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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BillM" data-source="post: 4382372" data-attributes="member: 45785">My grandfather was a newlywed during the Great Depression. He was in the habit of fixing or making his own stuff. And when he didn't know how to do something, he'd find a way to learn. Libaries had books, and he'd read them. Or he'd find someone doing a job, and get them to show him how it was done. Sometimes he worked with them to get the teaching, sometimes he'd pay. Might be a six-pak or two, or some of my grandma's cooking. She was doing plain cooking for lumberjacks when he met her, and also wonderful deserts. He taught me. Dad was perennially broke, with too many kids and a 2nd wife, but learned a lot of DIY stuff, too. Both of them did some of their growing up on farms. Farmers mostly have to know how to do everything, or do without. I mostly grew up in the city, but learned a lot from both of them. Both bought old houses that were too small, and made them better. I helped where I could, when I was old enough. Brother and I got a G.I. Joe each when I was Bout 10. They had steel swords, spear & arrow points, and functional long bows. Cold forged out of coat hanger wire. When grandpa wore out his 61 Falcon, he gave it to me. And I tinkered with it. Grandma may have been the prototype for the Little Old Lady from Pasadena. Had 61 Falcon of her own. And ripped the rear bumper into an L shape. Grandpa replaced it from "mine." And I straightened hers with a propane torch, ball peen hammer, and wet rags. Reversed that 90° bend, and made it look like new. Except there was a crack in the chrome plating where the bend used to be. Bit later helped dad do warranty appliance repair work for Sears appliances in Delta County, CO. Plus wor on his new house in Western Colorado.  Was a log cabin, built in 1868. Sided over. Some of the plumbing was made of tarpaper. Helped dad set up his new workshop in a small barn, and his ham shack in a lean-too off the barn. Was with him when he paid $5 for a 128lb London pattern anvil. And when he used it to fit horseshoes to our horses & Welsh pony. And made a horse shoe belt buckle for my 3rd stepfather...Few years later I enlisted in the USAF. Wound up working on F-111D fighter jets as a mechanic. Actually glorified gas station attendent mostly. <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" alt="😀" title="😀" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" /> But quickly wound up as the crew chief on a series of hanger queens, and making them fly again. Was working on my own cars again, too. 1963 Impala SS, among other things. Like a buddies 1972 Jaguar XJ-6. Also wrecked my knees. Made lots of mistakes, broke a lot of stuff. Fixed some of it. Bought my firsy house, fixed a bunch of stuff in it. Retrained to be a photographer for the USAF. Documented problems with equipment, worked on more cars, and an couple of trucks, including a 1953 IH pickup. Had a glass bowl in the carb, and I chipped it. Never could get a seal on it again. Or find a replacement bowl. 'Nother lesson learned. That was just my first five years, of 24, in the Air Force. Got involved in computers in '78...  Since then, I have worked on autos, medium & small trucks, home and industrial laundry and other appliances, micro & mainframe computers, though I missed the mini-computers... LF through SHF radio transmitters & recievers and antenna systems, including satellite dishes up to 40' diameter. That on was originally set up to communicate across non-synchronous satellites. High performance jets, photographic and both manual and continuous automatic photo-processing equipment, plumbing, wiring for systems from 12vdc to 440ac, bit of HVAC work, etc. Also was the editor & publisher of a baseline newsletter at Pirinclic AS, outside Ditarbakir, Turkey. Back when cut & paste was still done with scissors and a glue pot. Though I was using a Heath H89 computer for composition... Lots of sometimes weird experience. Had my own junkyard when I lived in Las Vegas. Was putting the undercarriage of a Deuce & a half truck under a 60's era school bus. Had a stack of 6 Austin Healy "Bugeye" Sprites in the yard. Put a 350ci chevy engin in  a Vega. Engines &/or transmissions in a number of cars. But I've never actually rebuilt an engine or transmission myself. Done a bit of farm welding. Brazing on pipe & silver-soldering on jewelry. Cut,  ground, polished & mounted cabochon stones in jewelry I'd finished. Made and fought in medieval-style armour. And had my left forearm broken in a swordfight, live on Channel 8 (IIRC) news in Las Vegas at their first Ren Faire. Just a bit of amateur gunsmithing, too. I have fixed an broken a lot of stuff over the past 60-some years. Starter in the truck my youngest is driving to work, too. Long, complex trouble shooting process found the nut holding the wire from the starter relay to the solenoid on the starter motor had worked itself lose over the past year or so. Replaced it with a tighter nut, washer, and a lock nut. Likewise for the battery wire, just in case... As I apparently wasn't paranoid enough last time I was in there. As I was saying lots of experience, but kind of spotty...</blockquote>

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