It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 10:01
Rod wrote:......
When I first started work I was placed under a terrible example of an Engineer and who haunted my career for a number of years but that’s a long story. Everybody was called by their surname and your superiors were called Sir. When the big boss entered your room you stood to attention. .....
Rod
Pinch wrote:Screws were slotted and the fast action screwdriver was the pump screwdriver - no cordless drill/screwdriver jobbies back then. Us apprentices weren't allowed to use one until we had received proper training. They were banned from college. I still have one, although not my first ever, but still pretty old.
Andyp wrote:Pinch wrote:Screws were slotted and the fast action screwdriver was the pump screwdriver - no cordless drill/screwdriver jobbies back then. Us apprentices weren't allowed to use one until we had received proper training. They were banned from college. I still have one, although not my first ever, but still pretty old.
My father has a couple of those pump action screwdrivers, probably my grandfathers. I have tried using them but a long time ago now. All I can remember is how dfficult they were to control. Jumping out of the screw slot and leaving a horrid dent in the wood.
Interesting that you had training on how to use them. Exactly how should they be used?
Malc2098 wrote:Bl00dy good show!!
Rod wrote:Good luck with your new future Paul.
I did O levels, A levels, Degree then The Institution of Civil Engineers exams and interview to become Chartered Engineer when I was about 25 or 26. So I studied for quite a long time.
Woodwork was mainly DIY though I did get an O level in it (and Metalwork) but as I got older and had a bit more time started making more exotic stuff out of real wood!
I retired at 60 then worked part time and started buying bits of machinery to process my own timber and for a while bought lots of unnecessary tools
Strangely my Fathers’s hobby was messing about with wood but I don’t ever remember him teaching me anything.
When I first started work I was placed under a terrible example of an Engineer and who haunted my career for a number of years but that’s a long story. Everybody was called by their surname and your superiors were called Sir. When the big boss entered your room you stood to attention. No lady Engineers but a few female secretaries and Tracers.
Sports jacket and ties were the expected dress and as you progressed up the ranks a suit was the approved attire.
Those were the days, thankfully no longer.
Rod
fiveeyes wrote:Bravo Mr Pinch, bravo.
Please do more reminiscing, all of us, I am certain, will appreciate that. You were fortunate to learn from your mentors, and we here on TWH2, have learned from you. Heartfelt thanks.
Sometimes, the only way the old school ways are passed on, is thru stories. Tell more, hell, write a book!
bill
RogerS wrote:Rod wrote:......
When I first started work I was placed under a terrible example of an Engineer and who haunted my career for a number of years but that’s a long story. Everybody was called by their surname and your superiors were called Sir. When the big boss entered your room you stood to attention. .....
Rod
My old MD amazed us with a story from his working career at a similar company by the sounds of it. He'd been promoted and was entitled to an office. There he was, sitting back in his chair, contemplating his lot when the door opened without so much as knock or a bye-your-leave and a maintenance man walked in, whipped out a Stanley knife and proceeded to cut a foot off of the carpet all the way round the perimeter of the room. My MD asked him what did he think he was doing. The reply was that his grade didn't entitle him to an office with wall-to-wall carpeting.
When I worked for the ghastly KPMG, I was pushed onto an internal project where I was expected to work on databases of which I had scant experience or knowledge. The working area was dire, I was hacked off and then I was also responsible for a demo area on another floor which came complete with a kitted out 'Partner's office'. It was my personal fiefdom. So I went there and carried on working. Then they found me That's when I decided to quit. The attitude of the partner's was 'I own that table. I own that chair. I own that carpet, I own you'.
Andyp wrote:Pinch wrote:Screws were slotted and the fast action screwdriver was the pump screwdriver - no cordless drill/screwdriver jobbies back then. Us apprentices weren't allowed to use one until we had received proper training. They were banned from college. I still have one, although not my first ever, but still pretty old.
My father has a couple of those pump action screwdrivers, probably my grandfathers. I have tried using them but a long time ago now. All I can remember is how dfficult they were to control. Jumping out of the screw slot and leaving a horrid dent in the wood.
Interesting that you had training on how to use them. Exactly how should they be used?
Woodbloke wrote:Andyp wrote:Pinch wrote:Screws were slotted and the fast action screwdriver was the pump screwdriver - no cordless drill/screwdriver jobbies back then. Us apprentices weren't allowed to use one until we had received proper training. They were banned from college. I still have one, although not my first ever, but still pretty old.
My father has a couple of those pump action screwdrivers, probably my grandfathers. I have tried using them but a long time ago now. All I can remember is how dfficult they were to control. Jumping out of the screw slot and leaving a horrid dent in the wood.
Interesting that you had training on how to use them. Exactly how should they be used?
My old dad who was in the Fleet Air Arm mentioned severial times that pump action 'Yankee' screwdrivers were banned when working on aeroplanes, for the simple reason that the bit could too easily slip and puncture the aluminium skin. Not only embarrassing but an extremely spendy mistake to fix - Rob
Pinch wrote:
The 'Yankee' - that was it - Stanley. I started out with a Yankee and ended up with two Talco drivers - I think they were. I still have them in the workshop - one still good and the other not. I''m going to clean up the good one and try to source new bits for it.
Woodbloke wrote:Pinch wrote:
The 'Yankee' - that was it - Stanley. I started out with a Yankee and ended up with two Talco drivers - I think they were. I still have them in the workshop - one still good and the other not. I''m going to clean up the good one and try to source new bits for it.
A friend of mine, Paul Chapman who will be a familiar name to Rod, has a 'collection' of these things. I haven't seen or heard from Paul for several years now, but I remember he was forever on the lookout for different variations of drivers and bits - Rob
Pinch wrote:
Cheers Rob. The same Paul Chapman who was also active on WUK?
Pinch wrote:fiveeyes wrote:Bravo Mr Pinch, bravo.
Please do more reminiscing, all of us, I am certain, will appreciate that. You were fortunate to learn from your mentors, and we here on TWH2, have learned from you. Heartfelt thanks.
Sometimes, the only way the old school ways are passed on, is thru stories. Tell more, hell, write a book!
bill
Thanks Bill, very kind of you. A book could be potentially embarrassing... I would end up going off on tangents and ramble into a world of imaginative woodland creatures of mystical beings and large breasted fairies.
But, who knows....
Malc2098 wrote:We've 'ad a meetin' of the committee and a motion 'as been passed for Mr Pinch to write a book about large breasted fairies.
Pinch wrote:I remember cutting twin tenons for mid & bottom rails of doors using a rip saw; cleaning up the haunches using a homemade 'old woman's tooth' from an old piece of teak bannister; :
Woodbloke wrote:Pinch wrote:
Cheers Rob. The same Paul Chapman who was also active on WUK?
The very same fella, but as I said, he appears to have dropped off the grid - Rob
fiveeyes wrote:Pinch wrote:fiveeyes wrote:Bravo Mr Pinch, bravo.
Please do more reminiscing, all of us, I am certain, will appreciate that. You were fortunate to learn from your mentors, and we here on TWH2, have learned from you. Heartfelt thanks.
Sometimes, the only way the old school ways are passed on, is thru stories. Tell more, hell, write a book!
bill
Thanks Bill, very kind of you. A book could be potentially embarrassing... I would end up going off on tangents and ramble into a world of imaginative woodland creatures of mystical beings and large breasted fairies.
But, who knows....
Had a good laugh with that!!
Well said
selectortone wrote:.....
On the first day the woodwork teacher, a VERY nasty piece of work who delighted in hitting us with a piece of batten, .....
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