30 Day Coghlan's Campers Tool Challenge!

[Nhoj]

Your wave just died... will campy be next?

[Jothra]

Your wave just died... will campy be next?

Not today!

Day 21 saw some real action! Campy spent most of the day cutting tie wire (the real stuff; not the stuff from the gardening section of your Home Hardware), without any damage to the wire cutters. The lack of a hard-wire cutter, which I had originally thought would be a drawback, was actually really useful here—the hard-wire cutter is usually too big to outright slice through tie wire, so having regular cutters all the way down (just like proper rodbuster pliers) was great. Granted, there are other situations in which I will want hard-wire cutters, but this time it's a win for Campy!

On what I already knew was an outside chance, I tried to ream a hole in an Emergency Contacts sign with the awl, but I don't think I can blame Campy for that not working. Those signs have an aluminum layer in them, and that's really a job for a drill (since I had one handy). Just for fun, though, I tried with my new Leatherman Rebar:


Success!

Again, though, that's even more above-and-beyond than I would normally go. Even I wouldn't normally use a pocket tool for that one. Also, while it couldn't make the hole, Campy did, in fact, make the hole larger. I should have taken a picture of that, but I'm a bad person.

Today I also replaced the strap of my Superman watch (my teaching/dress one being my Clark Kent watch), and—the new strap being metal instead of fabric—I needed pliers and a paperclip to remove links to make it fit my dainty wrist:


A little farther...a little farther...a lit...NO, BACK! BACK! Well, that works too...

Here is Campy celebrating with my watch! By actual regular-for-real coincidence, they match! Wow!

I said I have dainty wrists...not dainty hands.

The takeaway from Day 21 is that Campy's pliers and wire cutters are still winners, and that I should really invest in an actual camera.

[firiki]

Waiting for the next episode of this seriously entertaining 30 day Challenge.

[Jothra]

Day 22-23!
Still no rebar tying (more's the pity), but a lot more tie wire cutting. I'm still really pleased with the wire cutters. I had a grudge match between the awl and some metal signs, but had no better luck. It is worth noting that while the awl/reamers on my Leatherman Rebar, Victorinox Outrider, and even my Wenger Evo s18 managed to punch the holes, it was spectacularly difficult with all of them.

I'm working a rare late night this evening. We'll see what comes for Campy!

[Jothra]

Day 24-25
Two days of moderate work!

Day 24 ended up being a day of dry-packing columns. This means taking bagged grout (MBED, 212, or—this is the new one I'm trying—755), mixing in just enough water to make it pack together when I pound the crap out of it with a piece of wood, and then using this mix (and this piece of wood) to fill the space between a steel column and the concrete foundation to which it is bolted.

What does this have to do with Campy the Campers Tool? I needed to manufacture two things for this job: a packing stick, and a water cup.

The packing stick was a piece cut from a survey stake. Campy doesn't have a saw, so naturally it wasn't expected to do that part. But later, when I needed a thinner pounding stick for one particularly low-sitting column, I did use Campy's knife to cut the splintery pieces from a 4" long, 2" wide piece of scrap 1/4" plywood. I was tremulous about the lack of a lock (like usual), but it worked just fine. I'm sure it needs sharpening again already, but at least it succeeded!

The water cup was (obviously, I suppose) for scooping water from my big water bucket into my smaller grout bucket. I usually mix in small batches so I don't have half a bucket of grout left drying if I get called off to another task (or, worse yet, lunch!), so I don't like dumping, barely controlled, straight from the water bucket. So what do I have on site to use for this cup?

It's a new site, so...nothing! Wait, not nothing...pop cans! So I used the knife to cut the top from a can, and the pliers to fold the edge down so I wouldn't cut my careless self on the cup during use.

As I didn't have a camera on me at the time, I performed a re-enactment on my front lawn. Success? Twice? Well played, Campy!


This can has no idea what's coming, but the Jaws theme is probably playing in the background.


"Get it off! Get it off!"


This is a bit like the ending of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.


This, too.


Folding the edge down (safety third!)


Finished! Lovely? Well, no, but effective.

