What is Your #1 Tool-Related Pet Peeve?

[PhilG.]

Me First...

People who pile up the table saw with stuff. :mad::mad: You know, those that drop anything and everything on the TS if they're in an arm's reach because it's there and a convenient spot to put stuff. (wives - are you listening?)

"Hey just because it looks like a table doesn't mean you can put stuff on it!"

[Someguy]

Spent 30 minutes trying to find my fold up saw horses, gave up and then couldn't find some Maple boards I had milled for a job. Found both in the house basement, LOML made a table to store some plants on for the winter.:eek: :mad:

[oldslowchevy]

i hate when some one wont wrap up a power cord then tries to stuff it back into the under sized case, and if the case is long gone then the don't even bother wraping the cord around the tool:mad: just leaving it dangle all over the place GRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[cactusman]

I hate using power tools designed by right handed engineers for right handed people and they ignore the left handed user!!
I am left handed and more often than not I end up using a power tool in an unsafe manner. I do use my right hand but I'm left hand dominant.

I do have some tools that are made for left handed users..thank you Porter Cable!

Even the so called ambidextrous type tools like a drill often have the grips set for a right handed person.

and what ever happened to the ridgid left handed hammer?

Finally... the introduction of the myriad of different screw types..pozidrive, Phillips, straight slot, reed and prince, Robertson [square drive], torx, clutch, tamper-proof etc.

That's fine and dandy but go to Home Depot or other local store and try to find driver bits or screw drivers that mate!


Cactus Man

[Roadrunner]

Tools that aren't orange and don't come with a lifetime guarantee!:)
Other than that, tools that don't come with industry standard upgrades. My wife got me the $89 HF dust collector (green mini) and HF doesn't make a <30 mic replacement. I guess I shouldn't complain, She overheard me mention one day how nice a dust collector would be. Now I have to make a filter box, and the unit isn't as portable.

[Gofor]

I agree with cactus-man on the "right-hand" tools, even tho I am basically right-handed. My gripe is with the safety switches that can't be used when you need to use the left hand.

Other than that it is measuring tools. Half the tape measures are not accurate, squares aren't square and levels aren't level. Its a pity the customer has to do the mnfgr's quality control checks in the store before buying it, and half the tools are packaged so it is impossible to check them. :mad:

Go

[PhilG.]

I hate using power tools designed by right handed engineers for right handed people and they ignore the left handed user!!
I am left handed and more often than not I end up using a power tool in an unsafe manner. I do use my right hand but I'm left hand dominant.

I do have some tools that are made for left handed users..thank you Porter Cable!

Even the so called ambidextrous type tools like a drill often have the grips set for a right handed person.

and what ever happened to the ridgid left handed hammer?


Cactus Man

I concur 100% about the left-handed thing!!! Not only are we left handed, but we are right brained too! It's not just the physical aspect of using the tool we are wired to this stuff differently too. We subconsciencely put our faces, fingers and other parts of our anatomy in harms way because these things just plain don't fit! It is not the same when some right-handed engineer uses a gadget for 30 seconds with his left hand and declares it OK.
Some tools fit us so poorly, I'm surprised there aren't more severed fingers etc. And I'm also surprised that the accident reports that must be answered when an event occurs haven't got questions about your dominant side on them. Who knows, maybe there are studies about just this stuff. Perhaps in the future we'll have ADA protection for this "disability".

Knock Knock Knock - Tool Manufacturers are you listening?

Sorry for hijacking my own thread with this digression.

[PhilG.]

Just one more of my pet peeves.

People (usually at work) who use the dolly or cart and leave them piled up with crap. You know - next time you need to use it - it must be unloaded before you can use it!:mad:

The cart or dolly was made to transport the goods, not to store them.

[Woussko]

Cactusman

Please go download and print out this catalog. APEX makes all kinds of wild tools, hex and power bits for us that have to deal with all the many many different kinds of fasteners. APEX is a part of Cooper Industries. You can find (or order) their products from Industrial Supply houses.

http://www.coopertools.com/catalog/pdffiles/TC-100_EN.pdf

A good German brand is WIHA. Their web site is www.wihatools.com and they will sell to anyone directly though their USA sales office. Their interactive web site is their big catalog online. You can sometimes find their tools at electronics parts dealers, industrial tools dealers, tools and supply houses and places that sell tools to camera repair shops. Heck, It's less trouble to buy directly from their site. Check for their "Special Deals" too.

