Still Building (continued)
This still project is a classic 'gotcha'. The kit and the instructions are super, but when it comes time for actual fabrication, the tool chest is woefully bare. Normally, I'm pretty well equipped, but I haven't done any significant soldering (plumbing) in a while, so I had to get a new torch ($39). Along those lines, I had to new 'wide mouth' vise grips ($24). (I haven't found my needle nose ones yet, so that'll be another twelve bucks soon). Ran out of the last of my solder and had to get a small spool ($18) and naturally thought I'd be out of flux any minute, so had to get a new small tub of THAT. Oh yeah, my bench vise sucked as an anvil, so I'm now the proud owner of a small, yet functional 15 pounder ($29). That'll come in handy after this project if I have any miniature horses that need shoeing.
Please know that there is not even the remotest possibility that all this stuff could be had in one trip to the hardware store. It's gotten to the point where, to avoid embarrassment and ridicule, I have staggered hardware store visits among the three closest. That way, if I have to go back three times in one day, I avoid the risk of the staff guffaws at any one given store. Pretty shrewd if you ask me, although the stores probably maintain a mutual website/bulletin board for posting pix of 'Dunce of the Week". I suspect that by next week I'll be about an 8 and the 'Snicker Scale'. They'll rue the day they made fun of me when I'm sipping my own home-made hooch. The way things are going, though, it'll probably double as paint thinner, so I'll have yet another opportunity to tell the red-vested hardware boys, "I told you so! I can burn my esophagus AND strip paint at the same time!"
This still project is a classic 'gotcha'. The kit and the instructions are super, but when it comes time for actual fabrication, the tool chest is woefully bare. Normally, I'm pretty well equipped, but I haven't done any significant soldering (plumbing) in a while, so I had to get a new torch ($39). Along those lines, I had to new 'wide mouth' vise grips ($24). (I haven't found my needle nose ones yet, so that'll be another twelve bucks soon). Ran out of the last of my solder and had to get a small spool ($18) and naturally thought I'd be out of flux any minute, so had to get a new small tub of THAT. Oh yeah, my bench vise sucked as an anvil, so I'm now the proud owner of a small, yet functional 15 pounder ($29). That'll come in handy after this project if I have any miniature horses that need shoeing.
Please know that there is not even the remotest possibility that all this stuff could be had in one trip to the hardware store. It's gotten to the point where, to avoid embarrassment and ridicule, I have staggered hardware store visits among the three closest. That way, if I have to go back three times in one day, I avoid the risk of the staff guffaws at any one given store. Pretty shrewd if you ask me, although the stores probably maintain a mutual website/bulletin board for posting pix of 'Dunce of the Week". I suspect that by next week I'll be about an 8 and the 'Snicker Scale'. They'll rue the day they made fun of me when I'm sipping my own home-made hooch. The way things are going, though, it'll probably double as paint thinner, so I'll have yet another opportunity to tell the red-vested hardware boys, "I told you so! I can burn my esophagus AND strip paint at the same time!"
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