Tool Definitions

[Procharged5.0]

Tool Descriptions:



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 airplane part you

were drying.




WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off 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...."




ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in

their holes until you die of old age.



PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.



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.




VISE-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.




OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various

flammable objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting

the grease inside the wheel hub you want the bearing race out of.




WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars

and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that

9/16 or 1/2 socket you've been searching for for the last 15 minutes.





HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the

ground after you have installed your new disk brake pads,

trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.





EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering an automobile

upward off a hydraulic jack handle.





TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters.





PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbors to see if he has another

hydraulic floor jack.





SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool

for spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog **** off

your boot.





E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool ten times harder than any

known drill bit that snaps off in bolt holes you couldn't use anyway.





TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the tensile strength on

everything you forgot to disconnect.





CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16 INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large prybar that

inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the

end opposite the handle.





AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.





TROUBLE LIGHT: The home 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 cars at

night. Health benefits aside, its 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.





PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of

old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt;

but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips

screw heads.





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 Chicago Pneumatic impact

wrench that grips rusty bolts last over tightened 58 years ago by

someone at ERCO, and neatly rounds off their heads.





PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip

or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50¢ part.





HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses too short.





HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer

nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most

expensive parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.





MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of

cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works

particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records,

liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks,

and rubber or plastic parts.





DAMMIT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the

garage while yelling "DAMMIT" at the top of your lungs. It is

also the next tool that you will need.





EXPLETIVE: A balm, usually applied verbally in hindsight, which

somehow eases those pains and indignities following our every

deficiency in foresight.