Success and Failure

I’m done sanding the primer and it looks mostly good, but  a third coat is needed in a few areas to completely cover minor surface pitting. I also scuffed the painted jambs, so they are ready for the final coat. If tomorrow morning is calm as predicted, I should be able finish the last primer coat in less than an hour, and then another day to sand  and it will be ready to apply the first coat of color. More thunderstorms are predicted later this week, so I’m not sure when the painting will happen.

In past posts I’ve lamented the quality of tools, most of which are the proud product of the People’s Republic of China. One such tool, an air powered metal shear died after cutting up a four by eight sheet of 18 gauge mild steel and a half-sheet of 20ga. To be honest, the manual says it should not be used for anything heavier than 20 ga, so it was my own fault it died. Then, like a typical, stupid American customer, I replaced it with another of the same brand and model. This one managed to eviscerate the remaining half sheet of 20 ga, and a couple of cuts on some 18 ga, before it broke exactly like the first one. Fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice shame on me!

By now I’m convinced that Ingersoll-Rand won’t be on my list of replacements, so I read all the reviews and order a Campbell-Hausfeld that is similarly priced as the previous shears that failed. It failed before I finished cutting four small pieces of 20 gauge material! The reviews were good, but by now I’ve learned you can’t trust on-line reviews.

Since I still have quite a few parts and pieces to fab from metal of both thicknesses, I began a search for a heavier tool that didn’t require a second mortgage on the house to buy. There aren’t many choices available for the hobbyist, but I did find one that is rated for up to 14 ga, at about three times the price of the fragile tools it will replace. The new shear arrived in the mail a couple of days ago and I haven’t cut any metal yet, but it honestly looks no more rugged than the lower rated tools.  

Here’s the collection of broken tools and their latest replacement.

If this one goes belly-up, I guess I’ll just buy more cutting wheels for my Dremel, and good metal cutting blades for my saws.