Conductor562
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Posts posted by Conductor562
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I haven't used the traditional utility knife, but the fastback is awesome. Be nice if they could engineer some onboard blade storage though.
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I load coal trains and pull out loads and put back empties at plants and stuff mostly. I also switch cars into station order for mainline runs. for example I have to put all the cars bound for Cleveland on the front, Toledo's in the middle, Chicago's on the rear etc. I also have to do brake inspections/tests, make sure my train meets all the requirements to be road worthy, and secure the authority for the train to operate. There are days I sit on my ass all day, and days I walk 7 miles, all depends on the train.
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Yea I couldn't do it man. Be like pimping out my wife.
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Never used the Lennox either, but all their stuff I have used has been quality.
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It was a sweet gig. Connections get you that job. In the A/C playing with power tools....ah, memories. I'd have retired on that job.
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Up until some time in the 1930's a company called E.C. Simmons Hardware in St. Louis made the best knives on the planet called Keen Kutter. The made a lot of hand tools bearing that name as well. A lot of hardcore knife guys still carry them to this day. You can find them from time to time on eBay for around $100 - $150. The Keen Kutter name was sold several times and was last used by Frost in the mid 1990's but if it says E.C. Simmons it's the real deal.
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Well....I carry an Eye Brand. A lot of people call them German Eye's or Eyeballs. It's one of the few actual hammer forged knives left. There is also a brand called Bulldog that is made in the same foundry as Eye brand in Soligen. You also have Buck Creek, German Bull, and Boker coming out of Soligen. Of these Boker and Eye brand offer the widest selections while the others are fairly limited in terms of patterns and handle material. The vast majority of your German knives will be carbon steel blades. Carbon steel is easier to sharpen and will produce a sharper edge, but it rust. When I say it will rust I MEAN IT WILL RUST! Like if it's in your pocket and you sweat it will start to rust. Most of your pocket knife purist will only carry carbon. With proper care you can keep it nice. You'll need to keep the blades oiled and remove rest spots with a sanding sponge or something. It's possible, but most people don't keep up with it. If your looking at carbon blades Boker has a series out right now that have handles made from German beer barrels. They are awesome. I wanted stainless blades and if your looking for a stainless German knife Eye brand offers a few models with surgical stainless. The are the finest stainless knives you'll ever find. I have a trapper with stag handles I've carried for 9 years and it's as much a part of me as my index finger. Another German knife that has historically been top of the mark is Hen & Rooster. Now, a couple years ago H & R was purchased by Jim Frost of Frost Cutlery. If you aren't familier with Frost, they're responsible for every shitty $3 knife and cheesy "collectors edition" knife on the face of the planet. They immediately began ruining them. They make the blades in Soligen and affix them to Chinese bodies in China. Some of them are 100% Chinese so it a crap shoot unless you know exactly what to look for. If your looking for an American knife go with either a Case or a John Primble. You can shop for knives until your eyes hurt at eknifeworks.com Narrow it by brand as there are THOUSANDS of knives. If you want stainless, cough up the $90 for the Eye brand trapper. If you want carbon, go for the beer Boker. I'll add some links when I get home tomorrow for you to check out.
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Then again, your talking about a complete overhaul of the company model. Some company's pull it off, and some don't. We could end up with another top notch tool clawing for market share, or another Porter Cable. It'll be interesting regardless. Assuming there's some truth to this article that is.
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I don't look for Dewalt to match Hilti in terms of quality, but for the right price it won't matter. Most big jobs I was on the tools were typically bought new for each contract anyway. If Dewalt had any success, I would have to think Hilti would have to step it up in the pro consumer market to make up ground.
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Here's an interesting article I found on the web:
"Being on the inside of the tool business we can tell you there is one common enemy most power tool brands share, Hilti. This is because Hilti has done 3 unique things that really separated them from the competition of Bosch, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, etc. Those 3 things are going direct, selling the “complete solution” and locking in customers with leases which are very hard to leave. In the 2000’s Hilti was on fire but with the downturn then relatively flat economy, the going direct option has become a somewhat shaky proposition. The practice of locking customers in with leases that can cost 2-3+ times the price of the competitor’s tools has absolutely backfired in many cases.
What remains a solid business model everyone else has tried to copy and what keeps Hilti in business at all (in our opinion) is selling the system. They have done it so well that not only do they sell the tools, the accessories and the fasteners they go well beyond that and get their SKUs speced into the architect blue prints! So how can Stanley and Dewalt learn from this model and bring it to their basket of brands? Acquiring Powers Fasteners sure would be a good start!
It is not clear what the full story is yet, so far just a lot of message board chatter or what this could means for Stanley and the Powers Fasteners brand but it is not hard to imagine them wanting to sell some fasteners along with that new yellow rotary hammers drill or vis-versa. It does look like Powers has changed to recommending Dewalt Tools on all their PDFs which was Hitachi as of a few days ago. Will they go direct and cut out the construction supply houses all together? Maybe Mac Tool (another Stanley company) Trucks will be making construction site deliveries here soon? If this is more than just an elaborate web of rumors we will certainly know more next week."
