gift-ee will be so cool people around them will be looking for their jackets. Want to put the people around them right into the deep freeze? Well, then you'll be wanting to make someone the first on the block with one of these:



The Spyderco ByrdWrench ~ BY15P. My monitor just frosted over.

#1 - Stapler


Ok, so it probably isn't what you were thinking would be #1. I can only say that there is nothing I wish people I deal with had more often than a stapler. If I make sure to impart just one skill to people I teach in my classes, that skill might just be stapling. Shown here you have my personal favorite the PaperPro Prodigy Stapler. It has a spring driven mechanism, so no matter how much you are fastening you always press with the same force, no smashing. They make a miniature version, the Nano, that I think maybe ought to be issued to every single person at birth.

So that's it. Certainly not anything ground shattering, but hopefully some decent ideas. Now, you've probably got about 12 hours left for shopping, so hop to it. Alternately, you could just bookmark the page for next year.

Happy holidays.

Famous Again, sorta, ok not really - but I won something...

Toolmonger » Blog Archive » Glove Winner: The Yardasaur: "Remember those little stamped-wood you-assemble-it dinosaur kits you used to pick up at the museum and build in an afternoon? TM reader and photo pool member dbthetd does, too, and he’s found a new application for his CNC router."

Wanna Good, Cheap Screw?

Should I be shilling for Harbor Freight? Probably not, but how could I pass up a chance to use that post title?

$19.99 seemed like a decent price for a second screwgun a while back - and 18V to boot, so I bought this drill. When I bought it I didn't get the flashlight or a case they're offering in this deal. It's not by any means a replacement for a professional tool, but as a second, or a third (do I really now have three cordless drills, what am I a drama school?) it's just peachy. The other day when I was doing those goofy shelves I needed to pilot and screw at the same time and used this for the pilot bit so I wouldn't have to keep switching - just like Norm in the New Yankee Shop - two bits, two drills, why not!

And for $20, why not indeed.

Is This the end of the Littlelite?

USB Desk Lamp | GeekAlerts: "This small and affordable USB Desk Lamp ($6) uses five LED bulbs to give you a good working light for those long hours by the computer."

A quick web check says a Littlelite 12 will run you $61.95 - and here I think I still want one, but maybe its getting a little ridiculous?

$6 or $60? Hmm.

Home Repair and Improvement

This weekend saw some work around the house, revealing once again what a joy it is to be a homeowner and once again presenting the dilemma of "the line."

You remember "the line," yes? This is a concept in home repair that says that if you do not consciously pick out where a project ends before it starts that it will simply continue to grow right up until you are framing a new home. Protecting yourself from missing the line involves planning rigidly discreet forays into home repair and then having the discipline to hold to the line you began with. There's also a way to have trouble with the line that has less to do with discipline. We'll get to that presently.

If you go way back in the blog, you will find the story of our first household project in the form of a disaster averted. The story of the toilet that became a fountain. With that in our past we became a little concerned when the other commode in the home started making a hissing sound. So after a morning trip to the airport we made a stop at the local home center to get a new part and fix the toilet. Discreet project, bright, clear, bold line.

While at the home center we become distracted by the idea of trying to repair the sink. The pop-up drain has been broken for almost a year (no stopper) and the drain is a little slow to boot. Our discreetness failing under poor line maintaining discipline and suddenly we've bought a new drain kit and a pipe auger attachment for the drill.

This is ok I guess. The first project was a half hour deal, the drain has been annoying, and I will undertake almost any project that comes along with the prospect of buying a new tool.

So, home we go to auger a drain, replace a pop-up, and fix a toilet. Three discreet projects that have now encompassed two fixtures. I think we're still under two hours - and I got a new piece of gear.

First the augering. Nothing, nothing, nothing, its stuck, screw it in, POP! and everything drains very well. A project success? Is it possible? I mean, I know I broke the set screw on the new tool, but overall this is a great result - unless of course the water is now draining into the wall somewhere, or jetting up out of the downstairs sink. But for the moment it seems we've made a genuine repair.

No rest for the valiant though as we go at the toilet tank. Being a repair I'd done before this went quickly and easily. I learned the "turn off the water first" lesson last time and only spilled a little onto a towel when I forgot to put the bucket I had for that very reason under the hole where the water would come out. Oops. New piece in, hissing gone, two repairs attempted, two repairs completed. We're on a roll.

The drain was a new thing for me. We'd bought a little homeowner plumbing book to augment the hieroglyphics on the box the kit came in. I should bring in the box for the drafting class to show a nice exploded view - unfortunately its in the trash someplace. Goes to show you never can tell where good teaching resource material will come from.

Work clean, follow the instructions, finish up, check for leaks. Drip, drip, drip. Take the whole thing out, clean up the interfaces, reset the drain and use the putty this time even though it says you don't have to, work clean, follow the instructions, finish up, check for leaks. Drip, drip, drip. At this point your craftsman pride should be kicking in. Once is acceptable, but the second time, knowing what you were trying to avoid - having a leak is embarrassing.

But wait, maybe its not on me. Closer inspection makes it clear that the leak is not coming from the bowl or the new extension or the trap, but from the segment of pipe going into the wall. It appears to be cracked, and pressing with a thumb makes the crack into a very real hole.

SHIT!

This piece is soldered onto the other pipe. I don't have a replacement, or a torch, or solder, or any more patience for home improvement today. And here dear readers is where we see the other way the line can move. Do you remember when Ripley was with Newt in Aliens?

"Made a clean spot, now I have to do the whole thing."

Home repairs beget other home repairs. And this is in a scenario where you avoid causing the need for the additional repairs yourself. The number of drywall patching projects necessitated by someone punching a hole in the wall while moving a ladder to install a fan or a light must be staggering, or people that have to refinish floors after painting walls, or having to replace siding after replacing windows. The possibilities are endless. But even if you work clean, as if as a homeowner you work like a character in some real life role playing game of Top Secret, even being incredibly careful you are always vulnerable to discovering the next job during the current one. You just have to hope it isn't something that has to be addressed immediately.

Which is why I was glad that it was just a very small hole, on the top of a pipe that under normal working conditions isn't pressurized. Actually it was kind of cool, you could just watch the water flow through the drain pipe. As long as it doesn't clog downstream - and I just augered the thing to prevent that - there shouldn't be any overflow.

That word "shouldn't" though in my experience is problematic, and really unwelcome when you are standing in a flooded bathroom. So, for the time being there's a very homeownerly looking glob of plumber's putty on the pipe. One that were you to discover doing your own repair you would say "just what did that yahoo think he was doing?" And when I say that next time, I'll remember that in the course of what was probably carefully planned as a discreet and disciplined outing into home repair the previous homeonwer was confronted with a moving line and just did the best he could.

I'll have to remember that next weekend as I know what I'll be doing: buying a torch to do my next home repair and improvement.

I am Famous

I got something posted on someone else's blog. Someone I don't even know. How bizarre is that? More bizarre is that the manufacturer of the thing I was talking about apparently has some kind of uber-search that tells him whenever it turns up anywhere. I posted the words "trucker's hitch" in an entry the other day and he commented here. Then I submitted it to Toolmonger and he commented there. Spooky if you ask me.

Toolmonger » Blog Archive » Reader Find: The Tite-Tie — The Trucker’s Knot for Dummies: "David sent us this “little plastic jigger that keeps you from having to know how to tie a trucker’s hitch” from the soon-to-be-as-seen-on-TV file."