Well after a few weeks of no posts I will pick it back up off the ground with a Top 5 Tools ever invented in my eyes. Should be fun and the list should a mile long but I will just do the absolute top 5.
Number 1 . Welding machines in all forms- I still get this warm fuzzy feeling knowing that I just stuck two pieces of metal together FOREVER. It is like being God or even better, a wizard of metals. Unlike other magical methods a bad weld can be fixed and fixed and fixed. Amazing. I will never forget the very first time I used my Grandpas stick welder and repaired my go cart with a piece of bed rail and then went and ripped on it right after. Kind of started that day now that I look back on it. It was fucking broken and I fixed it. Life changer.
Number 2. The Almighty Sawzall- The start of every good chopper. I have had the same Milwaukee Sawzall for 20 years almost and I have used it hundreds of hours and it is still chopping up bikes, cars, bicycles, and anything else you can cut in half. I have got to the point I am like a surgeon with a scalpel and have got real good at cutting damn near perfect straight lines through shit. Could probably build a house out of all the blades I have gone through over the years. The trick is to let the Sawzall do all the work and you just guide it. Let me just say this you can get fucked by one of these guys. Had a blade bind up once and the entire Sawzall damn near took all my teeth out. Yeah I remember that, it sucked.
Number 3. Hammer- Seriously I know this one goes all the way back to caveman years but this is the ultimate tool. Round hole and a square peg? No problem I have a really big hammer. Bolt is rusted to shit just grab a chisel and a big hammer and your problem is gone. It really isn't just the hammer but all the tools you use in conjunction with said hammer. Chisels, drifts, impacts, soft blows, rubber, man they are all amazing and when used right they are your best friend but cross them and the will mess you, your fingers and whatever you were trying to clobber up for real. True Story, I was at Travis's house trying to get his Kawa chopper thing together and trying to line up the shocks I was beating on a bolt and slipped with a good 2 pound hammer right on the side of my hand. I swore to the devil himself I had broken the shit out of my hand. It swelled up like a egg under my skin and for weeks and weeks if air touch my hand I would cringe and swear at that fucking motorcycle. OUCH
Number 4- Mill/ Lathe- I will combine these because without one you would never need the other. Pretty much everything in my life has to do with someone much smarter then me using one of these machines. I am terrible at math and to use these machines properly you need to know math. I take the trial and error approach and have actually turned some cool stuff. Spacers, bushings and little odds and ends. In the near future I am gonna invest in some serious tooling. One of my goals is to really learn how to make some killer shit using these two tools.
Number 5. Drill Press- Holes in everything, everything has holes. Straight up if you think you are gonna build anything and not have a drill press you are crazy. Just a drill press will change your life in a positive and very forward motion. I have an old 60's Chicago press that was handed down to me and it works killer and has never left me hanging. Do buy a good drill press vise and never ever try and hold anything by hand and drill a hole through it. After almost losing a number of fingers I learned my lesson. It did take multiple tries but by god I learned it. Scares the shit out of you the first time something bites and goes flying. I bought a little mill vise and just clamp it in place and it works like a champ.
Number 6 bonus- Torch set- I know now a days everyone has a plasma cutter but all I have is a set of torches. I was given the set from a friend that is dead now and they are one of my prize possessions. Just like welding these can undo about anything and with the right tips and skill you can cut apart a tractor and then weld a gas tank together with a change of the heads. So much fun bending up sissy bars or making footpegs it just would be almost impossible to do without heat and lots of it. RIP BILL HENRY
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