If You Can’t Move it, You Won’t Use it

I’m thinking about more shop upgrades.

Yesterday, I had to press two steel rods into tight holes, and then I had to adjust them. I used my wooden workbench and Wilton mechanic’s vise. The vise was stretched nearly to its full opening capacity, so I didn’t use it. It’s not a top-quality vise, and I don’t want to put more stress on it than it can take. My workbench is very heavy, but it bounced a lot when I hit the parts with a 3-pound rawhide hammer.

This tells me I could stand to make three improvements. A better vise would be helpful. A sturdier workbench is needed. Finally, an anvil would be nice to have.

People love overpriced Wilton bullet vises, but they’re not really that exceptional. There are other vises which are just as good. The really old bullets–I am told–may not have been made from the same strong iron as the new ones, so it may be a waste of time to buy a bullet made before they changed the metal.

I’m thinking I might get a Chinese Yost vise made from super-strong ductile iron. For a small fraction of the outrageous, Snap-On-like price of a 6″ Wilton, I can get a 7″ Yost which is much, much stronger. It will open to 9.5″, which is very impressive; right now I get 5.25″. It would also weigh much less than a bullet.

You don’t really need a heavy vise. You need a strong vise which is very securely fastened to something which is also very strong. Added mass is sometimes an engineer’s way of compensating for bad materials and/or bad design. The iron Wilton uses can’t compare to Yost’s, at least in terms of breaking strength. I don’t know about rigidity, but since the Yost can clamp with 11000 pounds of force, it must be at least somewhat rigid.

The lighter weight of the Yost would make it easier to deal with.

I don’t know what to do about the workbench. I could make one by laminating 4″ (nominal) lumber side by side. That would be twice as thick as what I have now.

If I had a big anvil, I could use it instead of a bench when I needed to beat on something. I’m not sure you’re supposed to beat cold mild steel objects on an anvil’s face, though. I need to look into that. Even if it’s a bad idea, the problem could be solved with a small piece of steel plate that goes over the anvil.

I’m also going to invest in a patient lift. This is basically the same thing as an engine hoist, except it’s made for invalids and overweight people. It has wheels and an arm powered by hydraulics. You attach it to a patient who needs to be moved, and you pump it up. A basic lift will raise anything up to 400 pounds.

I want to use the lift to move things around the shop. Many people use gantry cranes and forklifts. I don’t have room for a forklift, and a gantry crane is not as maneuverable. I can remove the doodads that attach to human beings and replace them with nylon straps or something.

Patient lifts are expensive…unless you live in northern or central Florida. This area is full of invalids, and, I’m sorry to say, a lot of them pass away every week. This leaves their caregivers with expensive lifts they are sick of looking at. Today I replied to an ad. Someone is selling one for $50. Can’t beat that. If I don’t get this one, another one will pop up. Some people try to charge $400 or more, to get their investment back, but it’s a lost cause. There are too many of them on the market.

I could have used a patient lift when I was trying to get the upper pan off my John Deere garden tractor. I’m going to have to do that again, and I don’t plan to lift the pan this time. Not when $50 can buy me a patient lift.

The weather here is beastly hot right now, but the humidity is way down, and it warms up later and cools off earlier than it did in August. This all adds up to a much more suitable working climate. I’m taking advantage of it. Back when my dad was dying, I wanted to get things done during the pleasant months, but I didn’t. I spent way too much time huddling indoors, waiting for the difficult time to pass. Now there is nothing holding me back.

As long as I’m writing about new tools, I should talk about the improvements in my Christian walk. God has been giving me a new revelation of the power he has given me.

The Bible promises us a lot of things, but there are many we don’t receive. Sometimes it’s because of lack of knowledge, but it can also be because of lack of faith. Your mind knows you’re supposed to have something, but you’re not convinced in your heart, so you don’t receive.

It’s pretty obvious from the New Testament that we are supposed to have everything Jesus had. We’re not supposed to wait for it. It’s supposed to be ours right now. But you can’t fully believe that unless you have faith.

The Bible says our faith comes from God. It’s not something you can generate by trying to believe. When God gives you faith, which is a kind of revelation, things start moving.

When we speak, other beings, including God, are supposed to receive it as though Jesus were talking. When God looks at you, he doesn’t see the old man who died during baptism. He sees a replica of Jesus, and that person has the authority of Jesus.

When demons flee us, it’s because they feel as though Jesus were talking to them.

Where does faith come from? Praying in tongues is crucial. It builds up your faith. The Bible says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, but it doesn’t mean you get adequate supernatural faith just by listening to someone quote the Bible or by reading the Bible. People believe that, but it isn’t true. It means the supernatural word of God comes to you from inside, and you listen and believe. This happens when you pray in tongues.

If something shouldn’t have happened to Jesus, it shouldn’t happen to you. If Jesus, while in the form of a man, should have been able to do something, you should be able to do it now. This is what God was working to bring about through the crucifixion. It was an act of reproduction, and to reproduce means to make copies.

God’s new covenant way is much better than the old way, which involved a great deal of work and defeat. Daniel, for example, got God’s help with spirits that opposed him. We fight and defeat them directly, as though we were Jesus. We don’t have to wait for God to send angels to defeat the Princes of Persia and Greece and so on.

The Bible says we “clothe ourselves” with Jesus and “put on” the new man. That makes sense. It’s like putting on a military uniform. When others see the uniform, they give it the obedience it is due, regardless of who is inside it.

You know what they say in the military: “Salute the rank, not the man.” Satan says, “You’re the guy who fornicated, lied, and stole. Why should I listen to you?” He says that because he knows he can’t fight the uniform. He wants you to forget you’re wearing it.

I think I know why Satan continues to fight God. It’s because he has no hope. If you want to see someone do great evil without hesitation, take his hope away. Satan is going to be burned for eternity, in what will probably be the greatest humiliation of all time. He knows that. He fights in order to delay it. He doesn’t care about offending God, because he knows his end will be horrible no matter what he does.

He continues lying to us after we become new people, in order to prevent our power and righteousness from manifesting. I suppose I would do the same thing, even if it only delayed the onset of the burning for 10 seconds.

Certain things have to happen before Jesus can return, and they depend greatly on us. Satan is doing his best to slow us down. He has done a fine job for 2000 years, and he is not done having temporary victories, but he doesn’t have to have any victory at all in your life. He may keep knocking mankind to the canvas, but you don’t have to fall with everyone else. The word says, “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee.” This is because you’re God’s favorite, if you’re his Christian child. Expect favoritism and accept it, no matter what happens to the people you know.

The bad things that happen to other people are justified, and they are not your responsibility. You’re not supposed to sink with them.

I hope I get that patient lift. Right now I have to go buy more steel for the tractor brace.