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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?
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3 Comments
dianawilson
Tell @wells.evan what else that guy kept in his toolbox?
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wells.evan
wells.evan11d agoTop Commenter
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.
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mila_murphy
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.
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