Handy work thread (skill set)

Where did you learn your skills?

My old man.

I learned working on the shop floor at an aluminum window manufacturing plant. Needed to screw frames together square, cut miters, build jigs and fixtures, build shipping crates, etc.
Everything else I learned from the internet/YouTube.
My dad didn't have a lot of patience to teach LOL...but he was a great dad anyhow.

Mostly self taught. Some trade school for auto mechanics but learned hands on for most.


Standing joke I like -

A young couple moves into their first house. There is a problem with an electrical wall switch and the husband is fixing it while his wife holds the flashlight.

She asks " How did you learn how to fix this ? "
He replies " By holding the flashlight "

Now it’s holding the cell phone with YouTube on it!

YouTube is a great resource. I fixed the dollar bill acceptor in the soda machine at the firehouse. It was getting real cranky taking dollar bills. It would reject dollar bills 80% of the time. Real frustrating. It needed new intake belts that fed the dollar bills past the fake bill photoeye as the old belts were slipping just slightly causing the bills to get rejected.

I've never worked on a soda machine dollar bill acceptor , but got it fixed. Never would have been able to do it without YouTube.

Mostly blind luck

• minor exposure in Jr High shop classes. Metal/wood/electricity
• College "Manufacturing Processes" classes
• Books/Internet
• Hands on trial & error

The last item is where you really learn.

I agree 100%
Then there is the buying the massive tool collection over your lifetime. I own over $ 50K of tools I've bought over the last 45 years or so. Worthwhile investments.

Almost 10 years in a machining/manufacturing shop and nearly 15 years in the electrical trade...

I'm not much of a carpenter, I tend to over engineer things. The things I build are probably more expensive than they should be but they don't fall down. Lol

Once you have some experience with basic mechanical and electrical principles, fixing things around the house isn't too much of a problem. And if you forbid your wife from buying major appliances that have circuit boards in them, you'll be money ahead.

Mike

Necessity for me.
If I wanted a car to drive, I had to fix an old junker up to drive.

Born before TV. Radio and an encyclopedia was my form of TV. Didn’t have any money so like hippie if I wanted to drive I had to figure it out fixing my car!
Started working with a friend doing residential remodeling at 17yo and I learned there that we could do just about everything or at least knowledge of how it works.
Went into carpenter apprentice program and that was the base of my working years! Over the years I have done many different things and was never afraid to take something on!
I started trapping before there wasn’t much information about trapping in the Arctic. I had to figure out methods and means by myself.
I would be more likely to create a YouTube channel than go to one for information. I am a true hands on learner ! I believe the lack of all the information that’s available today taught me confidence.

Same, here. My first car was $50, plus the $75 engine I put in it. Add in a couple combination wrenches and a "come along" for an engine hoist, and a total investment of less than a couple hundred bucks of paper route money.