Cheap Tools Everyone Should Collect

db5 · Post by **db5** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:42 pm

Those old credit cards, ATM cards, hotel door keys, etc. should go in your tool drawer. I probably have 40 and the number goes down and up.

They can be used for spreading glue, wood filler, paste on drywall, scraping on a surface you don't want scratched, mixing platforms for epoxy, spacers for "whatever" when you put a rubber band around the number to determine the spaces and as a way to create a template for a compound/convex combination curve. Just put a rubber band around them and then shove them against the molding or whatever you want to match and you now have a good match. (You can also use a deck of cards for this).

I never use my metal putty knives for anything but serious scraping. These cards are much better.

When finished, just wipe it clean or toss it. But, never, never throw these away until you have used them for a more useful purpose than getting money out of a machine, opening a door, or getting you deeper and deeper into debt.

swampgator · Post by **swampgator** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 10:04 pm

Also, may I suggest that when you toss those old gift/credit cards, that burn them is an excellent option. Even if the card is expired, when a thief gets hold of it, he can use it to put credit in your name, but do much damage before he gets caught. I use my chiminea for burning all my personal info and then I have a fire to burn my wood scraps. But your idea is an excellent one. Thank you.

skou · Post by **skou** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 12:32 am

Steve, a couple passes with a STRONG magnet will render that strip useless.

That is unless there's raised numbers on the surface. In that case, burn them after using them.

steve

skou · Post by **skou** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 12:35 am

db5 wrote: "Opening a door."

There is more than one way to open a door with these! (Sorry, too many years around the "south end" of the law.)

stevge

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 7:01 am

One of my favorite cheap tools is $1 or $2 yard sale skate boards (I think I have 3 now). I move all manner of stuff around the shops with them. They will carry a huge amount of weight and keep it down low.

For most of us we should resist any urge to step up on one.

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fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:07 pm

skou wrote:There is more than one way to open a door with these! (Sorry, too many years around the "south end" of the law.)

stevge

Comment reminded me of a friend who opened a door to a house a group had rented with his credit card. Somehow the card became jammed and cracked in half. It was the only card he had along and no one would take it for purchases. His trip to Alaska became frustrating to say the least. We helped him out but kidded him a lot. This fellow was a wealthy physician that normally carried a pocket full of plastic. Jim

db5 · Post by **db5** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:37 am

fjimp wrote:Comment reminded me of a friend who opened a door to a house a group had rented with his credit card.

How did the group get his credit card to rent the house? How did he get it back to open the door?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:52 am

db5 wrote:How did the group get his credit card to rent the house? How did he get it back to open the door?

He said he used it to open the door(implying success).

He did not say it broke in half with one half stuck in the jamb.

P.S. I assume the house was already paid for.

P.P.S. Wonder why he did NOT have a key?

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 4:33 pm

JPG40504 wrote:He said he used it to open the door(implying success).

He did not say it broke in half with one half stuck in the jamb.

P.S. I assume the house was already paid for.

P.P.S. Wonder why he did NOT have a key?

Wow sorry to confuse. I paid for the house prior to traveling to destination. My friend was always a bit of a clown. He beat me to the door (key was in my pocket) and did the old credit card open trick. It was really cold outside and he must have twisted the card which broke it in half. The reason no one would accept the card being that it was in two pieces. I confess to enjoying seeing his sheepish grin and the broken card in his hand. I wish he were still with us. I am taking several friends to Alaska later this year and it won't seem the same without him. Before I confuse everyone again. First off each person pays their own way. Secondly the people we rent from are personal friends of mine, my job is to reserve housing and boat rentals. If I am lucky I will catch a few Silver (Coho) salmon. Jim

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:12 am

This post is for you guys that would use a dial indicator while cutting concrete form stakes.

One of my very frequently used tools is a common wooden yardstick. If I was cutting wooden gears for an old clock I would get really fussy about measuring. Most of my work is not like that. Just this week I have been building simple "undercarriages" for storage units like shelves etc. to put stuff up on casters. Nothing fancy and the dimensions rarely matter much other than being fairly close to the same at all corners and the like.
For such things I like to be able to grab a yardstick to measure. Even on more critical stuff I often double check myself to be sure I am playing in the right ballpark and have not caught my late uncle's disease... He always tried to measure everything to the nearest 1/64th of an inch, even linoleum and carpet. The trouble was he concentrated so hard in that tiny measurement that he would get off by a full inch or two.

I can grab a yardstick and double check that I am not off a mile.
Yardsticks are getting harder to come by now and you have to double check them when you get them. I once found one that was 1/4" short.

Most are quite close.
Earlier this week I took 5 or 6 yardsticks to the basement woodshop and placed them around in various spots. This morning I was hanging an item on the wall of the next room and I went to the shop to get a yardstick to center it (I carry a steel tape but a yardstick is easier to use one handed). Would you believe that the shop absorbed all of them overnight? I could not find a single one of them... I did finally find one and got the item hung then I went upstairs and raided a couple of my stash locations and gathered up 20 more yardsticks. Surely I can hang enough of them around (with a pencil next to all of them) that I will be able to grab one when I need it.

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