Author Topic: What did the old timers send you looking for? (Read 1947 times)

Greaser Greg · « **on:** October 22, 2020, 05:24:51 PM »

Have you ever sent your kid or wife, or the unsuspecting neophyte hanging around the shop, looking for a muffler bearing or a bottle of smoke? What else? Or, what else were you sent to look for, and which one kept you going the longest?

onepieceatatime · « **Reply #1 on:** October 22, 2020, 05:48:08 PM »

I've sent people for left handed screwdrivers.

While I was in the Army for telecommunications I sent people for boxes of grid squares, spools of orderwire, chemlamp batteries, and waveguide grease.

gpzkat · « **Reply #2 on:** October 22, 2020, 05:57:59 PM »

Snipes. Always the snipes.

ken65 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 22, 2020, 06:28:17 PM »

Only a few weeks ago, I got on the local tool shop "Trade tools " hotline asking if they stocked left hand drill bits. They got back to me straight away saying " YES, our drill bits can be used in either hand" .
A few minutes later they got back to me , " sorry sir , I thought you were making a joke. They would need to be ordered in , please let me know If I can be of any further assistance"

scunny · « **Reply #4 on:** October 22, 2020, 06:51:24 PM »

When I was an apprentice, one of the old timers sent me to the store for a "long weight"
Told the storeman what the silly bugger had asked for, and spent the next hour relaxing in a comfy chair.

Don R · « **Reply #5 on:** October 22, 2020, 07:30:09 PM »

Loading semi trailers with steel beams, we sent the new guy to the tool crib for the trailer stretcher.

seanbarney41 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 22, 2020, 07:42:59 PM »

yup, when I worked at the wood shop..."Go get the board stretcher!"

seanbarney41 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 22, 2020, 07:44:41 PM »

...few people know though, wood welders are real. And they are some pretty wild pieces of equipment!

jgger · « **Reply #8 on:** October 22, 2020, 09:02:06 PM »

I didn't do it, but a buddy of mine sent the local hang around kid to the gas station for a bucket of air. Handed him a bucket, told him how to do it and had peace for about 30 minutes!

jgger · « **Reply #9 on:** October 22, 2020, 09:08:44 PM »

We sent a mouthy assistant superintendent on a goose chase for a box of " back nails" , that was an all day hunt for him. BTW " back nail " is a process where you nail from one side and then the back side also. At the end of the day we told him we we were going to need some "stripped spray paint" in the morning. Just to rub it in!

Ichiban 4 · « **Reply #10 on:** October 22, 2020, 10:43:57 PM »

"Belt Stretching Oil" is one used back in the 50's & 60's

"Sky Hooks" was another.

Ichi

jlh3rd · « **Reply #11 on:** October 23, 2020, 04:46:22 AM »

new private pilot students are sent to get a bucket of "prop wash".

CBJoe · « **Reply #12 on:** October 23, 2020, 03:31:21 PM »

cant believe nobody mentioned the hard to find "blinker fluid"

Greaser Greg · « **Reply #13 on:** October 23, 2020, 08:57:24 PM »

Ha ha! Good stuff! Maybe some of those items will be on sale where the winter air is sold. It's getting cold here, so time to drain all the summer air from the herd's tires, and replace with the proper formula for the coming season.

scottly · « **Reply #14 on:** October 23, 2020, 09:18:19 PM »

Quote from: onepieceatatime on October 22, 2020, 05:48:08 PM

While I was in the Army for telecommunications I sent people for boxes of grid squares, spools of orderwire, chemlamp batteries, and waveguide grease.

In the civilian telecom world you would send the newest apprentice out for a quart of dial-tone oil.

onepieceatatime · « **Reply #15 on:** October 23, 2020, 09:22:51 PM »

Quote from: scottly on October 23, 2020, 09:18:19 PM

Quote from: onepieceatatime on October 22, 2020, 05:48:08 PM

While I was in the Army for telecommunications I sent people for boxes of grid squares, spools of orderwire, chemlamp batteries, and waveguide grease.
In the civilian telecom world you would send the newest apprentice out for a quart of dial-tone oil.

