Appreciation post: that old salvage diver in Mobile Bay who showed me the trick with the shackle pin

Three years ago on a bridge piling job, I watched him tap a seized pin with a hammer twice, then pour hot coffee on it... came right out. Everyone else was ready to cut. Anyone still use that method or is it just lost knowledge now?

4 comments

4 Comments

dianawilson2mo ago

Tell @wells.evan what else that guy kept in his toolbox?

victorhernandez4d ago

@wells.evan I bet that old timer you mentioned could have taught that Mobile Bay guy a few things too. But you gotta wonder, @dianawilson, what was that guy keeping in his box? A jar of hot sauce? A rusty wrench that only works on Tuesdays? Feels like half the "lost knowledge" is just stuff we forgot to write down before the old guys retired. Either way, I'm still waiting for the day when tapping something twice and pouring coffee on it actually works for me.

wells.evan2mo ago

Man, that hits home. We had a guy like that on a dock repair crew, an old timer who kept a little bottle of vinegar in his toolbox. A rusted bolt everyone was fighting? He'd soak a rag in it, wrap it for ten minutes, and it would break free. Those little tricks are pure gold, and it's a real shame when they retire out of the trade. You just can't buy that kind of know-how.

-1

mila_murphy2mo ago

Yeah, that "can't buy that know-how" part is so true... it's like we're losing a whole library of simple fixes, @wells.evan. You see it everywhere now, not just in trades.