My dad's dad grew up in the Great Depression, it affected him his entire life.

He had all kinds of "improvised" stuff around the place.

My dad had another term for it, but it can't be posted here.

O.G. said:

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My dad's dad grew up in the Great Depression, it affected him his entire life.

He had all kinds of "improvised" stuff around the place.

My dad had another term for it, but it can't be posted here.

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I believe the PC term is Afro Engineering.

Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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O.G. said:

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My dad's dad grew up in the Great Depression, it affected him his entire life.

He had all kinds of "improvised" stuff around the place.

My dad had another term for it, but it can't be posted here.

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I believe the PC term is Afro Engineering.

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Shade tree mechanic.

My "old timer" g-father used to "accomplish" keeping my preoccupied by having me help him find the left-handed hammer on more than one occasion.

That and I opened A LOT of gates.

I was replacing a shower surround at my mom's house that my step dad had installed around 20-25 years ago. After we got everything demo'd we noticed something funny looking on one of the water lines. Evidently my step dad needed something to strap the copper line to the adjacent stud and so he just cut a strip out of a Folgers coffee can. Well, it appeared to work fine so we left it in place.

Dad would say "Ive been doing so much with so little for so long that I am qualified and certified to do anything with nothing."

Grew up kinda poor and Dad was a scavenger with everything. I somewhat carry that same affliction....

BUT!!!! My wife doesnt say a word because I have fabricated allllllll kinds of things from the weirdest scrap. I dont keep junk like I used to but I do have orderly piles of scrap that are used when needed.

Im kind of a facilitator/fabricator....find a way and make it all work.

Mathguy64 said:

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Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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O.G. said:

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My dad's dad grew up in the Great Depression, it affected him his entire life.

He had all kinds of "improvised" stuff around the place.

My dad had another term for it, but it can't be posted here.

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I believe the PC term is Afro Engineering.

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Shade tree mechanic.

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I've been known to use "South Dallas Engineering"

Aka.....democrat rigging

Tree Hugger said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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O.G. said:

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My dad's dad grew up in the Great Depression, it affected him his entire life.

He had all kinds of "improvised" stuff around the place.

My dad had another term for it, but it can't be posted here.

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I believe the PC term is Afro Engineering.

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Shade tree mechanic.

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I've been known to use "South Dallas Engineering"

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from 2008 to 2016 we called it "presidential solutions"

I have the opposite problem as old timers. I'm a "buy the right tool for the job even if it costs $200 and you will only use it twice."

If I did what the dude in the OP did, I'd probably be taking the pump apart for whatever damage was done inside. But if it truly was ok to heat it, I would use my induction heater for those bolts. It would shine in that instance.

Watching old people hack and pray through repairs drives me nuts.

My old man old would use literally whatever was laying around to make something work. And when he took off a rusted, damaged, and rounded off nut….he'd save it in a coffee can with others just like it just in case he needed it at some point. lol. They have never been used.

Can't be stuck if it's liquid!

My wife used to get on to me for keeping every fastener, piece of scrap metal or wood, odd things -- but stopped when things broke and I could go to "Dad's tub of fasteners" and always find something that worked to fix it.

Just yesterday I couldn't get a good grip on the vise on an odd shaped part that I was trying to get unscrewed from another because one side was wider than the other. You dang right I had multiple choices of scrap to use as a shim.

My inheritance was a 4x8 shelf filled with every nut, bolt, screw and washer saved over a man's lifetime. Im thankful for it every time a project or repair comes up. Miss you, grandpa.

This is a great point

I used to put signs on my classroom door to get my students to think.

Some were funny, some inspirational and some just for fun.

"Keep a thing for seven years and you will find a use for it." Irish Proverb

I am mostly German heritage, but the small amount of Irish must be very potent.

I saved some rough sawn red oak boards from my ex's grandfather's place when her dad and I cleaned out his place somewhere around 1994. He had them cut from a tree that he cleared from his place.

I'm a little over the seven years (and 5 moves later), but I finally used some of it to make my grandson and a granddaughter(to be born on my birthday in April) a rope swing seat for the tree in their back yard.

I thought it would be cool for them to have something from their great grandfather's place.

City just had the biannual bulky item pickup where folks put their junk on the curb. Next door neighbors had an old tire swing they set out. Not a lone tire per se but it was cut and fashioned to look like a horse. And the pieces were held together with perfectly good bolts, nuts, and washers. Which I promptly removed and placed into the appropriate jar in the garage.

Nealthedestroyer said:

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My inheritance was a 4x8 shelf filled with every nut, bolt, screw and washer saved over a man's lifetime. Im thankful for it every time a project or repair comes up. Miss you, grandpa.

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Yep in about 5 whacks I can have a rusty and bent ten penny nail (from a rusty Maxwell house can) ready to drive straight through an oak board

My dad was a depression kid too but was the opposite. He said he was never doing anything himself. I'm 69 and have flathead and Phillips screwdrivers. No wrenches, hammers etc. It's amazing how many other old guys want to flex by fixing everything. I just call one of them and they do it while I'm playing golf.

When we were cleaning out my great uncle's round-top barn after his death, we found all sorts of stuff - the inevitable jars full of old washers and stripped bolts; stacks of broken tools; and stacks of broken tools that had been "fixed", often with baling wire.

