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drjim
MVM
join:2000-06-13
Long Beach, CA

drjim to telco_mtl

MVM

to telco_mtl

Re: Old Power Tools

Yep, I agree it's very sad. We really need more vocational schools. Not everybody is cut out for, or should, go to College.
When I was in high-school back in the middle 60's, I wanted to take General Shop. My "counselor", looking at nothing more than my test scores, said no, because "Shop was for dummies"!
I old my parents what he'd said when I got home, and my Dad, a Tool and Die Maker, called the school to make an appointment with my counselor.
I never heard what he told the counselor, but the next day I was signed up for the shop class.
Call me old-fashioned, but I grew up in an era like what telco_mtl describes. Men were EXPECTED to know how to fix things, and get them fixed, even if it meant getting dirty and sweaty.
Today it just us "hobbyists" for have an appreciation of things like the old tools in this thread, and who know how to use them.
Very sad indeed......
telco_mtl
join:2012-01-06

telco_mtl

Member

i often reget listening to my highschool guidance counsellor for telling me to go into I.T. when i initially wanted to go into electricity, but tradeschools as you said above "trades are for dummies" im the guy in my circle of friends who is proud to drive a beater, scour U-pull yards for the best parts deals, all my buddies tell me i could easily afford a new car why dont i get one, i like the feeling of fixing it myself, so what if its off the road sometimes for a couple of days, my 2 beaters cost me less than their lease!

drjim
MVM
join:2000-06-13
Long Beach, CA

drjim

MVM

Yeah, I've been 'tinkering' with stuff since I was 10 years old. The General Shop class I wanted to take was 6 weeks of wood shop, 6 weeks of metal shop, 6 weeks of automotive, etc until the school year was finished.
I aced all of them, and learned a lot of things I didn't know, and have never forgotten.
I'm sure dear old Dad reamed the counselor a new one, as he seemed a bit miffed at me when I went to pick up my new class schedule!
telco_mtl
join:2012-01-06

telco_mtl

Member

said by drjim:

Yeah, I've been 'tinkering' with stuff since I was 10 years old. The General Shop class I wanted to take was 6 weeks of wood shop, 6 weeks of metal shop, 6 weeks of automotive, etc until the school year was finished.
I aced all of them, and learned a lot of things I didn't know, and have never forgotten.
I'm sure dear old Dad reamed the counselor a new one, as he seemed a bit miffed at me when I went to pick up my new class schedule!

i have dealt with a lot of engineers in my career and its discouraging the amount of them that cant take things to practice after designing them. I am amazed how easy it is today for me to make a little extra pocket money simply doing "handyman" stuff for people, its simply because people dont know how to do things anymore

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

said by telco_mtl:

said by drjim:

Yeah, I've been 'tinkering' with stuff since I was 10 years old. The General Shop class I wanted to take was 6 weeks of wood shop, 6 weeks of metal shop, 6 weeks of automotive, etc until the school year was finished.
I aced all of them, and learned a lot of things I didn't know, and have never forgotten.
I'm sure dear old Dad reamed the counselor a new one, as he seemed a bit miffed at me when I went to pick up my new class schedule!

i have dealt with a lot of engineers in my career and its discouraging the amount of them that cant take things to practice after designing them. I am amazed how easy it is today for me to make a little extra pocket money simply doing "handyman" stuff for people, its simply because people dont know how to do things anymore

I've observed the same thing and it's one reason we are falling behind in the world.

People now are helpless unless it can be texted, tweeted, or found on X-Box.
telco_mtl
join:2012-01-06

telco_mtl

Member

said by Jack_in_VA:

said by telco_mtl:

said by drjim:

Yeah, I've been 'tinkering' with stuff since I was 10 years old. The General Shop class I wanted to take was 6 weeks of wood shop, 6 weeks of metal shop, 6 weeks of automotive, etc until the school year was finished.
I aced all of them, and learned a lot of things I didn't know, and have never forgotten.
I'm sure dear old Dad reamed the counselor a new one, as he seemed a bit miffed at me when I went to pick up my new class schedule!

i have dealt with a lot of engineers in my career and its discouraging the amount of them that cant take things to practice after designing them. I am amazed how easy it is today for me to make a little extra pocket money simply doing "handyman" stuff for people, its simply because people dont know how to do things anymore

I've observed the same thing and it's one reason we are falling behind in the world.

People now are helpless unless it can be texted, tweeted, or found on X-Box.

a big sign of what is happening is our "home improvement" shows on TV there was a time in the 80s when they used to show us how to do the nitty gritty, install a sub panel, sweat pipe, install a receptacle. today they are all about paint and wallpaper, same goes for magazines, i remember certain magazines used to be about home improvement and car repair, now sadly they hardly have any of that stuff. Its like the places we buy from, i remember when i was a kid heading down to one of the 3 local lumberyards. They were classic hardware stores on steroids, nothing pretty but had everything you need and were staffed with guys who knew their product and if they didnt have an item could tell you where to go. Today those 3 yards as well as my 2 favorite local hardware stores are gone. Now all i have in my direct area are 3 of the big home center places, while they may be pretty to shop at they are not the old hardware and lumberyard. but this can be attributed to the fact "we dont know how to do anything anymore" It can easily be seen on garbage day by what people throw out. My neighbor loves it, he is retired and fixes small engines in his spare time. He pulls lawnmowers out of the trash, cleans the carb, changes the oil and paints them and sells for a profit. 30 years ago most people i know would have done all that prior to simply tossing it.

sorry im going in circles its just this is a subject that really gets me going, and its the same in the US as in Canada, people are becomming helpless. This isnt good, we have become 2 nations of button pushers.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

+1
telco_mtl
join:2012-01-06

telco_mtl

Member

said by Jack_in_VA:

+1

jack, im glad we agree!

