Your favorite DIY mottos or advice

[Silentrunning]

I love mottos. So much wisdom is passed on by simple sayings. Do you have a favorite?

From my late father: When I finish a job I want to admire it, not repair it.

This was spoken to his young son who was famous for cutting corners on almost every project.

 

[Ian]

"Buy cheap, buy twice"...

When I first started off in the workshop, I bought a few cheap tools on Amazon thinking that I'd only need them for a very specific job. Turns out, I've used them so many more times and ended up buying a better version a year or two later. Now, I always buy good quality tools, unless it really is for a one-off job.

 

[Doghouse Riley]

You know when you're sawing a piece of wood, either with a hand saw or an electric one and it's starts to go a bit off line. what's the first thing you should do?

Stop sawing.


I learned that in my teens.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Don't quit; you'll win in the end.

Don't be scared of making the same mistake.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[JoiKearl]

Don't look for any shortcut. Try, try again and then, you will become a perfect DIY man or woman. If you are thinking DIY videos on YouTube are from a magical world and you can do the same magic in minutes then you are wrong. It's all about hard work and practice.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

I couldn't agree more with you JoiKearl; even the worst DIY'er will get better with lots of practice; I'm still learning after over 55 years hands on tools and I can still make silly mistakes.

The person who tells me "I can't do that" is correct and they never will; remove the "t" and it becomes can?

I've been arc welding for a lifetime but I'm currently learning TIG welding which I'm finding difficult but with lots of practice I'm now getting the hang of it; yes practice; practice and more practice; it's called a learning curve.

Kind regards, Colin.

No one is born with a full set of tools and skills how to use them; my first attempt at TIG welding aluminium; YouTube tutorials make it look so easy.

The only way to learn is to make all the mistakes but even mistakes teach us so much.

With more practice this is the same piece which had the big hole; I repaired it then roughly sanded it with my belt sander but leaving it proud to show the repair; more sanding would make it look as though no welding hole had been blown into it. This was valuable practice.

With more practice this is now what I can do but I've still got lots to learn; practice makes perfect?

 

[JoiKearl]

But I would stay with my opinion that practice helps you to be perfect. Hard work always pays.

 

[He who knows]

I love mottos. So much wisdom is passed on by simple sayings. Do you have a favorite?

Keep both hands behind the tool.

 

[SandburRanch]

"Good things sometimes take a little longer".

The next time you read - "my power screwdriver twisted a screw off "- you may recall this motto. It could have been prevented by boring a hole for the screw rather than forcing it but that takes too long. Now how long does it take to get that broken screw out.

 

[Retired]

Hi,

DIY = DON'T INVOLVE YOURSELF.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[SandburRanch]

Hi,

DIY = DON'T INVOLVE YOURSELF.

Kind regards, Colin.

Who is this post directed to or which reply #?

 

[Doghouse Riley]

It's not a motto, it's a saying, that my wife has used on many occasions.

It always starts, "When you get some time, what I thought was......"

This can be the prelude to a rlot of work.

These days I interrupt her with... "We'll get a man in?"

 

[Retired]

Hi,

Who is this post directed to or which reply #?

To anyone like me who is soft being too eager to help others it being one way only; it's taken me over 40 years to learn a new word "NO".

It's a reply to this and is my advice; thanks for asking.

Your favorite DIY mottos or advice

Nice one Doghouse.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[piglet11]

The difference between a professional and a DIYer?
The professional is a DIYer who gets to practice at your expense.

Personally, I like the three T's

Time, tools and techniques, plus a can-do frame of mind.

Often in conversations with people on DIY, you get the answer "I get the experts in"
Really? Why not just say I'm too lazy, can't be bothered and I like being charitable I could go on.

Doghouse - you are the exception to the rule.

It will a long time before I get someone in to do something I know I can do, but the years are taking theitr toll on the joints, and those tight spaces between the rafters seem to be getting smaller, or is it me???

 

[He who knows]

Really? Why not just say I'm too lazy, can't be bothered and I like being charitable I could go on.

Or simply "I can't do it/can't do it well enough"?

 

[piglet11]

Or Mummy does it for me

 

[piglet11]

Colin, some of your early welds look like the welds on my first Mini.
The only bits that didn't rot were the roof and the front sub-frame.
British Motor Company weren't renown for quality production and most of theirs were made Friday afternoons.
I did a spell in Borg Warners factory making gearboxes for Jags and Rovers.
The idea in production was to make sure that when the tools wore down, they didn't get changed on your shift (piece work), so some unlucky Jag buyer really did get a Friday afternoon gearbox.

 

[He who knows]

Or Mummy does it for me

Why are you so disparaging about people who don't DIY?

 

[piglet11]

Because "I leave it to the experts" is just a smug way of saying that DIYers don't know what they're doing.
I've nothing against non--DIYers provided they don't pull stuff like that.
And besides, a lot of mummies are very good at DIY.
Me, disparaging, never

 

[He who knows]

Because "I leave it to the experts" is just a smug way of saying that DIYers don't know what they're doing.

Or a truthful statement that they recognise that they do not possess sufficient expertise - self knowledge which many DIYers would do well to develop.

But "smug"? What is wrong with you?

For example - I have no plastering skills to speak of. I've no reason to think that I couldn't acquire them if I wanted to, but the need to have plastering done features so rarely in my life that I'm not going to build a practice wall and ceiling to learn, and my wish to have my walls and ceilings nice and smooth means I'm not prepared to learn as I go and put up with poor results until I have learnt.

How dare you call me lazy and smug for saying that if I needed some plastering doing I'd get an expert in.