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The old Stanley screwdrivers with the transparent yellow handles and red or blue strips to designate regular or Phillips were tough. They were made in America and had a lot of heft to them.
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Kinda puzzles me why Stanley didn't just revamp STANLEY! They made quality stuff for years and years, then went the China route.
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Nothing like performing an air brake inspection and stepping in a pile of human shit.
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My experience in the trades is on large scale union jobs like power plant and bridge rebuilds. Most often the company would furnish power tools while the workers were required to furnish hand tools. You'd have to go "check out" your power tools from a tool room and take them back when you were done. I had a job in the tool room for awhile. Best job I ever had. Got paid $28 an hour to fiddle with tools. The last job I had before I started railroading was rebuilding a boiler unit at a power plant for Babcock & Wilcox which is a giant nationwide contractor.
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LOL. Believe it or not, many Locomotives weren't equipped with a toilet until just a few years ago. If we got one of these engines off the pit track for use outside the yard we got an extra 2 hour payment. The railroad got shitty about it as the railroad tends to do and started denying the payments. As a union representative I had to actually start including the definition of toilet to get the claims paid because the railroad took the position that a hole in the floor qualified as a toilet.
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Your right. That's especially true with pocket knives. Most people my age don't know the first thing about knives. They don't know a $2 knife from a $100 knife. I've carried the same German Eye since my wife (then girlfriend) got it for me our first christmas together. When people ask what kind of knife I've got and I tell them they just look at me all confused. Most knives never get sharpened anymore. Used to be knowing a little about knives was a right of passage to becoming a man.
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You can usually tell who bought their own tools and who had them furnished.
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Sounds pretty sweet. I'd like to give that a try. I've never used a drill that offered that.
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What exactly is the "impulse function'?
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At least three time a year I remove any rust that forms with either a wire brush or a wire wheel on a rotary tool. After they're all rust free, I scrub any rubber handle coatings good to get any grease or dirt off, then I wipe them down with WD-40 or silicone lubricant. I also use the blow gun on my air compressor to blow any shop dust off everything on my peg board about once a month.
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Each time a complete a project I blow all the dirt and dust off them and out of them as much as I possibly can with my air compressor. I wipe them down with a damp cloth to get any grease, residue, or additional dirt off. If any rust spots form I take it off with a wire brush and hit them with a little 3 in 1 oil. Now, as I've said before, I don't make a living with them so I understand that not everyone can do this level of maintenance. My father in law makes fun of me for cleaning my tools but I just can't help it. I keep them as clean as I possibly can. The rubber over mold is especially aggravating because if you don't wipe it down it starts to look grey. Do other people do this shit or am I just overly obsessive about this?
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LOL, we also make the throne reference on occasion. Sounds like prime material for a political cartoon. Elvis Presley died on his throne. Never heard the thunder box reference though. Shitter, crapper, john, but never thunder box. It was my understanding that the toilet was invented by a man named John Crapper.
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Dewalt never really did it for me. As I was talking about in previous post, my dad always liked them and I've had several Dewalt products over the years, but I never really cared for the feel of them compared to some of the others. I've got a Dewalt 4 1/2 grinder that has been a real tough nut. It was used when I got it 10 years ago and it's still a workhorse. I've still got the 11 amp recip saw dad bought me years ago but I don't use it much and always find myself reaching for the Milwaukee instead. If it wasn't for the fact that it was a gift I'd have probably given it away a long time ago.
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Recomend a Good Knife
in Hand Tools
Posted
Here are some links Eric.
If you're looking for a top quality knife here is an Eye brand Trapper. It is a hand made, hammer forged, German Stockman with Surgical Stainless blades so it will never rust. If I were going to buy a knife today this would be it.
http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/Eye+Brand%26%23153%3B/Eye+Brand%26%23153%3B+Stockman+with+Brown+Smooth+Bone+Handle/EBSS.html
Here is my favorite knife on the market. It's a German made Boker with handles made from old beer barrels. The only thing about it is it has carbon blades.
http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/beer+barrel/Boker®+Beer+Barrel+Trapper/BK1102525BBL.html
Here is another good quality German knife. A Buck Creek with engraved buffalo horn handles. A great knife for the price!
http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/Buck+Creek%26%23153%3B/Buck+Creek%26%23153%3B+Twisted+Ribbon+Trapper+with+Laser+Engraved+Buffalo+Horn+Handle/BC2543.html
Here is an American John Primble. Not a high dollar knife but it's probably the best knife on the market under $50. You get a lot of quality per dollar.
http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/John+Primble%C2%99/John+Primble®+Modified+Medium+Trapper+with+Brown+Jigged+Bone+Handle/JP0072B.html
If your into tactical "pocket clip" knives there's no better than a Cold Steel
http://www.smkw.com/webapp/eCommerce/products/Cold+Steel%26reg%3B/Cold+Steel®+American+Lawman%26%23153%3B+-+Large/CS58AL.html
If you don't like these google Smokey Mountain Knife Works, visit their site and narrow it down by brand. There are a bunch of them in every pattern imaginable. I prefer a trapper but a mini trapper is too small for my liking.