[Woussko]

Speaking about left handed people, how about a computer mouse that's seriously made for left hands? I've been bugging Logitech for years on that. One that's "Plug & Play" with a USB connection so you can actually do two mice at once. One in each hand!!! Yes, you can use their software and setup a mouse so the buttons work with a left hand. Then anyone that's right handed cusses because it works backwards. I want to see a TRUE left hand mouse made. There's no doubt in my mind it would be one big seller if designed and made correctly.

Logitech: You must have left handed people design and test it before production. I'm right handed myself, but know many left handed people that are waiting and waiting for such.

Ridgid take note: You need to make hand tools that actually fit left hands well. NO NO NO I do not mean universal tools. I mean that are really made to fit left human hands.

[hewood]

routers that don't have a collet that extends through the table
routers with no lights
routers that require two hands to change bits
routers with no option to have the switch near the handles
stationary table saws with the motor sticking out the back
indexed planer blades that don't allow any lateral adjustment to offset nicks


There are examples of competitively priced tools currently on the market that address each of my complaints...can't understand why they aren't standard features....there's no advantage to not having them, and the cost to manufacture the feature in should be extremely low.

[PhilG.]

Extremely heavy shop equipment that is not mobile right out of the box.

[cactusman]

I find it very aggravating when I read posts on this reflector [and other reflectors] that the person posting can't spell or write a proper sentence!

It is scary to have uneducated people use power tools, since it's obvious they are unable to read the manuals or safety warnings!

To be fair...fingers slip on the keyboard. Let me suggest you proof read your rant before hitting the enter button. You then can correct the horrid spelling and poor grammar. you also have a spell checker on the computer to help you with the easy words. Worse case, there is a book out to help you spell it's called a dictionary!

the words to, too, two, all have different meaning and uses, just as its and it's!

"It's" means IT IS
"ITS" means ownership relating to it, or itself

I also find the "cute" abbreviations a nuisance as this site does not provide a dictionary to explain what they mean! Are we so lazy that a few extra keystrokes to spell out the entire word and correctly is that difficult?

You don't believe me?

just read the posts here and you'll [that is you will]
observe everything I have [that is I've] said.

vowels and consonants were invented for a reason! let's use them corerectly.

Cactus Man

[oldslowchevy]

yous no's what i don't lake, i's don't like it whens someones don't like the way i be spelling and talkin. i no's i don't spel very goood but's i be tring to give yous all the best advice i can, i'd even had made funds of myself two abouts me spelin. but really i know know it is not very good also i don't try to hide who i am i am a what you see is what you get so yeah i mights need me some more of the edge-a-ma-ca-tion but feel i give good advise when i do give it and thank you very little

[TOD]

Eye halve a spelling checker. It came with my pea sea. It plainly marks four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea. Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write. It shows me strait a weigh. As soon as a mist ache is maid. It nose bee fore two long and eye can put the error rite. Its rare lea ever wrong. Eye have run this poem threw it. I am shore your pleased two no. Its letter perfect awl the weigh. My checker tolled me sew.

[oldslowchevy]

Eye halve a spelling checker. It came with my pea sea. It plainly marks four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea. Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write. It shows me strait a weigh. As soon as a mist ache is maid. It nose bee fore two long and eye can put the error rite. Its rare lea ever wrong. Eye have run this poem threw it. I am shore your pleased two no. Its letter perfect awl the weigh. My checker tolled me sew.
lmao i hate it when folks do this kind of thing better than me but this is one of the better ones and thanks for that laugh and happy turkey day...... gobble gobble:D

[PhilG.]

Being distracted at a key point in time when using power tools!

I was about to adjust my circular saw's depth-of-cut to cut some plywood on my cheap plastic sawhorses for an impromptu, small 10 minute project.
<insert distraction here> I returned to make the cut and I darned near cut my SH into! :mad:

(I just noticed the sawhorse again this morning and it pi$$ed me off all over again, but, I still can't remember what the distraction was)

[bigPipe09]

my number one pet peeve regarding tools, is apprentices who lose them.

[BadgerDave]

My pet peeve is people who buy a tool based solely on its cost and then rant and moan when it doesn't perform just like one that costs twice as much.

[TomCunningham]

OHHHHHH MY!!!!!! Pet peeve's HuH!!! Well i do have a few....
1. cords I can't stand it when theres a friggin KNOT in a cord.....and they way they are rolled up and rolled out, I was taught when you roll out a cord unroll it all they way to avoid tangling and KNOTTING...GRRRRRR....I also hate rolling one up in what we call pig tail's...to bulky and takes up to much space....IN MY OPPINION THAT IS..
2. People who abuse your tools...if they had to buy the tool they would be more appreciative to the tool itself...I love my tools and wanna keep them as long as they will last....I am not made of money and have worked hard for what little bit of tools i do own..SO PLEASE BE CAREFULL WITH THEM IF YOU WANNA USE THEM!!!!!!!!
3. Last but far from least....this is Tools 101...not English class....i myself know i cant spell the greatest but I am darn good at what i do...Ive taught quit a few people how to build a house cut in a roof,stairs etc..not one time has anyone asked me how to spell a friggin word on the jobsite....

