Get er Done Resourcefulness

I think we are spoiled. Myself included.

But, I grew up in poor rural Arkansas. We went to town once a week, usually, if we had money. Otherwise, we made do with what we had.

That ability to make things out of the materials at hand has served me very well over the years. Give me a pair of pliers and enough coat hangers and I can make a lot of handy items.

We've lost that ability to think outside the box. If you can't buy it at the store or order it on the internet, we're lost.

Agreed. I too grew up on a farm, in rural Virginia. We grew and canned all the vegetables we ate, and grew our own meat as well. Buying or hiring a fix was not going to happen. It was a little rough, but taught my brothers and I how to do a lot of things.

You carry that with you for the rest of your life. Like you lyn, I am spoiled as well. I know, however, that if required, I can still do whatever it takes and get by with little or no help.

I totally agree with you and Lyn. I consider myself very resourceful and have been so all my 77 years. Us old timers especially grew up in a time when, if it wasn't available or couldn't afford it, we made it ourselves. I remember making my first bicycle from old parts. I wasn't poor, but I didn't have much disposable income either. Today I still make my own tools and machines for my wood and metal working interests. Sure I could go out and buy anything, but I make it instead (can't afford to). I'm blessed; my son has the same mentality. He is in the Air Force and his resourcefulness has helped him to excell in his job. He gets awards for fixing things that others don't even have a clue.

I also believe that to be a good engineer, you must possess resourcefulness.

I totally agree with all of you old timers as I am one myself, call it resourceful or backwoods engineering the ability to look at what you have and to think on your feet is a trait that is lost among some of the younger generation.

I remember the time I was up on the roof on Thanksgiving day looking at a bearing that blew apart on a large exhaust fan. Went down to my truck, looked and then it hit me......grabbed my drill some screws a 2x4, tube of grease a zoom spout oiler and a 7/8 inch drill but. Removed the old bearing, drilled a 7/8 inch hole in the 2x4, greased it and pounded it over the 1 inch shaft. Screwed it to the old bearing mounting bracket and was home in time for dinner. It ran that way for a week or so until the new bearings arrived.

todays kids will look at the computer monitor and tell the customer there are none in the area.....sorry.

I'm a city boy, but the same things apply, call it "Native Ingenuity", or substitute what you wish for "native" in the forgoing to suit the circumstances.

I'll bet you guys get laughed at for stripping old appliances of anything that might be useful down the road before you toss them, just as I do.

The pride of stripping down anything down to pieces before I throw the unusable stuff away only lives in my head. My wife thinks I'm nuts.

If you need an appliance cord with a plug already attached, PM me................I've probably got 20.

A cast away tool that might just need brushes? Yep, got those too.

Washing machine motor?

Street light pole?

Non working tread mill?

Old kitchen cabinets?

Plumbing fixtures?

Light fixtures?

Just barely scratching the surface.

I also can't find anything when I need it.

Indeed, there are plenty of armchair pundits and experts and not enough who actually DO stuff.
Give me a DOer every time.
Del

This type of 3wheeled vehicles(auto-rickshaws) are made in India and used in many of its neighbouring countries too. See the similar one in front. It is up to the traffic police to book him for unsafe driving???,thereby endangering him as well as others.

Talking about practical knowledge, I had a friend in Srilanka whose motor driven water pump near the well became useless due to no electricity due to the war. So he parked his scooter near the pump and coupled by belt his pump to the scooter's engine and pumped water.

Nice post Roy, thanks for sharing.
Del

GA Roy. When I needed to hire general help for a job and a farmer applied, the farmer was always given consideration over others. They came to work on time, left late, knew how to use all tools, and almost always seem to get 'er done. And they oftendid their barn chores before coming to work.

Glad to know I'm not the only 'collector' in the group. I just used a piece of 4" pvc that I had for years. Saved a trip to the store, and sped up the job. When you think of the time, gas, and the price of such a simple item, it makes a difference.

On the tv I see a show 'American Pickers' or such. They find lots of collectors. Some have collected a little too much, and are way too hesitant to part with the junk. You can't get obsessed with junk, you must keep it moving, or it just becomes a nusiance.

I do my 'I told you so' dance whenever I move a piece of junk on. Folks think I'm nuts.

I try to maintain a 'one year' or 'five year' rule on my junk. If I haven't used it by a certain time, it has to go...To make room for more recent treasures.

I always grab the capacitors out of junk motors and such. They are real expensive, and hard to find. Few places sell capacitors, and they are necessary for hobby work.

The French have a word for it: bricolage. The idea is improvising a solution with what is available. Not necessarily brilliance, but hard-working resourcefulness. Consumers raised by the nanny state, however, expect a modular design that can't be tinkered with, just replaced. They typically don't have access to the necessary tools. It is hard to manufacture a new machine in America. Big business likes it that way, and incumbency capitalism rules the counsels of government.

So true. Just look under the hood of a modern car. No way are you going to fix anything in there. Good luck even seeing the components. It's all hidden by plastic covers, making access impossible.

I'm looking forward to hand building my next truck. I plan to replace the bed with a fiberglass stake body, housing the batteries for the hybrid drive. I hope to find a fiberglass hood and fenders to lighten up the front. If I can change the doors to fiberglass, I will, but doubt any are available. I have to counter the weight of the batteries.

Solar panels on all top surfaces, and I'm studying supercapacitors to see what is possible.

If I can convert the ICE to CNG, I will be able to drive right by the $5 per gallon gas station.

You people are all stroking each other's egos. While I agree that idle hands are products of idle minds, I still like to purchase things when they are available. Yes, I could design and build my own tools, but I use my purchased tools to build things that haven't been designed and can't be purchased. I see no glory in fabricating things to prove I can. I knew a fellow who built beautiful machine tools out of discarded cast iron bathtubs, but that was his hobby. He never aspired to create much with the tools he built. In my shop I use commercially available tools to build things that can't be bought. When I improvise, it is out of necessity.

It's a kinder, gentler forum, didn't you know?

He said cast iron bath tub.

I should include a pic. but don't graspe the intellect at the moment, but just finished my second storage shed built from two trampolines and steel 3' foot 1-1/4" fence post and 15 foot top rails for runners and damaged metal sides and roof. a few sacks of stacrete and a hole diger and a few metal screws and a loose mind is all it took. 15' by 11.5..

Put in a high ceiling, or you're going to bump your head bouncing on those trampolines.

Being from Arkansas, I'm tempted to say something derogatory about Okies, and their red neck contraptions. OK, that's another thread.

Resourcefulness means thinking outside the box, something that is not encouraged today. Everything has to be done by the book. That kind of thinking doesn't contribute to new or better ways of doing things.