God I love TOOLS

[Alex_C]

I'm making a motorcycle "semi-permenant" mounting bag, took a "large" military OD-green tool bag, just installed 4 eyelets using the eyelet kit I just got, took some bungees and cut 'em in half, cauterized the ends with the neato soldering-iron torch I got recently, gotta love TOOLS.

The severed bungees will go into the eyelets then bound to each other "holding hands" inside the bag, then the hook ends will go on the luggage rack mounts on the bike, but will get curled around so they're kinda on there "for semi-good" so instead of fooling around with bungee cords all day, I just put stuff in the bag take it out etc.

Nice to have a nice large anvil here too, to hammer the eyelets on. Tools rule.

[tekla]

Yeah, we're all tool heads where I work, I love it when the boys and the girls all start pulling out their knives and opening them one handed.  Something very sexy about a female sharpening a good blade on a whetstone. 

And we're always getting hot and bothered over the newest Makita or DeWalt screw gun.  It's like tool porn.  We were jonesin' for weeks a couple of years ago when they moved up to 18v batteries from the wimpy 12v ones.  My boss is more likely to let us go to a bar than a hardware store, we'd be back faster. 

This one rocks my world.  Gotta love the LED light that focus on the drill tip.
http://www.makita.com/en-us/Modules/Tools/ToolDetails.aspx?ID=26271

And I do love my knife, you got's to have both the straight blade and the serrated blade.
http://www.buckknives.com/index.cfm?event=product.detail&productID=2974

[Alex_C]

Put the bag on the bike and it works great! Then did some other futzing around and got a hot glue gun and some glue sticks for that, oh boy another tool.

[Audrey]

Haha if one thing has carried over to my new life I still love to mess with my vw bug.  Its an addiction. 

Its great to have the right tools for the job, any job.  It makes things fun doesn't it.  Rather than trying to rig things.

[V M]

TOOLS!!!? You just flipped this girls switch  I've been called a tool frk for years. I have several and have had several more. I have several multi-s.I love my Swiss army officers addition. But my fav. would prob. be my Kershaw that was designed for electronic stuff

[Alex_C]

OK now you're getting me all hot and bothered with that talk. I love Leatherman, Gerber, Swiss Army (victorinox) any of the good makers, multi-tools and knives. Plus all the other good stuff like Snap-On and Mac and yeah on a budget, Craftsman for car/motorcycle type tools, Weller, Fluke, Klein, Wiha, etc for electronics, and so on.

[tekla]

And they keep getting better too.  Well not so much knives, but my first battery screw gun weighed a ton, took hours to charge and doing things like driving shooters through metal didn't last long.  The new ones can charge in 15 minutes and hold it though a lot of work. The have the sexy lights (I'm often working in the dark, so that rocks) and they weight a lot less and are much better balanced. They are super-powerful though, make sure the torque is set right or its going to go right through the wall. And, if you're driving shooters, its a lot better to screw with a condom.  You just got's to have a Makita P-46280 Retracting Screw Holder to do it right, and fast.  I can outscrew the kids three to one with mine.

The Swiss Army stuff is OK for cutting cheese and opening the wine bottle - so they are a must in California, not to mention the bud sheers - but the blade does not lock, so they are worthless for real work.  First time that thing comes back on your fingers you'll be out buying a locking blade that afternoon. Buck and Gerber make quality stuff, I've even done the tour of the Gerber plant in Portland, which was pretty cool, (but I love touring manufacturing facilities), Smith and Wesson have a line of tactical knives out that are very nice also.

I just wish it wasn't such a bother to have a compressor around because the pneumatic air tools really rock. Pneumatic nail guns in particular.

And Craftsmen makes and sells a lot of good stuff, nothing wrong with it at all. 

Aside from the everyday stuff, I never go anywhere without the Buck and the Leatherman, what do you really love?  Yeah, I love the Makita because I have to use it all the time and it works like a champ.  And for rocking good fun its hard to beat a roto-hammer, its like a hand version of a jack-hammer.  But my all time fav is the Sawzall.  With the right blades (and enough of them, it will eat them up pretty fast) you could cut the world in half with one of these babys.  I've gone through 1/8 hardened steel, and 1" marble with one. It's funny, when a good Sawzall job pops up all of sudden no one wants to go on break or take lunch, everyone want's to use that puppy.  But they can't. Its mine, and its an old line - going back to the middle ages and the journeymen in the guilds - that if the tool is yours, you get to use it.

