In article ,
Ignoramus21664 wrote:

Today I encountered the shortest lived C-Clamp ever.

Bought a 4" cast iron C-clamp at Menards (actually two). As soon as I
tried to tighten one, without any extra effort, the casting broke in
two pieces. The casting was regular cast iron and I noticed a strange
brown tint to it, in the surface of the crack.

i

Years ago, a friend bought a 1/2" drive ratchet off the Mac truck... one
of their longer ones with the red plastic grip.

On first use, and with a very small torque load, the metal part of the
handle snapped out near the grip. He guessed about 30 - 40 ft/lbs did it
if memory serves me right.

Examination of the fracture disclosed little more than chrome had been
holding anything together. It was a remarkably clean almost transverse
break, and showed evidence of complete acid penetration from the plating
process. I remember wondering how they'd been able to press the grip on
without breaking it in the factory.

At first glance the Mac Dealer thought we'd been doing that 'cheater bar
kinda thang', then took a look and produced a replacement right away...
said it was a first for him. We believed him too.

Erik