The one thing that sticks out, though, was the old electric circular saw with no guard that turned on when you plugged it in and didn't turn off until you unplugged it. One of my uncles called it The Widowmaker.

My dad was raised during the depression as well and would keep any bolt, piece of metal or wood, old tire etc.
But we were pretty poor growing up on our little farm on the river. We learned to do it ourselves as we damn sure didn't have the money to hire someone.
If you live on a farm or ranch you learn to keep anything that you might need cause it's a long ways to town. I'm still that way and my wife gives me heck for it but there has been many a time we've had something break and I have the stuff needed to fix it.
I can thank my dad for that.

My dad wasn't very handy but when he'd do something he'd say "let me show you a trick I learned in the Army." He was in the Air Force.

O.G. said:

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My dad's dad grew up in the Great Depression, it affected him his entire life.

He had all kinds of "improvised" stuff around the place.

My dad had another term for it, but it can't be posted here.

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My dad grew up in the Great Depression.
I never throw away a nut, bolt, or screw - thats what big Tupperware containers are for.

B-1 83 said:

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big Tupperware containers

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Rich.

B-1 83 said:

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O.G. said:

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My dad's dad grew up in the Great Depression, it affected him his entire life.

He had all kinds of "improvised" stuff around the place.

My dad had another term for it, but it can't be posted here.

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My dad grew up in the Great Depression.
I never throw away a nut, bolt, or screw - thats what big Tupperware containers are for.

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That's what mason jars, old pickle jars or just old jars are for. I have a shelf full of them.

I'm not sure what age I was when I figured out that metal Folgers cans were actually created for purchasing coffee and not for a storage system for all the things one needs to keep their home standing - nuts, bolts, screws, nails, hinges, zip ties, duct tape, and so on. Also as an adult I can't imagine keeping a foot locker full of saws and saw blades, with no lock on it, that I would tell my elementary school-aged child to bring me things from. Literally a giant metal box full of things you can lose a finger in was just sitting there in his shop. It just makes me giggle thinking about stuff like that, but having grown up in the 80s I know I wasn't alone in living in a house with at least one room where your safety wasn't guaranteed when you walked in.

Yesterday I was trying to empty the old gas out of the tank on my 37 into some "spare" gasoline cans and the 12 volt fuel pump ensemble that I engineered and rigged up wouldn't prime. I got my air compressor out, hooked an air gun up to the hose, stuck one end of the gas line into the tank to the bottom, put my left hand over the gas tank fill tube to form a seal, inserted the air gun between my thumb and forefinger and pulled the trigger. Pressurized the tank up enough to self prime the pump with gas and voila .......raus mtt dem alten gas. Now I have about 6 gallons of old gas to dispose of.......I wonder how I'm gonna do that.......

Max Power said:

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I'm not sure what age I was when I figured out that metal Folgers cans were actually created for purchasing coffee and not for a storage system for all the things one needs to keep their home standing - nuts, bolts, screws, nails, hinges, zip ties, duct tape, and so on. Also as an adult I can't imagine keeping a foot locker full of saws and saw blades, with no lock on it, that I would tell my elementary school-aged child to bring me things from. Literally a giant metal box full of things you can lose a finger in was just sitting there in his shop. It just makes me giggle thinking about stuff like that, but having grown up in the 80s I know I wasn't alone in living in a house with at least one room where your safety wasn't guaranteed when you walked in.

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Great for a charcoal chimney as well to get the grill going! Just put some vent holes near the bottom for air flow.

Rattler12 said:

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Yesterday I was trying to empty the old gas out of the tank on my 37 into some "spare" gasoline cans and the 12 volt fuel pump ensemble that I engineered and rigged up wouldn't prime. I got my air compressor out, hooked an air gun up to the hose, stuck one end of the gas line into the tank to the bottom, put my left hand over the gas tank fill tube to form a seal, inserted the air gun between my thumb and forefinger and pulled the trigger. Pressurized the tank up enough to self prime the pump with gas and voila .......raus mtt dem alten gas. Now I have about 6 gallons of old gas to dispose of.......I wonder how I'm gonna do that.......

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Popular mechanics had another environmentally friendly solution the old timers liked.

I think it involved digging a hole and filling with gravel to safely pour it into. But we usually just skip the hole. My dad would pour used gas and used oil down he centerline of the gravel driveway to " kill weeds." I don't know how many hundreds of gallons is under our old driveway.

My father-in-law was notorious collector of and saver of just about anything.

The joke was he had a drawer in his shop labeled "Pieces of string too short to keep".

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My grandfather grew up in the depression and taught my father, and now me to keep every screw, nut, bolt or piece of wire you might need one day.

After WWII, my grandfather purchased the cockpit section of a bomber trainer aircraft. My dad said they got buckets full of screws, nots, bolts, wire and scrap metal off it for years. My dad and his cousins also spent hours playing in it.

jja79 said:

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My dad was a depression kid too but was the opposite. He said he was never doing anything himself. I'm 69 and have flathead and Phillips screwdrivers. No wrenches, hammers etc. It's amazing how many other old guys want to flex by fixing everything. I just call one of them and they do it while I'm playing golf.

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