Small Tools Cheats
Hi Y’all!
Welcome to our corner of the web. We’re glad your here to learn and enjoy a few laughs with us. Wiebke is off to Canada and she left me in charge here (big mistake), so we will just have to enjoy a few extra laughs on her behalf. You really need to check out some of the pictures I have added of her. So, grab that seat and beverage and check out what we’ve been up to.
When my husband, Bill passed away a little over a year ago I was stuck with having to do some small repairs around the house and grounds. Mind you, I considered myself pretty smart and Bill did show and teach me a lot about house maintenance………..or so I thought. I don’t think you truly realize how much a person does or impacts your life until they are gone. Whether they went to heaven, you’re newly divorced or you’ve moved out on your own. It can be really tough trying to cover everything especially when you don’t really know anything.
Needless to say I started doing repairs and maintenance around the house and found that I wasn’t as handy as I would have liked. I could barely hold a screw and screw it in – not to mention that I couldn’t hold a nail and hammer it in without pounding not only my thumb, but I managed to bruise my whole hand.
So this started my journey into reading books, watching videos, and researching the internet to find out how to actually handle tools properly. Along the way I picked up a few tricks (or hacks) that helped me do things easier or simpler.
The Hard Hat Belles &
Not only was learning how to do things that my husband would do one of the reasons that we developed The Hard Hat Belles, but tools also played a big part in our decision to teach others (mainly geared at tool clueless women and girls of all ages). Wiebke was and is my cohort in helping me to figure things out after Bill passed. She is also married to a very handy man and believe me, she picks his brain more than ever now.
If you are like me – one of those people who are just too stubborn to think they can’t do it or someone who just can’t afford a handy man then our blog and videos will teach you as we learn ourselves. Plus as an added bonus we can all have a few laughs along the way.
SAFETY FIRST
We may joke about tools, but here at The Hard Hat Belles we always believe in safety first! Please use safety when you are doing a project involving tools. We each only get two eyes and hands, if we’re blessed – let’s protect them (disclaimer).
Small Hand Tool Tips, Tricks & Hacks
We hope our small hand tool video showed you some new tips on how to use those hand tools of yours. Plus stick around we have some awesome tips listed below. Let us know in the comments below which ones have worked best for you or if you have some new ones we didn’t list. We love hearing from you!
Use a man’s pocket comb to hold a screw or nail
Use a clothes pin with a spring to hold a nail or screw
Use a plastic lid or piece of firm cardboard to hold a nail or screw by cutting a slit in it
Use an old pair of gloves to cover plier tips to keep from leaving teeth markings in the project you are working on. You can also remove the fingers from old holey ones and keep them handy (toolsmithdirect.com)
Use a rubber band and wrap it around the plier handles to hold the the item you want held like a vise or if you need to step away from a project for a moment (bathroom call) it will be held in place
An easy way to identify a jar of screw drivers is to simply mark the top with a design of the tip using a marker, nail polish, white-out etc.
Use a hammer size your “hand” is comfortable using
Grip a hammer towards the end of the hammer for better contact with a nail (gripping towards the bulky top can cause you harm and will take forever to hammer that way.
If your retractable measuring tape starts to get sluggish put some car wax on both sides then wipe it off (elec-toolbox.com/ under Tricks of Trade)
To watch more of our crazy videos check out our YouTube channel “TheHard Hat Belles” or click The Hard Hat Belles to go directly there. Once there like and subscribe to receive notifications of the latest video releases.
And please subscribe (below) to our blog (you will get both the video and blog update) or above so we can keep you up to date on what crazy stuff we have been doing.
Denine & Wiebke
