In line with the thread, those pill batteries are super when considering the way an akaline battery leaks out and eats the inside of my gadgets.
But as for rough treatment, I can still remember my dad giving me a dial caliper pushing 40 years ago now. They are Enco and cost $60. I keep them in their original case and only take them out to use them.
I treated them like an expensive Gold Pocket Watch. I still use them.
Since then, I have went to many auctions, flea markets and swapmeets. I have had nice dial calipers thrown in with deals, and paid as little as $5.00 for them.
At some point they became disposable assetts. I have a pair I have scribed with for over 20 years. Mostly in layout die. Probably seldom to scratch steel. The points are still sharp, as they are hard stainless. It saves alot of time and has paid for themeselves. Of course when machining, I used edge finders and now the digital readout on the mill. So scribe lines are superficial.
I get more excited seeing some one operate them while dusty, knowing they are binding inside the gear rack. Now that hurts. Idiots choice. I keep my cases clean too.
Growing up out of the 60s through the 70s, I had a huge regard for my tools, everything I have is accredited to as javing saved it, my family has old Mayflower passed on money, land and goods. My family saved everything. We even reused nails and wore clothes till the fell off our bodies.
Maybe when they took shop and mechanics out of schools and went to CNC, tools of all types are about free second hand. At auctions, Hispanics are the main competitors. They love and appreciate tools.
I had a man accuse me of abusing a wood chisel for a steel chisel once, I had about 50 of them. It did not really matter. I was into scraping at the time and had bought it at another junkers estate sale. One would be shocked at the money made off that chisel, made new in the 60s? And maybe cost a only couple of bucks for a set. I was probably chopping off the ends of AC coils with it.
Grandpa knew an old farmer who had bought a new car, maybe a 1970 Lincoln, he piled feed sacks buckets of feed on the hood and trunk and used it like a truck.
Other people would not drive their cars on gravel roads.
When I see people drink alchohol, I tell them to put a piece of wood in a closed jar of Vodka, see what it does.
Better yet, pour some certain Cola soda pop on rusty or dirty wheel stud bolts. Phosphoric acid eats crap, and people drink it.
Lots of things look wrong, but some times it makes sense, other times, no sense.
Just never put the calipers on a spinning piece!
), so I got one of these:
