How did you know how to remove a screw?

[Geronimo '74]

I reckon this is how a lot of kids learned the basics of tools.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Won

To quote Sugarwood:


NOT trying to be sarcastic. How do we begin to acquire new knowledge? What motivates us to learn the unknown? Does anyone truly live in a vacuum in this day and age, that you have never seen something that you could buy in a retail shop (boundary conditions for argument sake) unless someone shows it to you?

I can't actually remember when I first saw or turned a screw.

This to me feels a lot like Zeno's paradoxes

Well Zenos paradoxes are nothing more than intellectual exercises with no real world, real time existence. So for anyone with a pragmatic need they are pointless.
When I have a need I must obtain the knowledge to fulfill that need. Like effecting a repair, the need provides the motivation to obtain the knowledge.

Sure there are times that I go about educating myself on some topic or another without really needing to. For instance I'm currently reading Campbells "Occidental Mythology" just because I was curious about it.

[Scott Douglas]

Dad was a mechanical engineer and always doing something to the house. He studied up and took a test so he could be his own contractor for a lot of the projects.
My brother and I had Lincoln Logs and erector sets as kids too. I had a Howdy Doody tool box.
I can remember having a really cool tow truck toy that you could take the wheels off the axles by undoing an acorn nut. Remember putting a screw driver into my hand too trying to pry one of the tires off the plastic rims.
Dad had us helping pack wheel bearings at a very young age as we always had to do that prior to going on vacation with our camping trailer. I finally figured out, years later, that that compulsion came from him having had a wheel bearing go out on a trailer on a trip my grandfather took the family on back in 1948. Dad found a brand new replacement bearing in an Army depot Quonset hut at one of the outposts along the Alkan Highway which was still being manned 4 years after the end of the war.

[Zeke]

I had an Erector Set. That was enough to branch out into trouble. Quite a bit of time, not too much supervision — I did some crazy siht. Bled a lot, IIRC. I was 12 when I was bolting a chainsaw motor into a 20" bike frame and driving some big ass pulley literally bolted (or tied with wire ) to the spokes. Push start, coaster brake. Hand throttle from the Harley shop.

I took my 3rd car apart down to the frame laying on the ground. '61 Corvette repossession that I bought from the finance company. It was holding standing water in the footwells when I got in to check the handbrake before flat towing the turd home.

Here is that car a couple months before I got to drive it under its own power for the first time — 2 years later.

[fintstone]

My father was not mechanically inclined and did not even drive a car. Neither of my brothers even have any hand tools or really know how to use them...or any interest in learning. One is a mechanical engineer and the other a lawyer. They don't mow their own grass, paint their own homes, etc. Apparently, both make enough money to pay for whatever they want done. Both drive fancy cars...but no hot rods or performance cars in the bunch. Different strokes.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Geronimo '74

I reckon this is how a lot of kids learned the basics of tools.

Now it's going to be through their battery-powered electronics and game controllers. Back when we were kids, we were assumed to be smart enough not to eat the batteries. These days every place where batteries are used in kids' toys is protected by a panel held in place by a tiny screw. So to change batteries, now you have to go through the house to find that one "precision" screwdriver which wears out after about 20 uses' worth.

[Scott Douglas]

finstone - That reminds me of the designer that worked with my brother. He finished a design and my brother had the part made. When he got it done he took it and laid it on the designer's desk.
Designer asked "What's that?"
He didn't even recognize the part he'd just designed a few weeks earlier.

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

finstone - That reminds me of the designer that worked with my brother. He finished a design and my brother had the part made. When he got it done he took it and laid it on the designer's desk.
Designer asked "What's that?"
He didn't even recognize the part he'd just designed a few weeks earlier.

LOL. Yes. My mechanical engineer brother owned a fabulous, very high tech machine shop. Sorta fell into his lap as two weeks into his first job, the company that owned it decided to divest (not part of their specialty/vision)...and told him that while they could not give him severance, they liked him and would sell him the shop/business and loan him the millions to buy it. They would buy at least enough from him each year to make the payments and pay for materials (and current salaries)...as long as he could fill their needs. Lots of fancy automated lathes, etc...and they could make anything (usually for aerospace industry). He spent his time doing sales and the books....and goofing off for a decade. Hired a bunch of his goof-off friends and couldn't get any of them to do anything. Couldn't make a thing himself. Never even changed his oil in his car...in his life. Eventually he sold it and made a small killing. The new owners then made a real killing...as it was a gold mine. He now works for them in sales. He is really good at that.

[cabmandone]

My screw gun has an arrow on it that tells me.

[Won]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Well Zenos paradoxes are nothing more than intellectual exercises with no real world, real time existence. So for anyone with a pragmatic need they are pointless.
When I have a need I must obtain the knowledge to fulfill that need. Like effecting a repair, the need provides the motivation to obtain the knowledge.

Sure there are times that I go about educating myself on some topic or another without really needing to. For instance I'm currently reading Campbells "Occidental Mythology" just because I was curious about it.

