The splitting maul.

After looking at this forum for a bit i have noticed not too many people have mentioned anything about splitting mauls. Originally designed to chop up big logs into smaller chunks the splitting maul can also be used to break the motors out of household appliances faster than any other device ive used. It takes some skill and a bit of muscle but all you gotta do is place the appliance on a crappy area of ground as it will make a small mess, smack the back where the screws are at with the sledge hammer side, flip it around and smack the motor mounts with the axe side and bam your done. I never really knew you could do this but a yard I went to down in Tx has some scrap built mauls and have been taking apart things like that for years so naturally I decided to give it a try and found it to be quite effective. If any one else uses this method let us know your opinion on it. If you don't do this already give it a try and let us know how it goes.

I guess im still young enough to not be affected by the impacts of the hammer swing. Im like really dreading getting old though, it really doesnt sound all that fun listening to all the old people complain about all their health problems. And what not. Retirement doesnt sound all that bad but is it really worth it? And side note, apparently now Huske (the Home Depot brand tools) will replace broken huskee tools for free sorta like craftsman does or at least used to. Not sure if its all the tools or just a select few but i had to ask the lady at the counter the other day about it. And kolbalt (lowes) replaced a junk shovel i found in the trash. Not sure if anyone else was aware of this.

It's a different situation for me because i don't really have access to healthcare. Can't afford health insurance so if i break something ... i live with it till it heals up on it's own. Pain is a good teacher. lol ... i'm kind of a slow learner sometimes. Tore out my rotator cuff for the second time a few years ago. Learned the hard way that it's not such a good idea for a man of my age to be hossing around a 275 gallon fuel tank on his own anymore.

The name of the game for me these days is use your head and not your back. Plan your work and work your plan. Use power tools whenever and wherever you possibly can. Choose your jobs wisely and always ask yourself if the juice is really worth the squeeze.

I've got a friend of 40 years who is a mechanic. We're about the same age and it's the same situation with him. The body is starting to give out after all those years of wear & tear in the trades. He's making regular trips back and forth to different specialists these days for the different problems that are coming up. I think the main thing is that he's like BAM BAM on the Flintstones. He will grab the BFH and go right to town on something if it's giving him a hard time. That's the way he's always done things. That's just his style.

He's stubborn and pig headed just like i am but he's slowly coming round. He was wailing the snot out of a control arm that wouldn't come out awhile back and making an awful racket out in the shop.I went out to see what was going on. We talked it over for a few minutes and between the two of us ... we figured out that all that was needed was a bit of finesse. I pulled on one end and he tapped on the other. The control are came out without too much trouble. The one on the other side was all but effortless.

I guess it's like a lot of things. There's a hard way and an easy way of doing most jobs.

All around though ... guys of our age, who were masters of their trade, traditionally ascended to the role of boss. The job boss ran the job and directed the efforts of his journeymen and apprentices. The younger hands did the bull work and the old fullas did the brain work. It was a sensible arrangement.

It doesn't always work out that way though.

Everybody can afford insurance. That's what Obamacare is. I wish people would research that better. That why it was created.

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

Everybody can afford insurance. That's what Obamacare is. I wish people would research that better. That why it was created.

Yes, the $1,200 a month is beer money for me, and the $6,000 deductible means I'm only out $20K to get a finger up the azz. The 80/20 insurance we had for $400/mo that covered everything ( except childbirth for me) really was a burden. You can keep the Osamacare insurance. I also have to go bare.

Finger up the azz is preventative. Covered by any insurance.

People need to research. Go to an agent. You've proven a few times in your attempt to save money it's cost you more.

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

Everybody can afford insurance. That's what Obamacare is. I wish people would research that better. That why it was created.

Ohh wow ... i thought you were kidding.

I've seen low price Obamacare in action. It is out there. You have to contact an agent. Maybe even a few. The website does not work properly.

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

Finger up the azz is preventative. Covered by any insurance.

People need to research. Go to an agent. You've proven a few times in your attempt to save money it's cost you more.

You're bragging about how much you make investing. You brag about buying a rental trailer. You pay bills before investing. Health Insurance is a bill.

If the Affordable Care Act plans are too expensive (as they often are and were for me for a long time) then you should qualify for Medicaid. It's an imperfect program but it's far better than the vast majority of private insurance programs including the Obamacare ones (that I'm familiar with anyway). Only coverage I ever had as good as Medicaid was back when I had coverage through a union.

The situations in which health insurance makes sense is when someone has a chronic illness where the medical system is not obligated to treat you. This makes more sense when people are older. They will let you die of cancer, but also let you come in when you are about to die, and revive you, only to see you back in a few days and repeat.
I've found, after having children, that it's useful to have insurance for them. I freely use my ability to bring them in whenever needed, because they deserve the best quality care I can provide. I never have to consider potential costs.

Originally Posted by IamTheGreatest

Everybody can afford insurance. That's what Obamacare is. I wish people would research that better. That why it was created.

Originally Posted by hills

The standard deductible on an Obamacare plan is something like six or seven grand ? That's pretty much money you have to pay out of pocket before insurance kicks in ? If the numbers are right that would be an additional four grand plus about six hundred a month for single coverage. All told .. that comes out to roughly 7,600.00$ per year vs. the two grand i'm paying right now. Self pay is looking like the better deal here.

Lemme clarify that I'm not defending Obamacare. Didn't support it when it was proposed. Don't support it now. I support a public system like every other even remotely wealthy country and a great many less wealthy countriws have and thrive with (with the partial exception of Japan split cost system). That said, if you qualify for what they call "cost sharing" under Obamacare your total annual deductible and co-pay can be below $1000. System is still not as good as medicaid and medicare but it doesn't have to be as economically bad as their "standard deductible" prices. Requires unnecessary work to get there bc the plan favors insurance agencies over the public but, *if* you qualify, can be affordable by private health care standards.

I'll try giving it another look JJ. My wife and i both work full time at ground level jobs. We do okay, in that we more or less break even every year. There just isn't much room to take on additional expense.

We did have Obamacare for her awhile back. I think what happened was that they initially offered it at too low a price. The system here in Maine started hemorrhaging millions of dollars. The insurance was good for her for the first year. After that first year ... her rates doubled and they dropped critical components of her coverage. We simply couldn't afford to keep it anymore.

It was a bad experience at the outset but perhaps things have changed since then.

Honestly though .... given the overall .... i don't think our current system of healthcare will be able to hold together for very much longer.