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knuckle47 said:
Long before the boxes of Harbor Freight latex gloves, When I was actively working, there was a doctor in the office building who was a real enthusiastic auto mechanic. Whenever we’d meet we would talk about different projects… I noticed his hands were always VERY clean, doctor like hands and fingers. I asked him how. He knew I was always elbow deep in FJ40.

He gave me a box of exam gloves…” these work 90% of the time’ he said. A decade later I always had the HF gloves in the garage.

During Covid about early 2021 my dentist said these are going to get harder to come by… when I asked him why he told me Covid was going to be demanding all kinds of protective equipment. I’d stopped at Harbor Freight on the way home and sent him a photo of the wall of latex gloves. I bought a few boxes…he went that weekend…SOLD OUT…Limit 2

The rest, as they say, is history
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I went through boxes of those HF gloves but recently, when they were completely out of my size, I picked up these Gorilla nitrile gloves at HD. They are so much better. Very easy to put on compared to the HF ones. Of course they are more expensive but they are well worth the price.

 
My biggest problem with gloves is I only think about them after my hands are all greased up. I try to wear them though because washing my hands a dozen times a day, day after day, ends up with cracked fingers, especially in winter. I'm going to try the Gorilla gloves out of curiosity but got a pretty good stash of various brand nitriles I've picked up at estate sales etc. For the basic nitrile, I like the Sam's Club best.
 
I'm always using nitrile gloves. Work fine.
I was given a box of -I'm sure inexpensive- -and thin- vinyl gloves. I'm lucky if they don't tear just putting them on (and the size is correct). But if they don't, they will for sure within 5mins of working. Who makes that stuff....?
Don't know if it's the vinyl (I suspect it is, they are not as stretchy as nitrile) or a bad batch but dang....
Even with just painting they are super sketchy.
 
Had a bunch of scrap lumber full of staples, so I picked up a pair of Knipex end cutting nippers. My first Knipex tool, got it 20% off with a coupon which put it pretty close to the price of other, locally available nippers. Absolutely love them, I keep looking for reasons to get something else from Knipex but haven't quite been able to justify anything yet. My only complaint is that they're so sharp it is almost too easy to cut off a staple or small nail instead of pulling it.
IMG_6250.webp
 
the Knipex cutters are typically very strong and I like that they also tell you clearly the max you can cut with them, quite the difference with many other brands. Good stuff.
 
Also, if you want to retain the click clamps on an older Toyota, (such as the ones that retain the hoses that go into the heater core on a 60-series), the ones everyone will tell you can't be re-used, get these.

Hose Clamp Pliers for Click Clamps | Products | KNIPEX Tools

www.knipex-tools.com www.knipex-tools.com



For every other hose clamp on your Toyota grab a pair of these.

 
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On the subject of skilsaws, I thought I'd post a picture of a 1950's Skil 12" 20 amp worm drive that I have had for a long time and thoroughly enjoy. It's only 1800 rpm so it runs modern metal cutting blades like a champ. But only if you know a machinist who can mill the Skil diamond in the blade center.

But I can't find the saw.

I better call my friend that forgets to return the stuff he borrows. Are you reading this Tom? Lol.
 
Tears said:
What's wrong about that?
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Nothing wrong with it, I just noticed its non-USA. We have the 110v system for most things like that and 220v is for big stuff. Would be way better if we used 220v like the rest of the world so we can use double the amount of watts with the same size circuit... only benefit to 110v that i know of is that its what we've always used....
 
^^ well, in some places like the UK and Ireland for example, where all the household stuff is 220V, power tools used professionally are usually 110V because they are safer and so better for construction sites for instance. I can vouch for that as I have been zapped by both 110V and 220V and it's night and day. I am not super worried about 110 but you can be sure I am very careful around 220. One zap of 220 was enough to learn my lesson. If I had to try to describe it, it'd be that 110 is like a tap and 220 is a punch.
 
TheBussman said:
Nothing wrong with it, I just noticed its non-USA. We have the 110v system for most things like that and 220v is for big stuff. Would be way better if we used 220v like the rest of the world so we can use double the amount of watts with the same size circuit... only benefit to 110v that i know of is that its what we've always used....
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Oh I see I didn't know that 220V wasn't available in usa.

I remember when I was a child my father bought a Macintosh desktop from the USA. Anyway I plugged it into 220V. Guess what happened :)
 
Oh, it's available, it's just not used for household voltage requirements. Ovens, dryers and other high current appliances use it.

It's widely used in industry, because most industrial sites have 3-phase power; one leg is pulled off for low current use and the other two are used to power equipment.
 
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My new favorite tool:

PXL_20250916_212630845.webp

Been working on swapping out rusty/crusty hardware on the Tacoma. Broke one skid plate bolt, so I got this thing out. First time using it, it works exactly as they say it does. You put the coil around the head of the bolt or the nut, push the button and hold till it starts glowing red (about 20-30 sec). Put a wrench on the bolt, darned if it doesn't spin right out, easy peasy. This is one of those tools that makes you say "I wish I bought this years ago".

One big design flaw in this model, the go button (red one) is on the side and you have to be careful when you put it down that you don't set it on the button, which turns it on. Probably not good for the coil.
 
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