first car i ever drove regularly was a '73 dodge dart w a slant 6. first car i ever learned anything useful to do in way of repairs was an '85 honda civic. had a friend who was a honda mechanic, so i learned how to change filters, wires, plugs, oil. these days, i'm back to "take to good mechanic" since there's way too much stuff you need special diagnostic gear to be able to do much of anything.

Now you know

LOL.

i do admit i am now trying to picture how a large block mechanic and small block mechanic differ in appearance...

I can't do it today, but this weekend, I will dig into my "I have these but don't use them, children can borrow them" tool box, because I have a tool which none of us, including the airplane mechanic across the street, and the small block mechanic attached to my daughter, can figure out the purpose of.

I don't know when I bought it, or why. It may be an antique? I'm beginning to think it was formed by the particles of missing socks...if energy cannot be created or destroyed, then those socks turned into something, and it may be this tool. I'll try to get you a picture, so you too can be mystified.

Dallas has an Arts Center that has been around probably as long or longer than I’ve been alive. There is this astonishing crew of world class artists that teach classes in everything from photography to jewelry to glass blowing and metal sculpture. It’s always different classes, depending on who is free for six weeks to teach. The metal lab is amazing. Classes run from free for workshops to half a grand for stuff that requires a lot of in place equipment, like metal sculpture and glass work. I think I paid $300ish for six weeks of welding classes, which is a steal, considering all the oxygen/acet tanks I used. It’s a couple hours away now, but I’m gonna see if they have a pottery class anytime soon. I don’t know how to do that.

My friends in Denver and Boston report similar Centers, so maybe there’s one in a big city near you?

at one point in my life, i was taking a bunch of jewelry/goldsmithing courses. the surprise pleasure course for me was silver smithing. it had never occurred to me before to try it but it was way fun and satisfying.

I took a metal sculpture class years ago at a community art center, and she recommended we own some power tools so we weren’t waiting to share the shop’s, and for a power drill to run wire brushes and really clean metal before and after welding, she said Makita. That drill has served me for 20 years, three houses and two tornadoes. Damn fine piece of equipment.

You've also gained the knowledge of how to fix the vehicle, which is very valuable in itself (and even the aches and pains can be worth it for the sense of achievement)

I do it as much because there's a 5 week waiting list for repairs at the decent repair garages (there's one literally next door to my workplace!) than saving money - and if I lived in a larger country or a house with more space I'd definitely have a full size workshop with ramps/lift (I've already got the book from the Australian chap about how to set up)

There are very few corporations controlling a huge number of brands. And other brands that order their wares from OEM makers, not their own factories, meaning you need to know the TOOL, not just the BRAND (HF is one example).

I wish I had the cite handy, but I recently watched something called like, why all your tools are getting worse, and it was talking about how it’s only like three companies still making tools, or three companies that own all the tools makers, and Milwaukee came out to be a better tool, using American die and workers, for a whole lot of tools. Which really surprised me, cause in my head I always considered them mid-shelf, rather than top, and passed them over for other tools. No personal experience with the brand, but in case its a useful data point for y’all.