Thread: Home improvements

Originally Posted by Aggelos

I wish I was actually taught how to fix things.

I'm one these kids who had fixers as progenitors, but that would not teach you any damn thing. You know, the "shut up and hold the light correctly" kind.
I once simply asked how to change a light fixture, to be told "I did it for you, you would not be able to do it".
Insisting, even, that a engineering degree including skills in high power electronics did not qualify me for home electricity tasks.

Thanks Turing for YouTube.

I had the same experience. Frustrating as all heck. But, I should have known to turn on the speaker on the light to explain to me what the various parts names were, their function, and how they worked, but silly me.......

Youtube is really great when I learned how to separate the chaff.
Most info things I hit don't go far. Those that do are really helpful

Yeah I should not have used such broad strokes when my experience is particularly shitty.

There is a fine difference between "watch and learn" and "shut up and hold the light" in what I wanted to convey.
Which is why, for example I would know how to flay a rabbit and feel confident about it ("watch and learn"), and at the same time a few years back I was terrified about changing a power outlet even though I knew how to setup a tri-phased circuit with high power coils.

The emphasis should be on "shut up". And how it is delivered.
"Shut up you don't know what you're talking about, let me demonstrate" is one thing, "shut up I need to focus, I'll have time for your questions later" are not the same, I my mind as "shut up and hold the light" which somehow, for me, convey the idea that you're not worthy being taught.

And it's one thing to take over when someone screws up, it's another thing to say that they will absolutely screw it up.

But then again there is a lot of personal issues or feelings behind my statements, there might be a reason why I need a therapist (besides the obvious one).
I should have not used such broad strokes, sorry if anyone was offended.

To illustrate the extent of my personal issue then, in a way that most here can understand : I watched, and watched again and again how he would hone a knife. Watched and learnt.
Practiced my technique.

And one day I was honing a knife and he was there. And he told me in no uncertain nor kind terms that my technique was crap and that I did not know how to hone a knife (that was before my straight razor days).
I might have never honed a blade again if at that particular moment he did not have a social call who asked to see the knife. That person took the knife, tested it extensively, and concluded "you're talking crap to your kid. As a former butcher this knife is good enough for me".

What I meant to convey is that I was willing to learn, eager even, but grew with someone who was aggressively against me learning anything.

Youtube can be good but chaff there is a lot of, at least for instructional purposes. Every good thing has the potential for bad to cling to it. Monetizing is a necessity to encourage posting of useful content. However, it can also make idiots post useless or even outrageous things just to get views. Add into that the narcissists who just want to be seen and what you get is so much chaff the wheat can be hard to find. As far as posts related to my own trade, I see some...jack wagons to be polite (not naming names. Don't want to give the one in particular even the courtesy of recognition) who post downright popycock just to get views. IMHO to find youtube useful (again, for instructional purposes) you have to be the sort of person who could just about figure it out on his own and therefore not even need youtube.

YouTube is indeed full of crap, and once again not the best example. I tend to first learn from specialised sources first.

Which is not incompatible, mind, it's just that you have indeed to make the difference and know how to do it. Which is IMHO a life skill you get from good teachers.

That I had a bad one does not mean I did not have good ones, mind. And I personally favoured people both highly skilled and intransigeant. The ones from which a "yeah, good enough" is the highest mark you can get.

YouTube shines in the "watch and learn" aspect. You have prior knowledge of what you have to do, you just did not get the fine prints. Like "this does not feel ok, I must be doing something wrong, let's watch again someone skilled enough do it and hopefully explain it to do it better next time"

I hear you, Aggelos. It is sometimes as frustrating to teach as it is to learn. I am guilty I suppose.
The beatdown thing was really in effect when I was younger. My father was very smart, but I found fast that he was just stubborn and smart enough to be dangerous.
I began to seek advise and any instruction from anywhere I could. Parents divorced when I was nine (another story) and I kept up my pursuits as best I could.

Some of my friend's dads were very instrumental in my developing interests. My mothers' father taught me common sense how to read people and how to 'run things through my separator' as he would often say. I think that cemented my ability to listen and judge who is full of crap and who to listen to. He got by in his older years with pure country wisdom. Plain common sense.