It's not very clear the way I wrote. I mean Sugarwood's world view reminds me of the paradoxes. If you haven't, go check out the "not a car guy" thread

[stealthn]

Does it have to be a screw?

[rockfan4]

I was talking to my uncle a couple of weeks ago, and he brought up the story of visiting my parents, and my dad was working on the threshold of the front door leading out to the front porch, and he was showing my how to countersink a screw. He said I was 2 or 3 at the time, and I have no memory of the event, but he showed me how to fix a lot of things growing up. I do remember using a roll of solder to wire up the pedals in my pedal car, so I could ride it down the neighbor's hill without the pedals moving. The car would roll faster that way. Apparently that was the wrong material to use.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Won

... and then every now and then one comes across a right-handed thread... Cam chain pulley bolt on certain cars, for example.

And the nut that holds on a stick edger blade.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Won

It's not very clear the way I wrote. I mean Sugarwood's world view reminds me of the paradoxes. If you haven't, go check out the "not a car guy" thread

One thing for sure, SW is getting a lot of airplay with respect to his car guy thread disruption.

Mostly negative attention but attention nonetheless.

There's a term for those that revel in this type of internet glory.

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by Won

... and then every now and then one comes across a right-handed thread... Cam chain pulley bolt on certain cars, for example.

Not wishing to be picky, but most threads are right hand threads. What you're describing is a left hand thread.

[oldE]

Being the youngest of ten kids, I grew up pretty free range. Also the toys I had were left over from a previous generation. When screws would back out of wooden toys it became clear very quickly turning the screw one way resulted in the toy falling apart. Turning it the other way let you resume playing.
Later when I was big enough to follow Dad around the farm, I would watch him build almost anything he needed. I have said that is why at age twenty seven although I didn't know how to build a house, I built this one. I did know enough to contract out the foundation and electrical. Probably why it is still standing and hasn't burned down.

Best
Les

[Aerkuld]

I don't remember the first time I ever used a screwdriver, or any tool necessarily, but having toys like Mecano (Erector set) probably helped. I was fortunate growing up in that my Father is a Mechanical Engineer, and his Father had been an apprentice instructor in the RAF. Consequently, my Father has excellent mechanical inclination. Ever since he was young he'd been helping his Father work on the family car. This was 1950's Britain, so the cars needed frequent maintenance. The same was then true when I was young and I'd frequently 'help' my Father in the garage. He commented later "I never thought you were really paying much attention, but it clearly all sank in". I think having hand-on at an early age was a benefit. Seeing how things went together and how to fix them gives one a inquiring mind. With a grasp of the basics the next step is figuring out HOW it works. It's second nature from there.

I was amused by the kids with the rotary phone. Who remembers learning that the dial sends a pulse signal down the line and you can get the same result as dialing by hitting the buttons the handset rests on the correct number of times with a pause between each number? Phone dial lock defeater!

[fred cook]

Both my grandfather and father were do it yourself/fixit type guys. Neither one minded if I hung around and watched while they built or repaired something. When I was about 5 or 6, my grandmother wanted some shelves put up in a back hallway and my grandfather grabbed me and a screwdriver and we went to work. He measured where he wanted the shelf brackets mounted and put in the first screw. Then he handed the screwdriver to me and watched as I put the next one into place. By the time we got done, I could handle a screwdriver like nobody's business! From then on, it seemed like everytime I turned around somebody was pushing a tool into my hands and instructing me on how to use it. By the time I was about 11 or 12 I could trouble shoot and (sometimes) repair a non functional lawnmower engine! When I was 16, I installed a Ford 289 engine in a 1952 Ford sedan. I drove it my last year in high school and thru 2 years of college. Worked pretty good for a first time engine swap! Later, after a stint in the Navy and a couple more years of college getting an engineering degree, I worked for a civil engineering company for a few years until they had an economic downturn. I wound up going to work at an Alfa Romeo specialty shop and stayed there for 3 years mostly building engines. After leaving there, I worked as a telecommunications engineer and kept on "messing" with cars, rebuilding/restoring several. All this started because one person decided to hand me a screwdriver and be patient enough to teach me how to use it!

PS: I did the same thing when my son was growing up!

[Won]

Originally Posted by Aerkuld

Not wishing to be picky, but most threads are right hand threads. What you're describing is a left hand thread.

Right you are! This is embarrassing.

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by Won

Right you are! This is embarrassing.

I know you knew what you meant, but I think this statement holds a lot more to unlocking the secret to the original question than you realize.

How did we learn to use a screwdriver? Probably by doing something embarrassing and have someone show us how it's done. Between us we've probably made some monumental cock-ups, but would happily raise our hand and say "This is embarrassing, but . . . " and learn from the experience. Having the gumption to venture out and make the mistake in the first place is the key to learning how to do it properly.


BTW - some great stories on this thread. Thanks guys!