I'll say one thing for the knife, which is that the blade dulls pretty fast, but only gets so bad before it seems to level out. While it's not good for edge retention, at least it won't get quite as dull as a ball of Silly Putty after a bunch of cutting.

Day 25 is, oddly, the first time I've tested the bottle opener. It works. Now I can enjoy something I don't see often where I live: a beer from Pacific Western Brewing! Honey Brown fun!

The "awl" (the one that looks like a rounded slot screwdriver) helped me marlinspike apart one of those Rocky S2V paracord Survival Grenades (I wanted the parts for my own mini kit). The awl is useful  for something! Unfortunately, it was actually kind of a chore, because until I got the end of the awl worked into the knot, it kept trying to close on my fingers. This is like in that one M. Night Shyamalan movie in which we find out that the one character's superpower is Not Drinking Water—it might come in handy, but the circumstances sure aren't going to come up too often.

[Nhoj]

Great work still. Maybe instead of using the knife blade you could use the can opener to open the can like a normal food can. I have turned soda cans into cups using the can opener on my wave before.

[Jothra]

Great work still. Maybe instead of using the knife blade you could use the can opener to open the can like a normal food can. I have turned soda cans into cups using the can opener on my wave before.

I liked this idea, so I tried it:


Oh, the humanity!

The results are pretty clear. But good news:


"And I said 'yeah, baby, yeah!' "

The Leatherman can opener did a great job, so props for that. It's just too bad that if I need to do this again next week, I'll still have to use Campy.

Both of them worked when I tried to open the can from the top (like a food-type can), but Campy was pretty slow, since the relatively unpronounced hook under the can opener had trouble latching under the lip of the can (Coke Zero this time, since I ran out of empty Orange Crushes).

Here are the two can openers, staring each other down:


Only one of these is a can opener. The other one is a can't opener.

The Leatherman opener is sharpened. The Coghlan's one, however, is the bluntiest blunter in blunt town. Without hooking under the rim of a can for leverage, Campy's can opener...can't.

[TheDude]

Can't opener?
Try and say that three times fast! 

[Lynn LeFey]

instead of using the can opener to remove the entire top portion of the can, use it like you would when opening a food can... remove the top while leaving the top rim intact. See how that works.

[Nhoj]

instead of using the can opener to remove the entire top portion of the can, use it like you would when opening a food can... remove the top while leaving the top rim intact. See how that works.

That's what I actually meant

[Jothra]

Both of them worked when I tried to open the can from the top (like a food-type can), but Campy was pretty slow, since the relatively unpronounced hook under the can opener had trouble latching under the lip of the can (Coke Zero this time, since I ran out of empty Orange Crushes).

It didn't really stand out in my post because I didn't get pictures.

[Nhoj]

I see

[Jothra]

Hilariously, I got it wrong, did it again, and forgot the pictures the second time.

For the record, from-the-top is a way better idea, so I'm doing that from now on. Thanks, Nhoj!

[Grathr]

  

[Nhoj]

You're welcome

[xt60043f]

You are doing Gods work son.

[Gareth]

Loving your reports mate.

[Jothra]

Day 26
Today was Jothra Is A Meanie Day! I used Campy for all kinds of things, some of which I happen to know are very bad ideas, from a tool longevity point of view.

First thing upon arriving at work, I unlocked the most important door on site, which someone had locked overnight for some reason. This is the most useful the large screwdriver has been:

If a Porta Potty door doesn't open, it's really just a smelly paperweight.

Then, after some dry-pack grouting (fun, if you're dumb like me), I had to break off a bunch of form pins from the original foundation pour. Normally this is as easy as hitting them a couple of times with a hammer—in today's case, a mini-sledge—but one pin was bent down so close to the wall that I needed to pry it up before I could even hammer it:


See how bad an idea this is? This is a really bad idea.

But, maybe surprisingly, it worked, and I finally hammered off the blasted pin:


I've only very rarely pried with the plier tips, because breaky breaky!

Next, while working on the pin-smashing, I found a column base I had grouted, but forgot to clean up:


Maybe it's not important, but I like to leave a nice, clean-cut column base.

