Jump over to the Events Forum, to post events -- new ones or the ones we have been enjoying for some time. Look to see what's been cancelled or postponed.
1970 Chevrolet C10 - Grandpa’s- My first truck.—in progress to shiny 1972 Chevrolet C20- rusted 1970 Chevrolet K20 Suburban—rusted. 1950 Chevrolet 1300- in progress to shiny.
Parts trucks- 1951 GMC 9300 1951-GMC 9430 1951- Chevrolet 1300
The last tool I bought wasn't vehicle related, but it would come in handy for re-wiring work. It was day before yesterday and within 2 hours of buying it, the thing may have saved my life. Or at least saved me from an unwanted shock. It was one of those combination wire cutter, crimper, stripper things and I was adding lights under the south part of our place in the mountains. That part of the house only has about 18 inches of clearance at best, is dark as a coal mine and I've grown tired of dragging a crawl light around with me when something needs to be done. There was a wire down there...probably left from when the place was built. Just laying there coiled up and when I tested it a couple of years ago it didn't seem like it had juice in it. I had decided it was connected to a switch somewhere (which was off) or which had been run but never connected at the breaker box. It was 14/2 wire, which I needed a bit more of, so I cut straight through it and POW. Large spark which was followed immediately by me banging my head sharply on the beam above me. Still holding the thing and seeing lots of little dots dancing in front of my eyes, I reflected on how nice it was somebody somewhere added rubber grips on the handles. The brand was Gardner-Bender and it was about $9 at the Foxworth-Galbraith store. One of these days I'm going to have to start wearing gloves.
Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums
I did that once, just not in a crawlspace. Still have the wire cutters with a notch burnt in them. Yeah, rubber grips are good. In my case the breaker tripped immediately (that was the one that I forgot to turn off ). I think even without rubber grips, you'd have just suffered the dots in front of your eyes, as the electricity would go back thru the neutral, not thru you. In High School we had a crazy science teacher who set up a bulb in a receptacle with exposed terminals and had us put our fingers (of one hand) across the screws of the terminals with the power turned on. Not even a tingle, because the light was using the power. He did say not to try that without the light bulb screwed in, though.
Kevin First car '29 Ford Special Coupe #2 - '29 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. Newest Project - 51 Chevy 3100 work truck. Photos [flickr.com] Busting rust since the mid-60's
Yes, Kevin but when you're in a cramped space and you see that big spark and the resulting POW, your brain stops processing logic for a moment.
When I was in high school our chemistry teacher discovered in an old railroad warehouse a sealed container with sodium metal inside. The container was thick glass with what looked like a bakelite top. As I recall it had to be stored in kerosene or naphtha...something like that. He brought it into our class...all agog with excitement because he knew it would react in water and wanted us to see it. The container was covered in red danger stickers in 3 or 4 languages and the piece of metal was about 2" x 3" x 4". It looked very old and covered in a soft whitish layer of what we supposed was oxidation damage. Maybe something brought up from a shipwreck. At the front of the class was an oak observation cabinet with arm holes/gloves on each side and a tempered glass front which slid down from the top. He poured about a quart of water into a plastic bucket and dropped the chunk of metal in...all of it. Nothing happened, so he closed the glass front, turned around to the class and started saying "well, I'm sorry class. Looks like this is too old and just a dud." A few seconds after he finished the sentence, an explosion blew glass bits, water and pieces of wood across everyone in the room and seemed to shake the entire school. The silence that followed was maybe the most remarkable part of it. I recall the girl who sat next to me just staring at me and blinking. His eyes were as large as golf balls and when the principal ran in to see what happened, he couldn't even make a sentence.
Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums
I understand Jon. I may have needed to change my underwear after my episode. I know a few choice words cut thru the noise.
Your story definitely trumps mine.
Kevin First car '29 Ford Special Coupe #2 - '29 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. Newest Project - 51 Chevy 3100 work truck. Photos [flickr.com] Busting rust since the mid-60's
I just picked up an over center, cam type of valve spring compressor tool. I can't get to all my springs with it, but the ones I can get, it makes life 10 times better! The little screw type works for the springs in the tight areas.
This is my “newest” edition to my arsenal... 1936 9” South Bend model C with a decent amount of tooling and a complete set of change gears for threading. I have not touched a lathe in almost 20 years but I always enjoyed using them in the machine shop in high school. Ironically the first part I made on it was a part for the lathe haha. Was missing the handle on the tailstock.
Last edited by Barnfind49; Tue Nov 24 2020 03:11 PM.
).
