Hello, My name is Steve and I am a tightwad.

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Cattaraugus225

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I accredit some of it to the fact that I am descended from Scotts.

I reuse stuff. I finally replaced my aging drill press with something that could operate with a bit of precision, but I could not bear to just toss the old one. I had been needing a buffer, so I stripped the motor out, mounted it on a block of recycled wood and built me a buffer! I decided that I just really needed a leather buffing wheel, but would I go to Amazon and order one up? Nope, tightwads don't do that. I had an old bench grinder wheel and an old belt and some pretty good adhesive, so, at it I went. Now, in my cramped workshop, my grinder and buffer are in a spot where I have to slide in sideways to get to, so it is a little "tight." In any case, I carefully glued this old belt to the abrasive wheel and was feeling really proud of my creation. I picked up something to try it out.

Man, this thing was working like a champ before 80% of my cheap glue gave up. That belt liked to have beaten me to death before I could get away from it! Thank goodness there was no one around to witness or photograph my plight....A couple of days later, when I was getting out of the shower, my wife asked what in the world happened to get all of those bruises. Being a good husband, not wanting her to worry, I lied.

There is a happy ending to the story: After I recovered from my whipping, I broke down and bought some construction adhesive, moved my "buffer" to where I had a possible exit and finally got it to hold, and it does a pretty fair job of final polishing.
 
Like stopping the lathe chuck with your hand or getting a tie caught in the car’s cooling fan?
 
Thanks for sharing Steve. Another tightwad here, no technical or DIY skills in my case so I was suitably impressed.
 
Sounds like sound reasoning and did you know that copper wire was invented by the Scotts' ? two Scotsmen were fighting over a penny and during the struggle it was stretched out into a thin copper wire ;)
G2
 
jakemex said:
Like stopping the lathe chuck with your hand or getting a tie caught in the car’s cooling fan?
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I came up in the plumbing trade. In the early 70s we were still installing a lot of galvanized steel water pipe, so we used a pipe threading machine every day. The machines turn at a slow speed but with a tremendous amount of torque. After a new apprentice would learn that lesson someone would always bet the new kid that he could stop the machine with a 12" pipe wrench. (Something Godzilla could not do) After laying the money down we would turn on the machine and then tap the switch with the 12" wrench and would not let the apprentice beg or whine his way out of the bet.

Another thing that I remember is that I had an apprentice who was a southpaw. I hounded and hounded him to learn to work on the side of the machine with the switch, rather than the other side. Back then, the machines did not use the foot pedal that are now required on them. I am about 100 feet away from the machine when I heard the most god awful screams. The old boy had reached over the machine for something and a pipe fitting caught his cowboy belt buckle and immediately wrapped him up into a knot. (he couldn't turn the machine off) I ran and snatched the cord out of the extension and he was all doubled over the pipe protruding from the machine. He was in some pain, and I told him, "Tony, I am going to cut your jeans away from the pipe, to which he replied with a moan, NOOOOOO my d***k is in there. I felt like a heel, but after he took a ride in the ambulance I just could not quit laughing about the d**k thing.

When Tony returned to work, he learned to work on the switch side of the machine.
 
Then there was the Scot and his wife who went to an air show where they were offering acrobatic biplane rides for £5. "Too expensive," the Scot told the pilot. "Tell you what," the pilot said. "I'll take you and your wife up for a spin, and if you don't yell, the ride's free." "Well, OK," the Scot said, and he and his wife climbed in. The pilot took off and executed a series of spins, dives and flips, but the Scot didn't let out a peep. "I got to hand it to you," the pilot congratulated him when they landed. "Well," said the Scot, "I have to admit, you almost had me when the auld lady fell out." 😁
 
lol well, that's quite the coincidence !

I've traveled to Scotland a few times, once by train and when I left my seat to get a drink and some 'crisps' when I returned I found a newspaper on the small table between facing seats. I thought nothing of it and sat down to have my snack. An older gentleman showed up and hollard 'ur n me seat' ! which ran together so much that I really did not understand what he said as his accent was very heavy, when I finally understood I said I was there earlier and left to get my snacks and as I rose to leave he waved me to sit back down and commenced to educate me on American politics. All of which I could barely understand, this was back in the late 80's. When he got off at the next stop a lady and her son that sat across the aisle said she felt sorry for me and that even she could barely understand him. It was an interesting trip and a walk around Edinburgh was very nice, such a historical city!

Here's a photo I took of the castle there late at night, it's quite a walk up to the castle!!!

Scotland by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
 
Cattaraugus225 said:
That was my daddy and his brother. ;)
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My Scottish kin's ancestors were Vikings. I have traced my lineage to a Scottish Viking know as Sven Skull Crusher. I didn't learn of it until late in life. When I did discover my roots, it was a great relief because I always thought that I might have a deep psychological problem because I sometimes got this overwhelming urge to burn a monastery, rape a nun and impale a small child on a pike. Now I know it was all just genetics and that I am OK.
 
Cattaraugus225 said:
My Scottish kin's ancestors were Vikings. I have traced my lineage to a Scottish Viking know as Sven Skull Crusher. I didn't learn of it until late in life. When I did discover my roots, it was a great relief because I always thought that I might have a deep psychological problem because I sometimes got this overwhelming urge to burn a monastery, rape a nun and impale a small child on a pike. Now I know it was all just genetics and that I am OK.
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I suspect I also have some Viking blood, as I felt an urge to sack Notre Dame Cathedral when we took a ferry ride along the Seine in Paris in 2015. Someone burned it a few years later before I could get back, though.
 
WTF, is this the old folks home Community Center? Where’s the knives?
 
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