Don't throw out these old wiper blades!

[Dovetaildave]

he duly turned up and shepherded everyone out of the room while he was working. He opened it, presented his bill, got paid and left.

........With all the cash !!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The bill was a fair amount, and it it took him less than two minutes to get into it.

 

[Bm101]

I was talking with the secretary at my works office years back and absentmindedly fiddled with the dial on the front of the safe. She saw me and went 'Nooooo!' Turns out the combination had long been forgotten. 'For God's sake don't tell anyone!" she said. Good job we got on well!
They called a guy in and he had to drill it to open it up, then get rid of this vast old safe and then buy a new one as well. Christ knows how much that twiddle of my fingers cost in total.
Some other guys I used to work with were working at a building on a weekend with a huge walk in safe. Being window cleaners (and therefore, by nature, clowns), they decided to shut the door on deaf Lee or Wobbler as he was known. They tricked him into going inside then shut the door.
What they didn't realise, being idiotic clowns, was that the door would automatically lock. And be airtight.
Initial giggles quickly turned to panic.
Poor old Wobbler was eventually rescued without being at least mortally asphyxiated but it's a sign of how much times have changed that not one bloke lost his job at nearly killing their workmate for a prank, on a client's property' at huge expense and inconvenience.
They did get a legendary dressing down that had them leaving the directors office like little shame faced boys though to the vast amusement of the rest of us.
How life has changed.
Sadly.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My mother had moved house for a few months when the woman who bought the old one rang her. Mrs. P, can you tell me the combination of the safe, please? No said my mum, not off hand, but I'm going past this afternoon and I'll probably be able to do it once I'm there and the instructions for resetting it are inside. We stopped outside. A few minutes later my mum came out. Get into it OK? Yes, she said, holding out her fist to me. I held my hand out and took what she had in her hand - a three quarter carat diamond ring ............... that she had accused me a year before of losing. I never knew the combination.

 

[Jester129]

Another trick for tightening screw holes is a matchstick shoved in (after use) and snapped off flush. I use it every time I put doors back on after repainting.

 

[Cooper]

Another trick for tightening screw holes is a matchstick shoved in (after use) and snapped off flush. I use it every time I put doors back on after repainting.

This is what I've always done but often the screws pull sideways following the softest route. This makes the handle stiff and leads to pulling at it and loosening the screws again. As the wood is so very thin on our doors, above the lock, there is very little for the match to expand against. I'm going to try the hot glue and being more careful to line it up, if I can't get that right, it'll be drilling a hole for a grub-screw. Always helpful ideas here, thanks.

 

[Bm101]

Bamboo skewers wont give to the same degree. Hammer them in then redrill.

 

[rafezetter]

Our house is slightly younger but still has the same issues, however my problem isn't the springs, its fitting the door handle screws into 130 years of redecorations. Any repair to the damaged wood I make causes the handle in miss-align. I'm sure someone reading this thread will have the perfect solution.

Bamboo kebab skewers are great for plugging old holes from nails / screws - drill out a 3mm hole squirt some CA glue and tap it in.

I did this at erikthevikings house when we had his floorboards up, his beams looked like swiss cheese the amount of holes they had and half the nails weren't gripping, plugged them all this way (even the ones not used).

Get yourself one of those hinge drill sets, they are great for ensuring proper alignment of new screws even if it ends up at the side of a new dowel plug.

 

[fiveeyes]

Another trick for tightening screw holes is a matchstick shoved in (after use) and snapped off flush. I use it every time I put doors back on after repainting.

My father was a master at carpentry, he could build anything. One tip from him was to use a bit of steel wool. Roll it up and insert. Maybe try that , if you do not have a matchstick/skewer.
Also, sadly. I did not get the master part of carpentry tho.

 

[SammyQ]

Matchsticks DO work. They have to be inserted in threes, to spread the 'squashing,' effect evenly around the screw shank. This works best up to No8's, therefter, you need more packing than matches provide.
Skewers are harder wood (or, at least the ones I have are) and, depending on hole diameter, may even have to be centrally pierced...a complete, frustrating, but necessary, faff...
The 'old timers'I worked with 40 years ago would whittle a plug to (just!!) jam-fit, very rapidly, with their ever-present penknife and then re-drill , gently, for the replaced screw. Slower, more methodical, but worked, with no dramas.....
Unless, of course, you didn't whittle to JUST over size and your over-size dowel acted as a wedge...like my first two did...the 'oul' fella' - foreman - just grinned, said "slow down, treat it like a wuman, approach with care and ease the fit"....
He was right.

Sam

 

[Phil Pascoe]

That's the good thing I've found with hot melt - there's no grain or anything to divert the screw. It goes in where you start it.