Sometimes the strangest tools...
 

I'm renovating (read: mostly gutting) a bathroom - just about
everything is being moved around. One of the things that can be
quite difficult with this is rearranging the electrical. Wires coming
into the area, don't have enough length to get to where they're
being relocated, and you don't want to bury junctions inside the
wall nor have random J-boxes sticking out of the wall. Yet,
avoiding having the renovation extend into ripping walls in other
areas is of primary importance.

Had this one spot deep inside a wall cavity where I managed to
move a wire end _almost_ to where the new fixture was going. I just
needed a few more inches, but this cable staple was preventing it.
Too far to reach.

Spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to snag the staple
without damaging the wire. Nail on end of 2x4 - it'll bend. Pipe
with a hook? Can't fasten the hook well. Steel rod? One thick enough
to not bend would need machining.

Something thin, but almost arrow shaped on a long rigid bar - a bit of
a crook in it would provide more leverage, something that could
go beside the cable so the cable sheath wouldn't be damaged.

Stopped work for the day, and hours later just before going to bed
it _finally_ came to me what the perfect tool was.

Went downstairs to get the tool, and _snick_, the staple was out. Of
course, my son was in hysterics for the next half hour, seeing his dad
jump up the ladder carrying a sword.

[Cheap "decorative only" steel sabre I bought about 30 years ago for
my parents to hang on their mantle, they didn't use, and gave back...]
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

Sometimes the strangest tools...
 

"Chris Lewis" wrote in message
...
I'm renovating (read: mostly gutting) a bathroom - just about
everything is being moved around. One of the things that can be
quite difficult with this is rearranging the electrical. Wires coming
into the area, don't have enough length to get to where they're
being relocated, and you don't want to bury junctions inside the
wall nor have random J-boxes sticking out of the wall. Yet,
avoiding having the renovation extend into ripping walls in other
areas is of primary importance.

Had this one spot deep inside a wall cavity where I managed to
move a wire end _almost_ to where the new fixture was going. I just
needed a few more inches, but this cable staple was preventing it.
Too far to reach.

Spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to snag the staple
without damaging the wire. Nail on end of 2x4 - it'll bend. Pipe
with a hook? Can't fasten the hook well. Steel rod? One thick enough
to not bend would need machining.

Something thin, but almost arrow shaped on a long rigid bar - a bit of
a crook in it would provide more leverage, something that could
go beside the cable so the cable sheath wouldn't be damaged.

Stopped work for the day, and hours later just before going to bed
it _finally_ came to me what the perfect tool was.

Went downstairs to get the tool, and _snick_, the staple was out. Of
course, my son was in hysterics for the next half hour, seeing his dad
jump up the ladder carrying a sword.

[Cheap "decorative only" steel sabre I bought about 30 years ago for
my parents to hang on their mantle, they didn't use, and gave back...]
--
Chris Lewis,


That's brilliant!

Sometimes the strangest tools...
 

"Chris Lewis" wrote in message
...

Went downstairs to get the tool, and _snick_, the staple was out. Of
course, my son was in hysterics for the next half hour, seeing his dad
jump up the ladder carrying a sword.

[Cheap "decorative only" steel sabre I bought about 30 years ago for
my parents to hang on their mantle, they didn't use, and gave back...]
--
Chris Lewis,

Touche! (so to speak...)