Re: Recommendation for Saving Joints, long-term

[billw]

I believe met you at Freezingham, so I know you’re not that old. I’ve been doing it for a pay check for forty years now, and I’m just now starting to have a little trouble with pain in one finger, plus my back is pretty much shot, from arthritis and an "extruded" disc. But these are recent things and degenerative. It seems like you shouldn’t be having these problems yet. Do you possibly have a carpel tunnel thing going on, with your hand problem? I never had it but my girl friend did; and there is an easy fix for that, surgically. The other thing is that, since you haven’t been doing it very long, you may just need to work into it more slowly. It does take certain muscle group combinations that need to develop over time. Mechanics seem to have big forearms, for gripping screw drivers, for instance. Thus the knuckle dragging monkey stigma. Yo, Adriane.

I rarely use power tools because they can get you into trouble pretty fast. I will sometimes use air if I have a lot of corroded bolts that I KNOW will come out but are just a fight. Rusty trailer lug nuts, that kind of thing. You develop a feel for that, after awhile, but it’s still a little risky. My tool of choice is a small, 3/8" drive air-powered impact gun, that you hold in the palm of one hand. I find air ratchets to be totally useless, myself. I personally feel like penetrating oils are only ceremonial until the fasteners start to move. Then they help a LOT. Heat is mostly what gets stuck stuff started; and I use that a lot. I like the slotted screw driver, 3/8" drive bits from Snap-On. Big money but they stand up fairly well. I dunno. Hope this helps.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-8-DRIVE-BUTTE … 98&vxp=mtr

Long live American manufacturing!