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Skills Every Man Should Know?

Posted on 05/02/2014 8:59:22 PM PDT by MNDude

Today a young guy at the office got a flat tire. A bunch of young guys gathered around in the parking lot and I was amazed how none knew how to change a flat.

I commented this had to be one of the top things all men should know.

What would be some of the things you would include on a list that all men should know how to do? (Like change oil, etc)


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: chat; manlyness; skills; vanity
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To: MNDude

How about...

Ride a horse

Ride a motorcycle

Use gas chainsaw without cutting a limb off

drive a manual transmission

build a fire

and...

don’t lie and blame a silly Youtube video for your shortcomings faults and failures.

and I suck at doin any of them


81 posted on 05/02/2014 10:19:03 PM PDT by Sapwolf (Talkers are usually more articulate than doers, since talk is their specialty. -Sowell)
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To: exit82

My personal experience—approach the garthok cautiously from behind, then leap upon it, gnarfling it as quickly as possible and clearing the garthok before it is fully aware that it is being gnarfled.


82 posted on 05/02/2014 10:21:39 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: Cats Pajamas

Sometimes we can’t be helped. Well, most of the time. Uh...all of the time. I’m taking the Fifth.


83 posted on 05/02/2014 10:21:48 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Sapwolf

awwww I’m sorry me too but I am a girl although I can build a barbeque fires with sufficient quantities of lighter fluid.


84 posted on 05/02/2014 10:22:43 PM PDT by Cats Pajamas
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To: MNDude

Fix whatever you own, no matter what.

Grow and/or kill whatever you eat, as much as possible.

Work hard, fight hard, love hard, play hard.

Mean what you say, and keep your word.

Serve God. It keeps you humble.

Be neighborly. It makes you useful.

The rest will spring forth from these.


85 posted on 05/02/2014 10:23:02 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Globalism is just socialism in a business suit.)
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To: MNDude

1. Make a 300 yard shot and know it will be a good shot.
2. Know how to smoke and cure meat.
3. Know that you must have one year of food stored.
4. Know how to fish and hunt and preserve the meat.
5. Love your family and friends and protect them as they would protect you. If they are not willing to protect themselves and you, they have become superfluous.

I pray that I am wrong but as Bob Dylan sang, “There is a Hard Rain “Gonna” fall.”


86 posted on 05/02/2014 10:23:17 PM PDT by cpdiii (Deckhand, Roughneck, Mud Man, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR!)
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To: MNDude

Cook. Every man should know how to cook.

He doesn’t have to know how to cook exquisitely, just be able to feed himself well enough beyond cereal and eggs.


87 posted on 05/02/2014 10:23:56 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: krunkygirl

2nd that Krunky. And add: carve a turkey and drive a boat.


88 posted on 05/02/2014 10:24:27 PM PDT by bayareablues
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To: Cats Pajamas

and I lose ability for sentence composure late at night.


89 posted on 05/02/2014 10:24:40 PM PDT by Cats Pajamas
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To: BenLurkin

Uh...not quite.


90 posted on 05/02/2014 10:25:17 PM PDT by Jagdgewehr (It will take blood.)
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To: MNDude

I’m 68 years old and the only thing I have had to call on for a professional job is re roofing my house with steel roofing. I’ve completely redone everything else.
When I bought it, there was a roof and floor and walls. no windows, everything else completely vandalized. I’ve had to redo the electric, water, sewer, walls, insulation, fencing, and everything else.

I did the same with my last house when living in town. I just hate having strange people on my place doing jobs I should be doing.

I’ve done the same thing for my daughter’s house in another town.

I can do welding, fit up, electrical, insulation, sewer an plumbing work. Roofing (now I call on the pros for that) Fencing, barn work, an way too many more things.

You would be surprised at the amount of money I have saved by doing these jobs my self.

Again, I am 68 years old, and I am slowing down. I will have to contract out work in the future and it galls me to no end as I hate having strangers on my place!


91 posted on 05/02/2014 10:25:56 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: Billthedrill

Okay you get points for being cute


92 posted on 05/02/2014 10:30:30 PM PDT by Cats Pajamas
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

“I’m gonna finish it right now! There are some things a man just can’t ride around!”-Randolph Scott


93 posted on 05/02/2014 10:30:59 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: MNDude

After looking at all the things a man should do, I must admit I can do almost all of them. This is not bragging but it was just things you needed to do to survive.

I don’t know how to plan an invasion, my plan is how to survive when being invaded.


94 posted on 05/02/2014 10:36:56 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: Jonty30

I agree that every man should know how to cook! I can make biscuits, eggs, bacon, chili, steaks and all other foods for survival.
The thoughts of people ordering pizzas every day offends me even though I like Pizza.


95 posted on 05/02/2014 10:40:34 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: Jet Jaguar
Lefty loosy righty tighty can get a guy in trouble with some older vehicle's lug nuts.

Some (but not all) Studebaker's had left-handed threads --- I *think* on the right hand side.

Perhaps some old Lincolns --- or , aw forget it, I can't remember.

Then there was the weird cylinder numbering going on with V-8's.

Chevy would call number one cylinder the foremost (at front of car) on the bank or side of the engine which overlapped most forward, Ford -- began with the other bank --- or was it the other way around? Cadillac had their own little twist to the numbering.