[BHD]

cactusman you sound like some of my stupid teachers in grade and high school,

Basing every thing about a person on if there a good academic student, and there ability to write and talk,

The teachers would belittle students in the class and tell them there stupid and such,

Then in later life they want them to build them there houses and fix there cars, and clean out there sewage pipes,

If they were so intelligent they could fix there own things and build there own houses, beside just knowing how to spell and put a sentence together,

AND you talk about reading a manual, I have seen very intelligent people (academically) take a manual and could not make heads or tails out of it, and to hand it to some one who is dyslexia and can't spell or read a book if there life depended on it, and interpret the manual and relate the information to the professional in academia, and might I add via imperfect speech, (word usage is not all it takes),

some people are gifted to write and to spell, and to do beautiful things with words, some are math geniuses, and some can work with there hands, and some with music and acting,
it doesn't mean that one person is less then some one else.

It means that GOD created people with different ability's and to be able to work in other areas as to have full and rounded group of people that can complement each other, and assist each other,

and not be so proud of there great ability as to tear others down with it.

[oldslowchevy]

bhd well said and thank you

[Bob D.]

Phil wrote: "... I returned to make the cut and I darned near cut my SH into!..."

Didn't Chevy make a P/U truck TV ad like this, except they cut all the way through the sawhorse?

[hewood]

I find it very aggravating when I read posts on this reflector [and other reflectors] that the person posting can't spell or write a proper sentence!

It is scary to have uneducated people use power tools, since it's obvious they are unable to read the manuals or safety warnings!

To be fair...fingers slip on the keyboard. Let me suggest you proof read your rant before hitting the enter button. You then can correct the horrid spelling and poor grammar. you also have a spell checker on the computer to help you with the easy words. Worse case, there is a book out to help you spell it's called a dictionary!

the words to, too, two, all have different meaning and uses, just as its and it's!

"It's" means IT IS
"ITS" means ownership relating to it, or itself

I also find the "cute" abbreviations a nuisance as this site does not provide a dictionary to explain what they mean! Are we so lazy that a few extra keystrokes to spell out the entire word and correctly is that difficult?

You don't believe me?

just read the posts here and you'll [that is you will]
observe everything I have [that is I've] said.

vowels and consonants were invented for a reason! let's use them corerectly.

Cactus Man


Cactus Man - I don't think your reference to uneducated people and power tools holds much water. There's a huge difference between an education, spelling, mechanical aptitude, and common sense. I have 3 boys....my best speller and most educated would cut his hand off in about 10 minutes in my shop....he's a mechanical moron. The kid who's the "most creative speller" also struggles most with school, is by far the most mechanical and competent in the shop. I never thought spelling counted a whole lot on these boards anyway...smart people will figure out the message! :D

[hellcatt200]

My pet pieve.....not putting a tool back where you got it from. That grinds me to no end when i go to look for it where I know I put it.Unless I am gonna use the tool for more than 1-2 things i put it back rite after im done useing it. ( well ok about 80% time i put back rite away). Keeps my workspace my workspace.

[Capt. Hank]

Cactus Man.... Looks like you didn't use your own advice:eek:

"vowels and consonants were invented for a reason! let's use them corerectly."


Capt. Hank

[TOD]

Friends coming over and setting a cold drink on my TS3650.

[Wild Weasel]

As for spelling and grammar... well I've been involved in Internet forums for years now relating to various cars and have just come to accept that most people just don't care. You deal with it and move on. If I just can't make out what someone's trying to say, I'll just ignore it or, if it seems that English isn't their first language (rather than them just being ignorant) then I'll do my best to help out.

That's just the nature of these things. We can't all be literary geniuses.

My pet pieve.....not putting a tool back where you got it from. That grinds me to no end when i go to look for it where I know I put it.Unless I am gonna use the tool for more than 1-2 things i put it back rite after im done useing it. ( well ok about 80% time i put back rite away). Keeps my workspace my workspace.

Preach it, brotha!! My wife has a habit of putting my tools away for me... which is to say hiding them on me when she decides she doesn't like where I've left them at the moment.

I'm learning though. Now when I need a hand tool, I check the coat closet and a hallway bench before heading down to the furnace room or clearing away my desk.

Of course, if it's a tool I was done with, it'll be in my tool box in the garage where it belongs. :D