Those of you that have wrenched with me know that I hate mechanic's gloves. They give you no tactile feedback so you end up dropping all of your bolts. Then over the course of the job they get soaked through with grease. And finally when you take them off after a long day of hard work, one of them goes missing, never to be seen again.
Unfortunately, even the most expensive tools in my toolbox have rather abrasive tool handles, and after a few hours of working on the car my hands are sore. Fortunately, someone taught me a neat trick to improve the grip on my tools using something I already had at home. All I had to do was to go through the trash can in my basement to get it.
Here's how, illustrated in the latest installment of Racer Tech on my Youtube Channel:
And here are a few upgraded tools from my tool chest:
The elderly gentleman that taught me how to do this is a professional knife sharpener. For those of you who have never heard of such a thing, it's exactly what it sounds like. He drives around the towns surrounding Seki, Japan, hand-sharpening kitchen knives and gardening shears out of the back of his mini-truck. He uses this method to reduce wear on tear on his hands as he hones steel from dusk 'til dawn.
He also taught me the ins and outs of hand-sharpening kitchen knives. But that will be a video for another time.
Until then, see you at the track.
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