What tool have you used lately, and for what?

[Retired Expat]

Tacked up some low voltage wires using my battery operated hot glue gun. As the walls are all masonry by far the best method. Just love all the new battery powered options out there!

 

[pjigar]

We had a faulty anti-siphon vacuum breaker on an outside faucet that needed to be replaced. By code, it had the head of the break-off screw removed for a "permanent" installation. A couple of neighbors received $300-350 estimates to have theirs replaced.

I installed all my outdoors faucets to a "drop elbow" screwed to the framing. This will make it easy to replace the faucet in the future. Just unscrew the old one and reinstall a new one without removing the siding/brick/etc.

 

[Cassius King]

Pipe wrench and razor knife. Repairing some plumbing for the pool from a very harsh winter. Also had to replace a SimpleSalt ionizer that was heavily "siliconed" into the piping.

 

[three putt]

I switched over to battery powered tools a few years back, mostly in the Dewalt family of hand tools. I've been doing a lot of trim work recently and the battery powered finish nail gun is so much easier than having to drag around a hose, listening to the compressor fill back up every so often.

 

[OldShooter]

I use my watch crab to unscrew the back of my wristwatch so I could change the battery. (JAXA watchmakers screwback watch case opener)

 

[Slim11]

I installed all my outdoors faucets to a "drop elbow" screwed to the framing. This will make it easy to replace the faucet in the future. Just unscrew the old one and reinstall a new one without removing the siding/brick/etc.

The old school way. I went back to this also as the anti freeze ones always broke and leaked. This is the way. Easy to replace if needed.

 

[Lorenzo]

Less likely to but can blow a bad connection apart.

I stand corrected! PEX-A itself generally expands without bursting, but it seems the rings could break.

 

[Slim11]

Yeah, it can certainly freeze. From what I read the rings are the weak point. I set it up that one end runs to an outside spigot. The other end of the PEX has a female spin connection, the same as what you find on a garden hose. When we get down to freezing again I'll have to disconnect it, drain the PEX I ran and let it sit till spring. That's how I plan in winterizing it.

If you have a compressor they sell a screw on fitting you can use to blow it out. Just another option.

 

[surprising]

Table saw, rented from Home Depot, and my miter saw. Rebuilding outdoor columns on my porch that have rotted. Needed the table saw to put a 15 degree bevel on the long edge. Really wish I had my own table saw but I don't have room for it.

 

[jollystomper]

I have spent a couple of days with a pole hedge trimmer, hacking away at a few shrubs around our house that I admittedly have been lazy on annual maintenance, but really need to be cut down to a reasonable size.

 

[Sorcerer]

If you have a compressor they sell a screw on fitting you can use to blow it out. Just another option.

Thanks. Didn't know about that either. I ran the PEX up into the trusses. So it's one big arch. It self drains after I disconnect the one end and open the spigot for a few seconds.

 

[ls99]

Had a hammer in hand, everything looked like a nail......... Just kidding.

Assembling a trellis near my trailer which is a sauna in disguise.
Involves saw, drill, pencil, screws, lumber, tape measure, ladders, bolts, etc....

A piece of lumber is tool when a hammer is to far way to reach while holding a log.

 

[MarieIG]

A jar opener - to open a jar. (DH, the other jar opener, was away helping with the DGC.)

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

A piece of lumber is tool when a hammer is to far way to reach while holding a log.

Murphy's law of toolboxes:

When you need a hammer, any tool within reach becomes one.

 

[planuntilthefisthits]

Last conventional tool: Hammer, to decapitate a centipede.

Last unconventional tool: My hands, to rip open a package. (My hand therapist has said to never use my hands as a tool.)

 

[Sorcerer]

Spray gun and air compressor. I undercoat my truck every year with woolwax lanolin. It helps slow down the rust. It's a dirty job but it will help with frame rust and extend the life of truck...hopefully.

 

[pb4uski]

What are the conections made with? Lol they bust. Thats why campers winterize them. Its all pex, but it breaks at the turns. And I have seen it burst many times, especially when run under a cement slab. It bursts. Trust me. May not be this year, but it will will eventually if left in freezing temps.

If I expect freezing, like at our family camp that has is unoccupied and has no heat over the winter or our travel trailer when we had that, I blow out all the water out of the pex lines with a shop vac and then, this is important, leave all the valves open. That way, if there is any residual water that the shop vac didn't blow out then if the valves are open it can expand as it freezes without damaging fittings.

I've never had a problem.

I'm told that if filled with water pex will expend when it freezes and contract when the frozen water melts, but as Slim11 says the point of failure are at the fittings.

 

[pb4uski]

If you have a compressor they sell a screw on fitting you can use to blow it out. Just another option.

I use a shop vac exhaust.

 

[pb4uski]

Murphy's law of toolboxes:

When you need a hammer, any tool within reach becomes one.

You nailed it! Just today I was putting the top back on a paint can and my hammer was in the garage but a pair of pliers was nearby and did the trick.

 

[pb4uski]

One of the slickest tricks that I saw with a shop vac was when they put in my well.

There were two black plastic pipes run from the well location to the basement of the house (about 300')... one for power and the other for water. They had a big ball of string at one end with a small piece of rag tied to it. They had a shop vac sucking at the other end. Put the small piece of rag into one end and the shop vac sucked it, along with the string, through 300' of pipe in a jiffy. Then they tied the string to romex and pulled the romex through the pipe to the other end.

 

[grasshopper]

My favorite grass/weed tool. It keeps my legs and hands away from where those pesky rattlesnake hide, In addition it's quiet and helps me keep that iron grip.

 

[Sorcerer]

Cabinet hardware jig. I never used one before and wanted to try it out. Purchased a nice one from Amazon. Had to mount 4 largeish 8" cabinet handles. It worked really well. Makes it pretty much idiot proof. The cabinet wasn't cheap and I didn't want to screw it up. Knobs are definitely easier to install...one hole instead of two.

 

[old medic]

Shovel, Hoe trowel and wheelbarrow... build a concrete pad for the Mini-split to sit on...
Next up is a hammer drill for anchor bolts and the hole in the foundation wall.

 

[Ronstar]

Planer. Getting a piece of ash to thickness for the handle of my first fishing net build.

 

[sparky08]

Murphy's law of toolboxes:

When you need a hammer, any tool within reach becomes one.

What’s that old saying?

“When all you have is a hammer, the world looks like a nail.”

Or something like that.