Art & Inspiration Ever have one of those days in the garage?

I just came in to grab a sandwich and to cool off.

I had today off and planed to do a little cleaning up and some maintenance on the sedan.

First I gathered up all the loose tools and cleared the work bench,no problem there and then I decided to move the old 9" Bronco rear axle that I recently purchased from a wrecking yard but I needed to remove the two leaf springs that the genius at the salvage yard cut with a fire wrench.

I sprayed the nuts with PB blaster and started looking for my 1" deep well socket,no where to be found so I decided to use the zip wheel and cut the U bolts.

I finally found my zip wheel and a brand new cutting wheel and within a few minutes one side was loose I started on the second side and the wheel came apart.

Went to the cabinet where I keep the extra wheels and guess what...none there.

So I'm making a list to go to the hardware store after lunch and hopefully by the end of the day I can say I accomplished something. HRP

 

LOL...pretty much every time I enter the garage! I feel for ya!

 

Some days you win, some days the garage wins.

 

I have had the same experience.

 

HRP I'm in the process of having one right now. Needed the hot wrench to heat a stubborn strut mount bolt. No acetylene of course. Off to NAPA I went...

 

some days do not make it to the garage - remember or, see things in house or outside that only some "quick" attention and bingo the day is shot. watch out for those easy trips to the hardware store, or parts place - end up remembering that as long as out & about need to stop at other places for other stuff - yikes!
nothing is easy

 

My wife knows this rant of mine all too well... When you have a job to do and your tools let you down. The socket wrench's guts come out, the drill bit snaps off or the drill motor dies, the last bit of welding wire is suddenly gone, the solar welding mask isn't charged up (doh!). Yup been there too many times.

 

I didn't say anything about my torches because like you I already knew I was out of acetylene and the company I got my tanks from has gone out of business and the new company here in town refuse to fill them,they want me to buy or rent tanks from them. HRP

 

Don't run out of gas on the way to the Hardware store !!!

 

HRP that sucks that the new company will not fill your tanks. I bought mine in Kansas some years back and now live in Nebraska and do not have any problem filling them. WTF selling gas is selling gas.

 

Wasn't it dale Earnhardt who said; you win some, you wreck some.

And that's how it's goes down for most of us. It's just a matter of how often you have those days lol.

 

No that never happens to me. I NEVER MAKE A LIST! I just make about 20 trips to the hardware or parts store etc. LOL!

 

I had a day that DID NOT go that way this weekend... until I stepped on a piece of metal with a big spike of cut off angle on it that I had cut off 3 hours earlier. It was almost a trip to the Emergency Room rather than the Hardware Store. I'm going to remind myself of that the next time I have to drop what I'm doing to go get a correct size drill bit or cutoff wheels (which I'm out of now too come to think of it, thanks!).

 

Measure all the bolt lengths for the intake manifold and the front suspension to install button head bolts. Go to Robnet-a bolt store from tiny screws to bridge bolts and will sell only one bolt at a time if that's what you need. Got everything in 5/16ths, get home and ...... I needed 3/8's. About a 20 mile round trip.

 

Sounds like a "normal" day to me. I've started claiming smaller victories, the FUBABS were winning. The one hour jobs were taking a day, and the one day jobs were taking a week. But I refuse to surrender.

 

HRP,

I'm still under the opinion that the worst day in the shop is better than the best day at work

with the exception of patmanta's, but anything this side of an injury... I'd rather be in the shop

 

Yep, never surrender. Sometimes ya gotta walk away from it & regroup. Usually helps. When I was a pup I'd work my way into a shitfit when a job sent sour. Dunno if the age/wisdom thing happened, but I'm a helluva lot mellower now.

 

my zip wheel came apart and sent a piece across the garage dead square center int0 the door of the merc....I looked like a thermometer about to explode

 

I could go on for days, but instead I'll just say 'You're not alone!'......

 

I put on a fresh sock and limped back out there so I could get the cowl on the subframe I was working on so I could at least SEE what I got hurt for. I'd rather be there now with a hurt foot than at my desk with a sore ass!

 

C'mon guys, your worst day in the shop sounds like Nirvana to a guy who no longer has a shop (garage) due to life's twists and turns.

 

NO! ,when did that happen?

Both the sedan and the wagon are outside when I am grinding and cutting. HRP

 

Yes sir, some day's by the time I get to the task I started to do, it's a week later! Joe

 

Hey HRP then ya get back home take out one disc and go to put the rest away only to find the pack of twenty you couldn't find earlier.

 

Knocked off early today, stopped by the cardboard dumpster in the shopping center for some boxes to ship the weekend sales. Two boxes just the right size sat all alone in an empty dumpster. Didn't want to loose my reading glasses so I set them on the unopened lid while I fished the two boxes out. When I got home I wanted to check that auction site and the HAMB............were are my glasses? Bob

 

Glasses glasses glasses! I either lose them or step on them or my buddy sits on them when he gets into the car. I take my glasses off to work on my cars and I need about 6 pair to make one repair!!!

 

Went to the hardware store and got 10 cut off wheels,hopefully I wont loose them before I get back to separating that axle from the junk springs. HRP

 

The quickest way to find lost tools is to go buy a new one. The old ones are always front and center when you get back. And whatever you do, NEVER clean your garage! It'll be month's before you find anything.

 

I don't clean the shop to often but both my tool boxes were almost empty!

Plus it's my turn to host the club meeting Thursday night and the guys need a place to sit. HRP

 

Every now and then when the planets align and the Moon is in phase you have a day that just makes you smile. No bugs landed in the wet paint and the Shop Vac hose doesn't come loose from the bead blaster or the hot slag from the torch doesn't burn the hoses. Just for that briefest of moments do you forget the normal.....