My margin trowel was way on the other end of site (and it's a big site). What to do?


What to do? What to do!

You're not going to believe this, sports fans, but the fish scaler actually did something useful, like, for real.


The picture doesn't really do its awesomeness justice.

Finally, someone remembered to bring the grinder, but it needed a blade change. So, do you think we had the special grinder wrench on site?

Bwa ha ha! No.

Good news, though! A time-tested trick performed by no fewer than three (3) of my different Leatherman tools:


No grinder tool? No problem! Like a charm!

Don't worry. The grinder was unplugged at the time.

This was a pretty punishing but successful day for poor ol' Campy.

[Lynn LeFey]

You're not going to believe this, sports fans, but the fish scaler actually did something useful, like, for real.

 

 Also, still

We LOVE your writeups Jothra. You're our cheap-tool hero! 

[David]

You're not going to believe this, sports fans, but the fish scaler actually did something useful, like, for real.

 

 Also, still

We LOVE your writeups Jothra. You're our cheap-tool hero! 

Wasnt that a song from the 80's?          

[Nhoj]

I agree you have good write ups. And your added jokes in italics are very funny.

[Jothra]

You're not going to believe this, sports fans, but the fish scaler actually did something useful, like, for real.

 

I still won't be running out to buy tools with fish scalers, but I guess the trick is to use the tools you have, not the tools you want.

Thanks, everybody! More grouting tomorrow? More steel tie-wire? More grinding? A nice panini? Stay tuned!

[Lynn LeFey]

I just tried taking the top off of a soda can with my can opener (on the same tool with different name plastered on it). Strange thing happened... after about 4 or 5 cuts, the top started to split cleanly along a seam, like the pre-scored area of a pop-top. The whole top came off freakishly cleanly. I'll see if I can get pics in the morning.

[Lynn LeFey]

Sorry for the double-post, but here's a pic of the can mentioned above.

The opener started in from the edge, and began creeping toward the rim. Then by the forth or so puncture, it started splitting cleanly along a seam. When I got back around to the start, it removed even most of the bits that I'd missed to start with. Very, VERY clean. Freaky.

[Jothra]

I'm having trouble replicating your results, though I still get a pretty clean cut if I poke into that little trench thing.

[Lynn LeFey]

I have no idea if my results were typical, or if it was just this canning facility, this particular batch, or what.

Also, if you just cut the lid off normally, you can use the handle of the tool to press down the jagged material inside the lip of the can to make it a little safer, if need be.

[Jothra]

Also, if you just cut the lid off normally, you can use the handle of the tool to press down the jagged material inside the lip of the can to make it a little safer, if need be.

Agreed!

Anyway, work got called on account of infinite mud after last night's torrential downpour, so Campy and I are off to do some bike repair.

[Lynn LeFey]

So... I tried to reproduce the top removal, only this time with some cheap 'Super-Chill Diet Cola', because, obviously, it wasn't going to work again... except it DID.



This time, I let the tool in question, my 'High Uinta' branded tool, creep into frame.

I... seriously... I have no idea what's going on. Okay. That is all. I won't hijack your thread any longer. Carry on with the fine work.

[Jothra]

First, this thread belongs to the world. Hello, world!

Second, we have an interesting development, can-wise:


Clockwise from left: Diet Dr. Pepper, Coke Zero, and Diet Crush.

Both Dr. Pepper and Crush are doing exactly what you described, while Coke Zero is not. My earlier failures were with Coke Zero and Cherry NOS. If you look closely at the picture, you might be able to see the shallower angle of the can top immediately inside the lip of the Crush and Dr. Pepper cans. Since these two are both Pepsi products, while Coke Zero and NOS are both Coke products, I think we can assume it depends entirely on the plant or line the bottles are manufactured in/on. It has nothing to do with Campy's abilities after all.

Problem solved! Go team!

Anyway, back on topic: the large slot screwdriver helped me hold a tire off the rim so I could use another tool to slip off the rest of the bead. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

[Nhoj]

Haha we are such thorough people here. Now I know the difference between the rims of coke and pepsi cans.