But don't get any old reciprocating saber saw, you have to insist on the Milwaukee Sawzall, it's the best.  And get one with a cord, any real Sawzall job is going to require more power than a battery can give. 

And its not a gender deal, I know lots of women who love and are good with tools, and far too many guys that if you handed them a nail gun, or a Sawzall you might as well call the emergency ward and book some time 'cause they will need it.

[Steph]

I've always admired, and even been a little jealous of those who are able to create whether with their hands or minds/both.  I love to browse though the markets, look at the wonderful creations out of wood and metal.  It's absolutely amazing to me.

-={LR}=-

[tekla]

There is something cool about walking in and finding a big pile of stuff, some bits of paper with chicken scratches all over them and walking out with the thing looking better in real life then it did on paper.  It's nice at the end of the day to have something tangible that you have done rather than just move a pile of paper from one side of your desk to the other.

[Alex_C]

Tekla it sounds like you work in construction or something, lucky you havng a job. In my own case, I carry the ol' Swiss Army because it's got what I need when I need it, and the blade is good for cutting stuff in the garden (getting veggies for dinner) I agree locking blades are where it's at for doing anything tough, but then if I do that much tough stuff with a blade I get a fixed blade knife for that purpose. Rather "use up" a $20 fixed blade knife than mess up a nice leatherman etc tool - save that for when I HAVE to.

[tekla]

Or something, its construction of a very specialized sort.  And the fixed blade knifes just take up too much room - and have laws about them - so the folding tactical knives that lock tend to be better, at least in my work.

And I always have the Swiss with me, just not on me.  Its more a tool for living - wine, bud, and tweezers and the like - then for hard core work.

[Alex_C]

Mainly on the swiss army I use the knives, screwdrivers, and the scissors.

Be thankful you HAVE a job. Stock up on survival stuff like more multitools, and other survivalist stuff and cache it somewhere or preferably multiple places. Cache cash, or gold/silver, ammo, etc too. Think survivalist think PARANOID you'll thank me someday. Because as we like to put it, each person is coming to their own personal end-of-the-world-as-they-know it, losing their job losing everything and since it happens at different times for everyone, likely your family and friends will just look down at you in the hole and say it's a personal failure. Don't expect any sympathy from those not yet fallen themselves. And be kind those who HAVE fallen, that "bum" you gave a buck to may be the guy or gal who shows you where the soup kitchen is or where to sleep without getting beaten up by cops or middle class kids.

Sounds pessimistic? It's not. Keep an eye cocked on the economy/politics while you're busy doing your preps and you'll see I'm right. Right now you're working at the last real job you'll ever have.

[tekla]

My job has existed for a long time, almost as old as civilization, and it will be here a long time after I'm gone.

And even if it comes to that, and I don't think it will, industrial collapse will be slow - I have all the personal skills to get by, including know how to design and make things (including tools), though perhaps the best skills are going to be interpersonal ones, as such economies are going to be dependent on group/communal efforts, not personal toil.

[Alex_C]

OK I"m gonna guess you're a clothing maker or shoe maker and yes those are very good choices. I'm considering learning shoe making myself except I'm kind of set on the road of becoming an EMT and then paramedic.

Yes, the general belief is that the collapse will be slow. But what does that mean? Say a decrease in GDP of say, 4% a year? I think that's the last year to year figure. So let's say it's a decrease that's steady on that level. People are still driving cars frantically, not too many stores and restaurants have gone out of biz (Who ever ate at Red Robin anyway?) and even with 16% unemployment (gov't U6 figure) most people are indeed still working.

A slow decrease doesn't mean it stops where it is now. A slow decrease means another 4% drop next year, and the year after that another 4%.... this is why I say you're working at your last job. Anyone with a job here is probably working at their last job. The "fluff" businesses that went out of biz this last year, won't be missed but another like level of downturn means now the semi-solid businesses go, then some that are really rather good in the next year or two. The grind KEEPS ON GOING DOWN. That, my friends, is what will get you.

This is why good tools like Leatherman etc are good to hoard now. My income now is miniscule, but what savings I have right now are in various tools and with the EMT stuff, skills. I'm also quite the scrounger when I see something good, for instance to fasten the two ends of the bungee cords mentioned above, I used some #8 house wire I'd gotten out of a dumpster months ago. Handy stuff! I have a nice big gob of it plus some little #26 telecom stuff.

Probably the best site to read on the economic/social ride we're all going on is one called The Automatic Earth, it's a blog and Google should turn it up. It's the best combination of lack of ads and bloat, good info, lack of extremism, and freshness (2X a day that guy works hard!).