My issues with teaching seems to be a generational, geographic thing. For a good while It has been difficult to find a kid that has pushed a lawnmower, much less maintained or repaired one. Sling a mop? Wash a car? No way. I will be taking over something they are paid to do even after I have demonstrated and they will be behind me.
I will turn and say 'did you see what just happened?' and they are staring at a text on their phone. Infuriating to say the least.
I hired them for part time work from a local trade school specializing in performance engine work. Many have been through the military as the gov pays for the school. I am amazed they have so little interest and lack of skills. They parrot all the race car stuff but ask them to put points and condenser on an old jeep and they freeze. I have not hired another since Covid but should try again. IF you can find one which has had a patient dad or influence in their life they are great.
A kid of a farmer or who grew up working in an uncles shop. Hard to find. I have had some great ones. Some of us have not been so fortunate.


Another phenomenon in the last decade is lack of empathy. Everyone for himself.
Gone or the days I could call others and get advise. Someone to help me diagnose something. Where to get something or recommendations for services.
I try to help anyone who is trying help himself. Some are taken aback. The surely don't want to take free advise! They MIGHT owe you one.
Heaven forbid!

So a trophy for everyone and a good brain in their palm. Screw everyone....

Youtube is my go to now. I am just happy I listened to and observed my Grandpa 'run things through the separator.
Enough....Back to work!

A silly example of making things work I just completed.....
Most think I am crazy. I needed a dipstick for a welder/generator. They want 90 bux shipped.
Had the top. A previous faied repair from last owner broke. Dipstick it'self missing. 10/32 threads in cap. 6mm on an old antenna shaft.
Turned and threaded antenna threads to 10/32, tapped cap threads all the way in. Super glue inside and threaded in. 2 clamps to prevent cracking.
Proper amount of oil in engine. File mark on shaft for full mark. Back in the lathe for a groove around and cut off the extra.

90 bucks saved using old stuff and 20 minutes time. Would be glad to share some of my practical knowledge, but nobody seems interested. Wish I lived next door to B52. We would KILL it!

Our youth love luxury. They have bad manners and despise authority. They show disrespect for their elders and love to chatter instead of exercise. Young people are now tyrants, not the servants of their household. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up food and terrorize their teachers.

Hecking Socrates. (Edit: I've been kindly corrected that this is apocryphal, actually dates a century back)
I've seen such quotes going as far as the written language.

Thing is, here we're preaching to the choir. Most people here went away from the main road, and understood that a bit of learning and hard work make things that much better.

We are, in no way, "mainstream". We know that "common sense" is not "good sense".
Strictly speaking, it's "selection bias".

The frustration we can feel about "kids these days and their interweb phones" is the same we may feel about people buying endless plastic cartridges for their razors, because the ad said they were the best.

If anything, I'd say it's easier to find your own "court" and courtesans in world wide "socially enabling and oriented" community than in a village. People that will flatter you for anything they can't do and feel is "worthy".
Heck, I already had my share of flatterers regarding my wood turning skills, luckily I have a grumpy "family inheritance" elder telling me I'm shit on the other side. Bruising my ego, not mincing words. I'll survive and only get better for it.

Rule of thumb : "if you're the smartest person in a room, you're not in the right room".

I'm a fsckr with a bad temper (the latter no being helped by chronic pain) but I just love being wrong (admittedly sometimes after a good while), that means I have room for improvement. Unusual, in my experience, are people that can take a bruise to their ego and learn from it.

Now, to your latest post.
I more or less understand most things both in the picture and your text. I think.
But then you talk about a lathe and clamps and suddenly I feel I did not get it at all.

Could you dumb it down for me ? I'd appreciate, since I value actual knowledge more than the $90 you would have been charged

I suppose if I put it into woodworking terms it would be like if you found a broken table with nice legs and had a nice table with missing legs.
You would have to cut the legs to your preferred height and turn one end down to fit your table's holes for a nice press-fit. My example is much same, but using threads to screw together

Then you would glue and tap in your legs. Possibly a wood screw or peg to ensure they stay tight. Much the same as my using clamps on the plastic cap to insure all stays tight.

I always think of what might fail and try to reinforce as best I can.

As to failing, that is a part of it. I usually step back and see what I can salvage and make it work. Eventually, it comes to me..

Rule of thumb : "if you're the smartest person in a room, you're not in the right room".