I was welding steel/concrete docks on Grand Lake. As you may know, the ultimate striker holder is a brazing rod, bent into a sort of safety pin shape, and hooked on to a belt loop. And I had such holder.
However, building boat docks usually involves walking through a lot of brush, and my striker as constantly being torn off. SO, I came up with a brilliant idea- I put an extra bent in the holder, on the formally straight portion of the holder.
Well, it worked great. except for being pulled to a halt occasionally, by sumac and blackjack saplings along the shore line where we were working.
Came the day, that such a snag ripped off my belt loop.. So I re-modified the device to go around my belt.
I have always liked heavy, inch and a half, oil tanned leather belts, and I had such at that time.
Some time after my last modification, I was driving the crane to a new job. The barge had arrived before I did, and the rest of the crew was ready to get to work.
The crane was a severely modified 60ish Ford deuce and a half. As I bailed out of the truck, I slipped on the gas tank, and fell.
Depending on ones point of view, this was good or bad. To my former friends, it was great! To me, hanging from a very secure striker clip and a very strong belt, dangling from a point amidships on the port side, the situation really sucked!
After several hours of giggling, they finally lifted me up, and got my super dooper striker holder from over the door handle.
They CLAIMED they got me down within two minutes, but I am pretty sure it was several hours before the cold hearted bastards took time to release me! (I think one of them drove into Miami for beer and BBQ, before they lifted a hand toward my survival!)
However, building boat docks usually involves walking through a lot of brush, and my striker as constantly being torn off. SO, I came up with a brilliant idea- I put an extra bent in the holder, on the formally straight portion of the holder.
Well, it worked great. except for being pulled to a halt occasionally, by sumac and blackjack saplings along the shore line where we were working.
Came the day, that such a snag ripped off my belt loop.. So I re-modified the device to go around my belt.
I have always liked heavy, inch and a half, oil tanned leather belts, and I had such at that time.
Some time after my last modification, I was driving the crane to a new job. The barge had arrived before I did, and the rest of the crew was ready to get to work.
The crane was a severely modified 60ish Ford deuce and a half. As I bailed out of the truck, I slipped on the gas tank, and fell.
Depending on ones point of view, this was good or bad. To my former friends, it was great! To me, hanging from a very secure striker clip and a very strong belt, dangling from a point amidships on the port side, the situation really sucked!
After several hours of giggling, they finally lifted me up, and got my super dooper striker holder from over the door handle.
They CLAIMED they got me down within two minutes, but I am pretty sure it was several hours before the cold hearted bastards took time to release me! (I think one of them drove into Miami for beer and BBQ, before they lifted a hand toward my survival!)