Replies

1. 
   theRev | Dec 11, 2002 02:04am | #1

   Save that chisel. You can use it on curly maple! <g>

   Bet it make short work of that brad, though.

   Scott

1. 
   WoodBeaver | Dec 11, 2002 04:48am | #4

   That brad suffered severe trauma as did my heart!! 

   I was actually going to use it as a glue spreader for tile work and throw away my 1/2" by 1/2" notch trowel!!

   WoodBeaver

1. 
   mitch | Dec 11, 2002 04:57am | #5

   over the years i've considered just putting a picture of myself and a mirror on my shop door with a sign that says, "If the face in the mirror doesn't match the picture next to it, KEEP OUT!  If you are invited to enter by the person in the picture, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

   fine jewelers flush cut nippers used for pliers; a $1000 prototype vise bumped off its pedestal onto the concrete floor; ... the list goes on and on.

   mitch

1. 
   WoodBeaver | Dec 11, 2002 05:09am | #6

   Here's a good too. Brother in law or sould I say bother in law!

   Playing the drums with screw drivers on a brand new $150 table saw blade!!

   Needless to say THAT BEAT DIDN"T GO ON!!!

   Your idea of the picture works for me. Just add that the shop is guarded by a PORTER CABLE with a hair trigger and no saftey!!!!

   WoodBeaver

1. 
   quatersawn | Dec 12, 2002 03:25am | #8

   I like the neigborhood guy who stops by your shop, DRINK in hand, and proceeds to place it on the table saw top, leaving a ring that is still there to this day!

2. 
   WoodBeaver | Dec 12, 2002 05:59am | #10

   Sigh, the wonderful drunken neigbour!!! He left a lasting impression for you to remember long after he or you move!!! Or should I say after he is run out of town by a lynch mob!!!! 

   I found half a can of coke in my sawsall box the other day. Too bad it wasn't still in the can!! I love having employees!!!

   WoodBeaver

3. 
   billballeza | Dec 13, 2002 12:51am | #16

   I have a friend who put his beer down on my benchtop once. I quickly picked it up and handed it back to him. Not two minutes later he put it down there again. I picked it up again, wiped up the ring, and led him into the house. I still don't think he gets it. I guess you have your "shop friends" and your "house friends".

4. 
   JohnCabot | Dec 18, 2002 07:13am | #22

   This story has to with carpentry, and not tools. My friend was building a house with a lot of doors and windows and he purchased several bundles of shims.The day he needed them he could not find them. When he explained to his 10 years old son what they looked like, the  son replied:  " Mom used them all. she said they are the best thing to start a fire"!

   John Cabot 

5. 
   mitch | Dec 18, 2002 05:18pm | #23

   a quick funnie about shims-

   a few years ago i'm buying a couple packs of shims at home depot and the young gal at the register says, "I see a lot of people buying these but I don't know what they're for."  I give a brief explanation and she asks, "Isn't that kinda cheating?"

   m

6. 
   JohnCabot | Dec 19, 2002 04:30am | #24

   Just a few minutes after I shared the story about the shims, the door bell ringed and the 10 years old boy next door  came to ask if he could borrow a pair of scissors. I promptly gave them to him and on his way out I asked: " You mean you do not have a pair of scissors at home?".

   Yes, we do, replied the boy, but my father needs them to cut aluminum flashing .

   This reminds what my old carpenter friend (72) used to say:

   To some of my neighbors I would loan my wife before  loaning my tools.

   John Cabot

   Edited 12/18/2002 8:32:43 PM ET by JOHNCABOT

7. 
   WoodBeaver | Dec 22, 2002 06:08pm | #25

   You have to admit she has a point!!!

   WoodBeaver

2. 
   BG | Dec 11, 2002 02:20am | #2

   Woodbeaver,

   Take heart...there is a God !  My farther left me his chisels...unfortunately, some fat little kid (me) used them for screw drivers.  I have just spent about 4 hours putting a new point on one of them...about 9 to go...sigh !

   In case you were wondering.....I know for a fact your mom liked you best.

1. 
   WoodBeaver | Dec 11, 2002 04:44am | #3

   I never wondered for a second of my life!!! I knew from the minute I was born she liked me more!!  PMPL

   He even had an extra 10 yaers to try to win her over!!

   Good luck with your dads chisels. They certainly mean alot more than some chisels that you could go buy in a store. Altough they do make great screw drivers!!

   WoodBeaver

2. 
   DennisS | Dec 12, 2002 07:23am | #11

   > .... My farther left me his chisels...

   The other day I took this beat up battered old green box down from the shelf in my shop, the box being my grampa's tool chest. Now Grampa wasn't a woodworker in the sense we use it here - he was a carpenter, well, really a carpenter's helper.

   None the less, in the box I find this huge framing chisel. No markings to identify it nor do I harbor any missgivings that it's made of some mysterious swedish steel laminated by elves in Bavaria or anything. But it's sure a neat old piece; edge divots and all.

