Page 20. MAINE COASTAL NEWS April 2013 Seventies Memories - The Keyless Chuck By Lee S. Wilbur
Daydreaming back to the early “seven- ties” and comparing the tools we were us- ing then and what’s available today seems almost like a comparison to Fred Flintstone and his war club. One of the fi rst that comes to mind was the Brace and Bit/Screwdriver replaced just as I came on the scene with another gorilla, the electric screwdriver. What the electric made up for in speed over the brace, it could still leave one’s arms hanging at the end of a long day. Both were a godsend to wood builders whom I recall had strong biceps and a handshake I learned never to over-squeeze. The Offi ce of Safety and Health Ad- ministration, better known by it’s acronym “OSHA” and their dreaded inspections were in their infancy and just beginning to make their unpleasance felt. Always felt that the modus from them could have been handled in a more helpful manner than just handing out “Thou Shalt Do’s”. Some way when we could all have learned and shared mistakes made instead of doling out over the top fi nes.
One of OSHA’s early decisions was to shorten all the power cords on any new electric tool, meaning a user, in order to keep the tool from pulling out of the exten- sion cord would have to tie the tool cord and the extension cord together which gave no end of problems when the knot would fetch up in and at the worst times and plac- es. We weren’t long in cutting off the plugs and splicing about a ten to fi fteen foot cord back on. Course this was highly illegal be- cause OSHA mandated no breaks in elec- tric cords whatsoever. Question is “why is a plug and socket not a break?”
Dick Fessenden, great salesman from
N.H. Bragg another A+ outfi t out of Ban- gor used was our primary tool supplier for many years. Never forget the day Dick brought in the fi rst “Keyless” chuck which was put out by none other than Makita tools from Japan. Every carpenter and mechanic in the shop had to try it out, try to make a drill bit slip. We had plenty of oak and teak scrap around and no one could make it fail. The speed with which we could now change bits had to have increased 200%, and the savings of having to buy more power drills with destroyed chucks was more than made up by replacing the existing soon. Followed soon after the keyless
chuck’s debut came the battery powered drill which allowed us to get rid of the spa- ghetti of power cords which OSHA was never too pleased with. An Interesting Note However- We never had a falling or trip- ping accident that I am aware of on any of the stagings or work platforms and I think we all agreed that working in that manner made us more aware of where we made the next step, always looking to see where you put your foot down next.
Along with the Battery drill came a few crazy bets of “my drill is stronger than yours”, eliciting a piece of steel or bronze rod cut to about 6” and stuck in the keyless chucks of the owners power drills such as Makita and Rockwell’s.
This was about
the time we stopped supplying some of the hand tools as invariably one of the chucks would snap or a sprained wrist would go to the loser.
Another step forward, and one which might seem minor was the introduction of Carbide to our drill bitts, planer blades, and most important to our power saw blades. Not only did the carbide last much longer between sharpening, but our cuts were fi n-
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er, allowing in some cases not having to run the edge over a joiner. Blades themselves could be thinner allowing them to run cool- er and much more effi ciently.
For many years the one motion in the shop which was the most time consuming and most critical was launching a boat or having to change cradles. From the orig- inal wood cradles with 6x6 skids, to the steel ones we hand built which made into trailers to fi nally the hydraulic boat trailer
developed by Fred Brownell in Mattapoi- sett, Massachusetts it was always a sigh of relief when the fi nished boat was down at the beach waiting for the tide to fl oat it off. Now we could just wait for “Bubu” the truck driver to back his rig under the hull held upright by screw-jacks, slide 4 x 4s under in their respective cross-sockets , push a few buttons on a hydraulic control and be off to catch a tide, tide being gener- ally anything over half instead of dead low.
New Book - East of the Hague Line
East of the Hague Line By Gordon Holmes
“East of the Hague Line” is an adven- turous, dramatic and quickly paced suspense novel written about life at sea commercial fi shing in the Gulf of Maine and the far reaching tempestuous North Atlantic. Maine rugged coastline is comprised of more than 3,000 miles of bays, inlets, and peninsulas that create isolated close-knit fi shing communities. The people who live in these seaside towns have one thing in com- mon, a deep-rooted bond with the ocean. “East of the Hague Line” takes a close personal look at what it takes to live the life of an offshore fi sherman. Writer Gor- don Holmes, a Maine native, captures the rhythms and tensions of life aboard a com- mercial fi shing boat. The crew of the fi shing vessel JUBILEE is comprised of four hardened fi shermen, hopeful for good fi shing, whose loved ones wait at home, fearful for the lives of their men.
Continued from Page 10. American Eel Draft
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abundance. The recreational fi shery is cur- rently regulated by a 50 fi sh per day creel limit and a six inch size minimum, although recreational harvest is believed to be low. Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on Draft Addendum III by either attending public hearings or providing written comments. The Draft Addendum is available at http://
www.asmfc.org/speciesDocuments/eel/ fmps/DraftAddendumIII_American_For- PublicComment.pdf. The public comment deadline is 11:59 PM (EST) on May 2, 2013 and should be forwarded to Kate Taylor, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordi- nator, 1050 N. Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, VA 22201; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at
comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: American Eel). Final action on the Adden- dum is scheduled to occur in May. For more information, please contact Kate Taylor at
ktaylor@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.
Fishermen depend on a good catch to earn their living…but what happens when manipulation, deceit and betrayal by a trust- ed crewmember changes the tide? Young Tom Anderson fulfi lls a lifelong dream when he signs on with Captain Joseph Scanton to go fi shing aboard JUBILEE on the North Atlantic. He gets far more than he bargained for when his captain is forced to take his boat and crew into a perilous situ- ation in uncharted waters east of the Hague Line. Scanton’s decision puts their freedom and their lives at stake as they sail into a trap that will change their destiny…forever. Gordon Holmes grew up on the coast of Maine and spent his early years living and working on the ocean. He joined the US Navy in 1968 and is now a real estate broker. He has two sons, a stepson, and four grand- children and lives with the love of his life, Katherine, on Cousin’s Island in Yarmouth. Trafford Publishing, August 2012, 676
pages. You can order “East of the Hague Line” through Ingram’s Books in Print Da- tabase, directly from the publisher at www.
trafford.com or through the book order hotline at 1-800-AUTHORS. This book is also available at your local reseller.
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