And with International (which hasn't made light-duty vehicles for about 40 years now?) had their numbering begin from the firewall.

Reference books can help...but with the older rigs when there was a firing order cast into the manifold, and if an engine was known to be timed close enough to run, then generally a guy could figure it out with the clues present (including lifting the distributor cap and observing the rotor).

If all else failed, then removing valve covers and turning the engine over slowly by hand while watching the valves and also paying attention to the timing marks in relation to the distributor rotor also, could usually confirm which cylinder is #1 in a sequence.

A guy should be able to free-up a sticky brake caliper when on mountain roads out in the middle of nowhere,too. A small can of good penetrating oil (with a spray-straw) can be real handy. Most of the time sticky brake calipers are easy, but one may have to remove them to clean the shafts they are designed to slide back and forth on. A small pocketknife can come in handy -- just scratch off the accumulated crude without scratching the rods is all. Careful, careful...

Had a little problem with brake lights the other day. They would not turn off or shut off even with the key off.

Brake lights are by law required to bypass ignition switches -- I think...but never mind that for now, other than the brake lights (when a particular thing occurs with a wide number of models of vehicles) will stay on all the time, not only not functioning as warning as they should, but possibly draining a car's battery.

It wasn't the brake light switch itself, but was the small pad that the spring loaded throw rod in the brakelight switch would contact. When the little plastic part gets old and brittle, it can fall apart, dropping out of it's needed position which results in the clearance being too large and the brakelight switch activating rod not being forced to retract enough to turn off the lights.

Auto Part stores don't carry the item, although most of them do carry the brakelight switches themselves.

I cut a disk-shaped portion from a common paint-stirring stick, then wrapped a couple of turns of electrical tape around it, then rummaging through a collection of old screws, found a sheet metal screw which I could force to bite about a turn and a half through the tape and into the wood (the tape acting a little bit like the nylon in a nylon locknut, but only "a little") installing the jury-rigged pad in place of the original, using the screw installed from the backside of the contact plate assembly, going through the hole there which is for accepting a nipple of sorts on the backside of a the roughly 1/4" to 5/16" think circular contact "pad" which is OEM.

I just bought the real article today going to a Hyundai dealer. $2.32 for that small little thing that cost only pennies in materials and time/labor costs to make, but probably more than that to include in database and actual stock.

Everything costs...including the time of the people who have to go fetch the item. I got a full sized sheet of paper as a receipt too. The ink on that, the paper itself, the machine which printed up the 2 copies, and the girl who handed one copy for me to sign --- all of that together likely cost far more than the simple material cost of the small plastic disk -- of a certain diameter & thickness, with the protruding nipple on the backside of it, that is made to press into the hole in the contact plate, etc.,etc.

It's in the glovebox now. Later...I'd probably run on the paint-stick home-made repair till doomsday if I could get away with it. But having the part...all I'd need to be capable of doing is to again get at and SEE the damn thing. It's awkward to get at, but not impossible. A flashlight or shop light can be a big help.

And yes, I can skin a buck and run a trot-line also. Processing beef cattle in comparison to deer and hogs, is a LOT of work. Better have some space, plenty of containers, all nearby and ready.

Could you imagine what it would be like for the old cowboys that would stop if they needed to tend to a horse that was hopelessly injured (among the remuda they had for traveling) which they would put down and then convert into jerky, right on the spot?

We have it easy today, even though "things" can be more complicated.

96 posted on 05/02/2014 10:52:45 PM PDT by BlueDragon (is a sarcasm tag necessary? quit looking at this tagline and get yer' eye on the ball)
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To: BlueDragon; Jet Jaguar
Aw geez. Left hand lug bolt on left hand side? For a few of the Studey's I mean.

It's been so long I can't remember.

97 posted on 05/02/2014 10:58:11 PM PDT by BlueDragon (is a sarcasm tag necessary? quit looking at this tagline and get yer' eye on the ball)
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To: MNDude
I, a woman, taught my daughters: how to change a flat; check the oil and add the correct kind, if needed; where the fuse box was located and how to test them and change, if necessary and how to check the air pressure in the tires and add air, even with a hand pump if nothing else was available!

They had to be able to do all before being set behind the wheel in our house.

No young man or woman should be handed the keys to a car without basic survival skills engrained.

No parent is doing their kids a favor by permitting them either use of the family car or giving them one outright unless they can take care of the car and prevent being stranded, in my opinion.

It's amazing how many grow ups don't know how to perform basic maintenance skills themselves!

98 posted on 05/02/2014 11:02:43 PM PDT by zerosix (Native Sunflower)
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To: Mount Athos
A scout should know:
  1. Radio operation,
  2. Proper radio procedures,
  3. SALUTE report,
  4. 9-line Medevac,
  5. call for fire,
  6. identifying avenues of approach.

99 posted on 05/02/2014 11:05:57 PM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: gorush

Sail? What for? I guess it’s fun, when the weather is nice, but not that useful unless you live on the ocean and are bored with fishing from the shore. In a TEOTWAWKI situation I think knowing how to hunt, raise and slaughter poultry and livestock, raise crops, do some elementary construction, care for and safely ride a horse, and handle tools competently are fat more important.


100 posted on 05/02/2014 11:09:58 PM PDT by ottbmare (the OTTB mare, now a proud Marine Mom)
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