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Staying with the theme of tying things down... the Nite Ize carabiner Figure 9 is a great product for those who don't know how to make knots, or those who just want to make life easier for themselves.

Regular carabiners are also useful tools that "just work."

Pictured here with one of my favorite flashlights Niteye MSC20 (except that I can't pocket carry it due to the magnetic rotatory switch, which sometimes self activates.)

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I like the carabiner 9 better than the regular 9. It is just more versatile.

Regular carabiners are also handy for making a quick connection.

Here I use three carabiners.
I took about a 12 foot length of paracord and put a small bowline at each end.
They got looped over the hood supports, and the hood was closed and they were not going anywhere.
Next I put an over-hand loop in the middle of the line, and I connected a carabiner to it.

So the first kayak is nestled into the two wedges of foam rubber that are hot glued to a closed cell anti fatigue pad, to keep the boat from rocking side to side.

The carry handle is snapped into the carabiner.

The next kayak is nestled into the first, and it has a short line tied into a loop with a carabiner attached which is clipped into the over-hand loop tied to the hood supports.
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These two kayaks are pulled backwards to take up any slack in the front lines. Then they are tied with a single loop of paracord, and secured with a carabiner figure 9, inside the cab of the car.

The 3rd Kayak is secured by it's handle cord, and a carabiner to the second Kayak in the front.
It is pulled backwards to take up any slack, and then tied with a single loop of paracord to the other two, and the roof of the car and secured with another carabiner figure 9.

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The back ends of the kayaks were tied to my receiver hitch.

I also put a loop around the tail 25% of them just for better security, to keep them together.
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When I bought my last kayak the blue sit on top, I did a covid pick up at the store. I am sure the people sitting in their car behind me were shocked to see that I could throw that on top of the car, and tie it off in about 90 seconds and drive away. I am sure they could tell that this was not my first rodeo. LOL :)

I used to use a ratchet strap, but the figure 9 is SO much faster, they are never to be seen again. :whistle:
 
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Handheld rotary tools
..using the small cut-off wheels, to little sanding/grinding attachments = they work where others can't.
 
I have a bit of a thing about carabiners.
I've always used them when sailing, but their main use is on our dogs' leads.
We've always had beagles, and the stress they put on conventional leads and clips doesn't bear thinking about. Until Harry, our present beagle, a conventional barrel lock carabiner did the trick, but Harry wriggles and pulls so much that he can unscreww the lockk and the twist the carabiner open.
A few years ago I discoverd a Black Diamond Magnetic Carabiner. The locking mechanism is controlled by two magnets which hold a latch shut. It's Harryproof and Yetmanproof too.
P
carabiner.jpg
 
Now that's a healthy harness you have for Harry!

My son also uses a sturdy carabiner to connect his pit to his harness.

Last winter, when the days are short, I saw a gent walking his dog. The dog's harness, and leash had lots of 3M reflective cloth sewn into it. There was no mistaking that a person was walking his dog from a block away.

Reflective tape/material, is something that "just works!"

Personally, I wish all outer layer clothes had sufficient reflective material in them to be easily seen at night.
 
Shimano 105 components aka bullet proof. Mine are still going strong after more than 3 decades ( along with the Italian steel Gios Compact Pro frame ). Shimano road component hierarchy:

Dura Ace (thousands of dollars! the best)
Ultegra (not as costly as the top of the line - lighter than 105)
105 (as stated, bullet proof)

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Shimano 105 components aka bullet proof. Mine are still going strong after more than 3 decades ( along with the Italian steel Gios Compact Pro frame ). Shimano road component hierarchy:

Dura Ace (thousands of dollars! the best)
Ultegra (not as costly as the top of the line - lighter than 105)
105 (as stated, bullet proof)

Nice! I have Tiagra on my bike. Looking to upgrade to a new bike that can run wider tires (28 maybe) and a step up to Ultegra. It's on sale but still having a hard time pulling the trigger.
 
When I wear my Shimano baseball cap half the comments are thumbs up by fishermen. The other half by bicycle riders.

My oldest multi speed bikes have Shimano derailuers. They just work. I like their thumb shifters too.
 
I was going to comment on the fact that I still have a Shimano push button fishing reel from my childhood. It always worked flawlessly.

When I was buying a 29 inch bike for my grandson, last Christmas, the owner of the shop mentioned that the bike has Shimano gears, and I knew that they were quality.
 
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Yes Shimano makes great components.

Recently I sold some new & unused 'older' Shimano fishing reels & bike components on ebay for much more than I purchased them for.
Couple of my fishing reels made quite a firestorm on ebay,, did well on that.:)
 
Nice! I have Tiagra on my bike. Looking to upgrade to a new bike that can run wider tires (28 maybe) and a step up to Ultegra. It's on sale but still having a hard time pulling the trigger.

Nice. I'm looking to buy here soon and will upgrade to Ultegra also. Looking at either Litespeed or Lynskey.
 
