I bought this old Craftsman drill at a garage sale in Dayton for $15, figured I'd use it for a few small jobs around the house. The battery was dead, so I ordered a cheap replacement pack online, and that thing held a charge like a champ for about two years. Then the drill motor started smoking and gave out last week, but that battery still holds a full charge after a day of sitting. Has anyone else had a spare part or battery outlive the actual main tool, and where do you even put a orphan battery like that to use?
He watched me burn through a $20 set in a month and said the trick was buying one good bit and sharpening it instead. Switched to a single cobalt bit from a local shop two years ago, still using it daily. Anyone else get handed advice like that from someone who actually works with tools?
I've had this same skillet since college, and I always wiped oil on after every wash. Last week I made eggs and they stuck so bad I had to scrape them off. My buddy who cooks on an old Lodge told me to stop adding oil every time and just dry it on the stove. So I stripped it down with vinegar and salt, gave it one thin coat, and now it's actually nonstick. Anyone else spend a decade doing the extra step that was making things worse?
I wandered into this dusty place near the bus depot last October, just killing time before a meeting. The owner, a retired machinist named Phil, showed me how to wrap a wrench handle with paracord so it doesn't slip when your hands are greasy. I've rebuilt two mowers and a broken garage door spring since then, and that $8 tip has outlasted every fancy ratchet set I bought online. Anyone else got a random repair trick from a stranger that beat all the YouTube tutorials? Does your local shop guy have one weird hack that just works?
Last month I swapped out 14 bulbs in my house and garage, all old halogens, and the bill went down $23. What surprised me was the lifespan claim, not the energy savings. I found a test report from a lighting lab in Ohio that ran LED bulbs 24/7 and most hit 25,000 hours before dimming noticeably. That's about 11 years at 6 hours a day, which beats the halogen average of 1,200 hours I kept replacing every few months. Has anyone else run the numbers on their own setup and found the same gap, or did you get burnouts way earlier than the box promised?
Everyone on here swears by that brand, but mine fell apart on light commutes. Got a $40 canvas bag from a surplus store in Portland that's still solid after 2 years. Anyone else had hype gear crap out fast?
The chuck seized up on my old cordless drill last Saturday while I was putting up garage shelving in Columbus. It was a cheap Craftsman I got in 2013, so I can't be too mad, but now I'm looking at replacements and everything feels flimsy. Anybody had a modern cordless drill actually last past 5 years of weekend use?