Oh - a good little tool I've gotten a lot of good use out of is a certain Leatherman only sold in Radio Shack, yeah that junkfest, but it has a nice wire stripper on it. I used to use it in my work all the time back when I had a biz in electronic surplus.

[tekla]

Nah, I'm a theater technician - a stagehand mostly rock and roll - carpentry, electrical, audio - and I spent about half my life in Iowa, way out in farm country, on a farm even, if any of that happens, all other skills are secondary to growing and preparing food.

And things are not even close to being as bad as the 1930s, a few more years we may be there, but not yet.

I also have a PhD in the history of technology and I bet I could build a watermill if I needed to. 

[Alex_C]

Yep theatre tech teaches a lot of general skills, it's cool. And musicians and theatre will always be around.

No, not the 1930s yet but yes, in a few years....

I bet anyone who's handy can build a watermill if they have to, doesn't take a degree.

The thing with being a "prepper" is, it's good for you. OK so let's assume we're not heading into the Greater, Permenant, Depression. A good prepper will have savings in things actually worth something, no debt, know how to live on little and have good physical and mental resiliance. If the good times come back we'll be in a much better position to appreciate them.

[tekla]

I bet anyone who's handy can build a watermill if they have to, doesn't take a degree.

I doubt it, I doubt most people would even know how or where to site one.

And the rest of that is pretty much BS ain't it?  The real survivalists I know would not be caught dead on a motor vehicle, they've been riding bikes since the late 80s, getting stronger while you get weaker. And they are not studying for a job that would not exist, they are studying holistic and homeopathic medicine, herbs, and all that stuff.

[Alex_C]

I know all about the bicycle stuff, even did some racing and went bicycle-only for 6 months while I still had my business. I love bicycles, but right now I'm gonna enjoy my motorcycle while I can.

I didn't say most people can build a watermill, I said most ppl who are handy. Much smaller group of people! They could figure it out.

As for EMT/Paramedic, I agree, the job as we know it now is likely not going to exist. When will it wink out of existance? In 6 months? 6 years? 20 years? That's what we dunno. I am not counting on paying work at this, it'd be nice but not what has me doing this. And herbs and all that are great, but allopathic medicine is pretty great too. My own father died from a brain vessel blowing out because he was trying everything but common sense for his high blood pressure. High colonics, chelation therapy for God's sake. And I suffered through a childhood of using "home" or "folk" remedies for stuff that didn't work or were counter-productive and finally if we were lucky we'd get in contact with an MD and get fixed right up. At least we didn't get the horrible chidhood diseases of the past because we had vaccinations. I am very biased toward allopathic medicine, good old mainstream stuff.

Nice talking with you.

[tekla]

So when everyone builds their watermills, what slope do the build the race on?  Exactly, do they build overshot, undershot, or sideshot mills first?  And what kind do they build for the ages, as it were.

And medicine, you know that dying of something like stress, auto accidents or stress is pretty much a luxury death.  80% of the world dies from water borne pathogens.  So, how do you make water pure enough to drink?  How do you do that after the chlorine runs out?  Do you know how to make a natural filtration system?  Difference between life and death if what your talking about comes to pass.

[Alex_C]

Geez.

About the mills, I'm fairly certain the undershot, overshot, or sideshot depends on topography of the mill site. I'm not sure of the ideal angle of the race but I'm assuming it's 30 degrees or so. I"m not sure what type is "for the ages" but then again, when it comes down to building water mills making something that works will matter first, then it can be perfected. I supposed a book on watermills is important to add to the book hoard too. (The Internet may not be around in a few years, perhaps a very few, if you want to store info you gotta store it in the form of books).

Knowing how to purify water is very important and I agree... that's the stuff that's gonna kill ppl in the deindustrialized future we're looking at. I have a fair idea of natural filtration systems, and the importance of boiling water if nothing else. One problem is, modern systems are not made to fail gracefully. The modern water system fails or is comprimised much and then everyone has to boil the water or else.

Car accidents are a luxury, that's true. But we'll see more "farm" type accidents, interactions with farm and other animals, etc. There will be no shortage, sad to say, of injuries and wounds, they'll just be from stuff like wood chopping instead of freeway driving. And yes, the type of problem will shift from car accidents and obesity to water and food impurities and home/farm type accidents.

But back to tools. Those wrenches with a ratcheting mechanism built in are cool. Dunno how strong they really are, but they are cool.