SparkChaser
Premium Member
join:2000-06-06
Downingtown, PA

SparkChaser to telco_mtl

Premium Member

to telco_mtl
said by telco_mtl:

i have dealt with a lot of engineers in my career and its discouraging the amount of them that cant take things to practice after designing them. I am amazed how easy it is today for me to make a little extra pocket money simply doing "handyman" stuff for people, its simply because people dont know how to do things anymore

/rant on
I saw this start the early 90's and has just gotten worse. There seem to be few engineers that have any practical skills. To make it worse you now have 'human resources' putting people though a battery of tests and interviews by people who don't have a clue. The clueless interviewing the clueless.
/rant off

Glad I'm retired

Coma
Thanks Steve
Premium Member
join:2001-12-30
NirvanaLand

Coma

Premium Member

said by SparkChaser:

Glad I'm retired


+1


drjim
MVM
join:2000-06-13
Long Beach, CA

drjim to telco_mtl

MVM

to telco_mtl
Boy, you sure have that right!
I'm an Engineer, but I'm a hands-on guy. The young guys I work with don't know which end of a soldering iron to pick up, or how to hold a screwdriver so if it slips you won't jab yourself in the hand!
When I look at the great things our Country has done, and the incredible feats of Civil Engineering (Hoover Dam), Mechanical Engineering (mass produced V8 engines), and Electrical Engineering (the power grid), it really make me scratch my head and wonder how we got here.
We not only couldn't build projects like that any more due to the lack of "Hands On" people it takes to drive a project of that magnitude, we also lack the will to do great things like that.

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall

MVM

I have a Mechanical Design (Engineering, A.S.) degree and have always considered those with hands-on experience in machining, for example, to have a leg-up on me... I did have a "Machine Tools" class in college for (1) quarter but it was 99% book and 1% hands-on. We used a lathe ONE TIME.
telco_mtl
join:2012-01-06

telco_mtl to drjim

Member

to drjim
said by drjim:

Boy, you sure have that right!
I'm an Engineer, but I'm a hands-on guy. The young guys I work with don't know which end of a soldering iron to pick up, or how to hold a screwdriver so if it slips you won't jab yourself in the hand!
When I look at the great things our Country has done, and the incredible feats of Civil Engineering (Hoover Dam), Mechanical Engineering (mass produced V8 engines), and Electrical Engineering (the power grid), it really make me scratch my head and wonder how we got here.
We not only couldn't build projects like that any more due to the lack of "Hands On" people it takes to drive a project of that magnitude, we also lack the will to do great things like that.

i work near the st-lawrence seaway and everyday i look at that thing, in the 1950s Canada and the US built a canal capable of moving ocean going (at the time) vessels to the great lakes, they built a lake between cornwall ontario and lake ontario, built a staircase around niagara falls. When you look at the companies that provided the equipment, canadian vickers, marine industries to name 2 neither are around. on the canadian side since we dont have legislation like you guys have our ship building industry is dead...

it really is sad.

caffeinator
Coming soon to a cup near you..
Premium Member
join:2005-01-16
00000

caffeinator to drjim

Premium Member

to drjim
said by drjim:

Boy, you sure have that right!
I'm an Engineer, but I'm a hands-on guy. The young guys I work with don't know which end of a soldering iron to pick up, or how to hold a screwdriver so if it slips you won't jab yourself in the hand!

I hear ya. I fixed my broken Ovale V8 e-cig device this morning. The bloody tiny paper-thin wires to the battery compartment (on a 2.5amp device no less!) had just snapped off from the solder joints on the IC board. Fortunately, Wal-Mart still carries solder...at 3AM.

I hadn't picked up an iron since the 1980's, but it is like riding a bike, eh?

Instead of pitching a $30 device, I simply fixed it. But, I reckon that buying a $2 tube of solder and repairing it is bad for Capitalism...I should have just bought a new one right?

:-\

drjim
MVM
join:2000-06-13
Long Beach, CA

drjim

MVM

Don't know about being "good for capitalism", but at least you didn't send any more money to China.....

caffeinator
Coming soon to a cup near you..
Premium Member
join:2005-01-16
00000

caffeinator

Premium Member

said by drjim:

Don't know about being "good for capitalism", but at least you didn't send any more money to China.....

That's a catch-22 sort of deal there, since I actually bought it from an excellent American vendor. Sure, he bought it from overseas, that's where they are made. But, I'm supporting him too.