Nice. I haven't heard that one before.

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Mag1 · « **Reply #16 on:** October 24, 2020, 02:03:14 AM »

When I left school, I started as an apprentice joiner (carpenter), and we would be building houses or extension to houses. Quite a few times we would be on the roof fixing trusses or sheets of ply and the older guys would see ladies and wolf whistle down the street, oh course they would duck down and I would be left looking at them some would give the dirty look, but most to the annoying faces of the lads would wink and smile back. Another was find a new bubble for their level, when we were in the workshop building frames, so they sent me to the wood merchant for timber, but after a while they started to get annoyed again as I would be in the office chatting up the women and eating cake getting my own back, good laughs and times.

mrbreeze · « **Reply #17 on:** October 24, 2020, 11:02:29 AM »

I was stationed on an aircraft carrier back in the 70's (Ranger). I was sent out to grab the keys for the hanger bay doors and another time to get a box of mahogany welding rods. Also the fore mentioned sky hooks (those would come in handy in lots of situations!)

strynboen · « **Reply #18 on:** October 24, 2020, 11:32:06 AM »

dont have the English Word for "kørner prikker" but that is the small mark you hammer..before drill..so the drill nog dans araund...but the short story vas..i vas send aut to bay a box of them...later they vanted me to get the Automatic a spring loadet one..and i dident vant to be idiot one time more..so said no...to learn that it actuly existed..you press it dovn..and it release vith a heigh clich..and make a mark...vitaut to use a hammer..all this vas for 40 years ago..

jgger · « **Reply #19 on:** October 24, 2020, 06:14:08 PM »

Center punch is the word you are looking for I think.

CaseyH · « **Reply #20 on:** October 24, 2020, 06:51:01 PM »

We sent a guy for a can of compression

754 · « **Reply #21 on:** October 24, 2020, 09:17:18 PM »

Ok I wil, relate one that happened in Army cadets, you can join at age 13, a good age for this one.... at least it was back then .
The officers had an office in the corner of the armory, far left side, just before it was a uniform room, but you could hear if someone spoke at the door of the office..
And standing there one day.. I overheard a nervous sounding kid telling the officer he was there to pick up his Masturbation Papers !..
I thInk, lol.... the officer casually asked him who had sent him..lol..
I think it happened every year..lol.
There was another clothing related one we would send guys to the uniform room, not sure what it was , think there were several.. we wire black berets... and I think there was a few sent to get a beret stretcher...

There was a regiment in a another district nearby, they wore red berets, the Rock Mountain Rangers, they had a ram on the hat badge.. we called them either Ricky Mountain Ram#$%*ers...or Cherry Berries.....lol..

dusterdude · « **Reply #22 on:** October 25, 2020, 01:03:39 AM »

Welding rod grease

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Steve F · « **Reply #23 on:** October 26, 2020, 08:41:20 AM »

"The Bolt Stretcher" This wasn't a new kid or someone new to the job, but we had a "younger" apprentice in the tooling machine shop that was tasked with removing the geared head from the Kerney-Trecker vertical milling machine to make a repair. The top 2 studs were shorter than the bottom 2 studs, and they can be moved around in a tee-slot so you can rotate the head and tighten it in position. After the repair, the apprentice put the head back on, but had rotated the studs and one of them was suddenly too short. The boss sent him on a wild goose chase looking for the bolt stretcher.

Gurp · « **Reply #24 on:** October 27, 2020, 02:18:16 PM »

Quote from: ken65 on October 22, 2020, 06:28:17 PM

Only a few weeks ago, I got on the local tool shop "Trade tools " hotline asking if they stocked left hand drill bits. They got back to me straight away saying " YES, our drill bits can be used in either hand" .
A few minutes later they got back to me , " sorry sir , I thought you were making a joke. They would need to be ordered in , please let me know If I can be of any further assistance"

This is comic Gold!!!

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Author Topic: What did the old timers send you looking for? (Read 1947 times)

ken65