   Intend to sharpen the thing up and actually use it some day. The thought of holding one of his tools in my hands and crafting something just ... makes me feel good.

   ...........

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

1. 
   BG | Dec 12, 2002 02:29pm | #12

   ...Swedish elves living in Bavaria...laminating chisels...any relation to the North Pole elves that make toys?...

   Ya know, your not too old to admit that the though of Santa coming to town still gets you excited......lol    

3. 
   GeeSeaWhy | Dec 11, 2002 10:08am | #7

   My ex-wife, in a rare fit of helpfulness, said she would rip up the old floor tiles in the rec room. So I told her where my chisels were. That night I discovered that she didn't know the difference between a cold chisel and a woodworking chisel...

1. 
   WoodBeaver | Dec 12, 2002 05:53am | #9

   Wow! What  a great little helper!!! Is that why the post said EX infront of the the wife???

   LOL

   WoodBeaver

1. 
   GeeSeaWhy | Dec 12, 2002 09:25pm | #14

   Well, that's just one example of one factor in the inevitable breakdown...

1. 
   Elcoholic | Dec 12, 2002 11:41pm | #15

   My wife and daughter must think that having a little bent hook on the tip of MY kitchen knives improves the knives' performance.  Why else would they continually toss them in the sink.  My son has his own set of Henkle professional knives that he keeps in a zippered soft case for work, he never leaves them around.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking

   Life is tough.  It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne

1. 
   GeeSeaWhy | Dec 17, 2002 09:54pm | #19

   After my daughter got seriously into cooking it didn't take her too long to realise that putting her knives away was a good idea. Even better was putting them away somewhere mom wouldn't find them.

2. 
   rody | Dec 17, 2002 10:05pm | #20

   My better half is an ambitious helper and was helping on the patio project. While I was at work, she put the pavers down in the forms that we had laid out. The end blocks needed trimmed. You guessed it. I explained the differences between wood chisels and masonry chisels and showed her the differences as we picked out a replacement for my  3/4" chisel. Her reply, " But it worked, didn't it?" No arguing with that. <g>  She hasn't lived it down 3 yrs. later.

   Lefty - Lurker without an attitude or a clue

4. 
   jhausch | Dec 12, 2002 02:48pm | #13

   Great story.  I expect as much from kids, but it infuriates me when anyone over 12 misuses a tool.  Even cheap tools can earn their way if taken care of.  Don't have any kids, but suspect that I will set aside some certain tools for the neices and nephews to use when they visit if they want to "play" with Uncle Jim.

   Here's my funny tool mis-use story:

   I have a hand made pocket knife that set me back about $145.  Great knife with 4" blade.  Meant to be carried and used, not a display case item.  (I bought it back when I had more spare change than I do now.)  Anyway, while watching TV and watching the wife out of the corner of my eye I saw her puttering around and she grabbed the knife and headed out of view.

   I waited about 15 seconds and then said, "That knife costs about 150 bucks and it cuts great.  I hope that is what you are using it for and not as a screwdriver or prybar."  She came back in the room, put the knife back in place and said, "Then go get me a screwdriver!"

   Steelkilt Lives!
1. 
   Kell | Dec 13, 2002 01:23am | #17

   These are great.  Here's mine:

   While I'm out of town on a business trip, one of my neighbors asks my first wife if I have a plane he can use.  She tells him she doesn't know but to look out in the shop.  He goes out there and being the highly skilled woodworker that he is grabs my jointer plane.  Probably because it was the biggest.  He uses it and comes back later that evening to return it.  He then borrows a block plane which he returns.

   I get back from the trip and I'm working on something.  Reach for my block plane, which is always sharp and set for very thin shaving, without looking I place it on the board and it immediately screeches to a halt.  I pick it up and the blade appears to have been used to trim some brick work.

   I'm working the blade over on the sharpening stones, bitching to myself about people using tools without permission when the wife comes in.  She mentions that Bill had been using one of my planes but it was a much bigger one.  I grab the jointer plane and it's blade looks really bad compared to the block plane.  I calmly point out that use of these tools is no longer an option and, after I show her the blade and explain how long it is going to take to get it back to that level, she understands.

   The planes are back in action, the first wife is now remarried (as am I) and Bill is buried up behind the shed.

   Kell

   Okay he isn't but heaven knows I wanted to put him there.  I never could get him to tell me what he was going with them to kill blades like that.

1. 
   WoodBeaver | Dec 17, 2002 02:36pm | #18

   Those knives kinda sound like my BUCK TOOTH DEW WORM chisel!! LOL  Wonderful/Useless people that think they know!!

   WoodBeaver

2. 
   mrles | Dec 18, 2002 12:46am | #21

   I have a golden rule I loan my tools only to the same people I would loan my toothbrush to. It works for me. I have a set of Craftsman tools I bought in 1964,( $99.00) the only thing missing out of the original set are the hacksaw blades and a couple of Allen wrenches. I wore them out.

   God Bless and Happy Holidays

   les