Tutorial: Usage of tools

Found this useful guide to the uses of tools that might come in handy:


a.. DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat
metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and
flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly
painted part you were drying.

b.. WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere
under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls
and hard-earned guitar calluses in about the time it takes you to say,
"Ouch...."

c.. ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel pop rivets in
their holes until you die of old age

d.. PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.

e.. HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board
principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion,
and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your
future becomes.

f.. MOLE GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is
available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the
palm of your hand.

g.. OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various
flammable objects in your garage on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease
inside a brake drum you're trying to get the bearing race out of.

h.. WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and
motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 12 or 14 mm
socket you've been searching for the last 15 minutes.

i.. HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering a motorcycle to the ground
after you have installed your new front disk brake setup, trapping the jack
handle firmly under the front fender.

j.. EIGHT-FOOT LONG PINE 4"x2": Used for levering a motorcycle upward
off a hydraulic jack.

k.. TWEEZERS: A tool for removing pine wood splinters.

l.. PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbour to see if he has another
hydraulic floor jack.

m.. HALFORDS GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for
spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog-sh*t off your boot.

n.. E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in bolt holes
and is ten times harder than any known drill bit.

o.. TIMING LIGHT: A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease
buildup.

p.. TWO-TON HYDRAULIC ENGINE HOIST: A handy tool for testing the tensile
strength of ground straps and brake lines you may have forgotten to
disconnect.

q.. CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large motor mount prying tool
that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end
without the handle.

r.. BATTERY ELECTROLYTE TESTER: A handy tool for transferring sulfuric
acid from a car battery to the inside of your toolbox after determining that
your battery is dead as a doornail, just as you thought.

s.. AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

t.. TROUBLE LIGHT: The mechanic's own tanning booth. Sometimes called a
drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin," which
is not otherwise found under motorcycles at night. Health benefits aside,
it's main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate
that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours
of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat
misleading.

u.. PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style
paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; can also be used, as
the name implies, to round off Phillips screw heads.

v.. AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning
power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that
travels by hose to a Birmingham Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts
last tightened 40 years ago by someone in Newcastle, and rounds them off.

w.. PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or
bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 pence part.

x.. HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses 1/2 inch too short.

y.. HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is
used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive parts not far from the
object we are trying to hit.

z.. MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of
cardboard boxes delivered to your front door; works particularly well on
boxes containing seats and motorcycle jackets.