I have this great workbench in our basement that I built myself — I didn’t like the prebuilt workbenches so for thirty dollars worth of two-by-fours and some planks I built one myself — and on this workbench as well as on the pegboard behind it hang some very cool tools. There are coping saws, drills, laser levels, a miter-box— well, the miter-box sits on a shelf below but I just like saying ‘miter box’ — and a bunch of other cool stuff.
Now, most of these tools I’ve used, some not so often and a few not at all but they each look amazing hanging there. In fact, sometimes I go down in the basement and just visit my tools — admiring them like a painting.
Now, it’s not that I’m afraid of these tools or that I just wanted to collect them. The truth is that 90% of the time I do something around the house I don’t need much in the way of tools. I don’t do major construction; I like to putz around the house, tinker with some things, make repairs and small upgrades when needed. So the majority of work I do could be completed with only five items.
In fact, if I had to keep only five objects from my workbench and only use only them, I’d be pretty safe by keeping …
- A roll of duct tape
- A can of WD-40
- A cheap, multi-head screwdriver
- A pair of needle nose pliers
- And Loctite or J-B Weld
Boom.
That would get me — as well as the majority of people — through most of the quick fixes and minor repairs that need to be done around the home.
Because there are many tools that can do many things. it’s like brand names. 80% of the time brand names are not that important — you get the same result from brand B as you would from Brand A — but in that 20% of the time when they are important — they really are. Which brings us to an important brand name difference as far as super glue.
First, make sure it’s Loctite. Because if you think that by Loctite I’m referring to generic super glue, you would be incorrect. Next to GPS and luggage with wheels, Loctite — the real super glue — is one of the greatest inventions in the last hundred years. It can be used for everything from ceiling a cut, to repairing coffee mugs, to being mixed with baking soda and used like calk.
Remember that while Loctite might have invented Super Glue, not all super Glue is Loctite. This may seem like a minor point but it’s not. In fact, the next time you are standing at Wal-Mart looking at the super glue, the crazy glue and super bondo and you don’t see the Loctite symbol, walk away.
Loctite was developed in the 1950’s as a thread locking adhesive. The formula worked so well that they developed other products and Loctite was the industrial staple for decades before branching out to commercial products. Simply put, when you buy Loctite you know it is going to work. Any glue can add the word Super, or Crazy to it and still be just glue. Loctite is a liquid weld and other brands may or may not work, so why take the chance?
By the way, this is simply my opinion and is not because I am receiving anything from Loctite — or from J-B Weld — or am being paid any referral fees. Nope. It’s simply that when I find something that works I want to pass it on and Loctite works.
There is one thing I don’t like about Loctite and that is there gel line of adhesives — I guess they were trying to find a way to work on horizontal surfaces where the thinner stuff would run — and I don’t like them as much and try to stay away from it. So I buy the standard Loctite.
With that said, there are those occasion when Loctite just doesn’t have the fire power you need. And that’s where J-B Weld comes in.
This stuff is amazing and is used on everything from repairing fuel tanks to patching bathtubs to welding pipes.
J-B Weld can be found in any hardware store or Auto Parts Store. It costs about five bucks and pays for itself with the first use — I used this recently to repair a fireplace screen that was in five pieces and ready for the dumpster. That one pack saved me over $200.00 and you use such a small amount of it that a single pack will last you for years.
J-B Weld is a cold weld process in which you take a dab from each container and mix them together to get the reaction started. The contents from one tube is black the other is white and you mix together until you get a solid grey color — there is the odd fishy smell when you first mix it but it doesn’t last long. Once mixed, you apply and wait.
The downside to J-B Weld is it takes several hours to harden — in some thick applications I’ve gone back ten hours later and it still was slightly tacky. The good news is that when it does harden, it’s there forever. You can even sand and drill though it if needed — like I said they repair gas tanks with this stuff.
So spend the seven bucks and get a two dollar bottle of Loctite and a five dollar pack of-J-B Weld and you’ll be all set.
And then you can use the money you saved to buy gas to drive to my place and come look at my tools.
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