I have a bit of a thing about carabiners....Black Diamond Magnetic Carabiner. The locking mechanism is controlled by two magnets which hold a latch shut.

Yes those look nice, and love the look of Harry's harness. Peter, you're the first person I've seen using a locking carabiner on a dog leash other than us. Years ago my 50 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback mixed with a Shar-Pei saw a rabbit and ran for it. She was on a plastic coated steel cable tieout connected to my car with me nearby. When said cable ran out, the force broke the snap connected to the car. She was a tough dog and just fine, but did yelp at impact. Never did I use that kind of setup again.

Here's a 3 minute 34 second video showing the carabiner leads and harnesses we use in public (not much at all these days). At the end is demonstrated our everynight lead choice for mountain forest evening walks where another human encountered would be rare, and twilight critter presence is expected. The dogs are loose >1/2 of the time. It is grosgrain ribbon secured with a quick release slip knot:

https://youtu.be/7pFydGiG0Z4 YouTube chooses the opening frozen image, not me. Sorry, And yeah, Hersha is a couple days past the peak of her estrus cycle. Hank is not entire.
 
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For a locking belay carabiner, I prefer the Edelrid slider lock carabiner. It's easy to lock and unlock, is lightweight, and lays flat on the side (doesn't stress the gate when loaded resting flat on a rock). For nonlocking, I usually stick with Black Diamond Neutrinos as they match colors with my Black Diamond Cams and are a decent size and pretty lightweight. Favorite belay device is the Sterling ATS. Haven't found another that can be used as a tube style, figure 8, and autoblock, can adjust friction midclimb, and can lock off midclimb.
 
Egg carton, as a organizer.

When I was a kid, I was very lucky. We had two homes on one lot, and my Dad's mom and brother lived in the back house. The basement of that house had two work benches, one for my dad, and one for my uncle. They had all kinds of stuff in there that could be used to McGyver repairs. Unfortunately they didn't have a lathe, or milling machine, but my uncle could stick weld with a number of car batteries chained together. He also had gasses so that he could braise things together. Oh yeah... we flew hydrogen balloons now and then. :)

He dug a hole in the back yard, and with concrete made a mold to build fiberglass boats. I think he made three of them.

My dad had a large set of Craftsman tools/wrenches etc. and for a time in his life he was a professional mechanic. Man, did I learn a lot of stuff from him. One of the things I learned, when taking things apart that you need to keep the stuff organized so that you know how to put it back together.

Enter... Egg carton!

You keep the nuts and bolts together as you take them off of what ever you are working on, and put them into each of the little containers in the order in which they came out. He always had 3-4 egg cartons on a shelf near his work-bench.

One of his mottos... "a place for everything... and everything in its place."
"Dad, I need a pair of water pump plyers, and some WD-40"
He'd say go to my tool box, third drawer down, you'll find the plyers with a blue handle. Then turn around, take two steps to the left, and reach out at shoulder level, and one foot above your hand, look for the WD40 on the shelf.

It's funny how that stuff rubs off. I now find myself giving similar instructions to my daughter or grandkids.

I'm in the process of getting my snow blower running and ready for winter. Squirrels chewed my fuel line, and I had to take a lot of stuff apart to get to it.
I used an egg carton to hold all the bolts and screws as I dismantled it. LOL... just like my dad taught me. Damn... I am getting more like my old man every day.

LOL... that used to be a curse. :)
 
A good, modern, full-tang hatchet.
I do like traditional tools. And the vast majority are far better quality than modern-day examples. But hatches seem to be the exception to that rule. No more broken handles with the head possibly flying off towards someone. No more uneven grind lines.
 
Thanks for the fun read, Poppy. :thumbsup:
Chauncey,
I'm glad you enjoyed the story. :)

I continued to get my snow blower ready for service. After I replaced the fuel line, and cap, she wouldn't start.
Assuming that the carb got gummed up, I dropped the bowl, and sprayed it up good with gumout. The float was stuck, so I freed that up too.

It still wouldn't start, not even on ether, or gumout.
Checked... no spark. Swapped out the plug, and then the magneto.
Unfortunately I got a bad part, and I wasted a good amount of time because my multimeter was left in my son's tool box, when he took it to his house, and I couldn't test the coil of the new magneto.

SO... I swapped in another magneto, and it'll run on ether, or gumout, but not from fuel from the tank.

For $14 I ordered a new carburetor, there are only a half a dozen screws/bolts to swap it out.

Well.. they are all frozen in place.

Enter the tool that just works, The Hand-held impact hammer!

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I ended up pulling the intake manifold with the carb attached, and resetting the float height adjustment. I must have bent it when I freed it up initially.

So now I have a spare carburetor. :)

I added a fuel shut off valve that came with the carb kit. Now I can shut off the gas, and run the carb dry for winter/summer storage.
 
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