Never buy a shovel from Lowe's

[charby]

Monkey Wards...it's been a while since I heard that.  I wonder how many on this board remember shopping at one.

My first 10 speed came from there in 1986, a turd brown Open Road.

[Tuco]

Monkey Wards...it's been a while since I heard that.  I wonder how many on this board remember shopping at one.

I bought my mom some jewelry there one Christmas in the 70s and I still have grandpa's SpeedKing(?) 1/2" drive breaker bar in the garage.

Our Monkey Wards had a little 8x12 building in the parking lot that served a special market.  Not a photo-mat.
Any guesses?

[KD5NRH]

Monkey Wards...it's been a while since I heard that.  I wonder how many on this board remember shopping at one.

The big one in FW, that's now high priced condos.  Just weird to see that now.

[Tuco]

So, it's a vise vice?

Vise vice, baby.
My vice was breaking vises. A simple socket assisted universal joint job left two cracked bench vises in its wake.  The second Vise was left at the Lowe's ser vice desk. I left in sort of a huff when they accused me of abusing it.  Suffice to say my vice got the better of me, but I got the best of the vise.
With a little help from 3' length of 3/4" black iron pipe.

[Hawkmoon]

Monkey Wards...it's been a while since I heard that.  I wonder how many on this board remember shopping at one.

I do. Along with W.T. Grant's, S.S. Kresge, Kings, Caldor, Woolworth, and a couple of others whose names escape me at the moment.

[HankB]

. . . I have other tools of my fathers as well.  Hammers, drill bits, screw drivers, wrenches etc etc.  I know some of those are older than me.

I'm somewhat younger than you are, but I have tools that belonged to my father and grandfather . . . stuff like a No. 6 Bailey plane with APR 19 10 patent date (probably manufactured between 1910 and 1924), wood chisels by RYAN tools, hand drills with adjustable diameter bits, hammers, screw drivers, saw sets, etc. 

Monkey Wards...it's been a while since I heard that.  I wonder how many on this board remember shopping at one.

I certainly do - they only closed their doors around 2000.

I'm just barely old enough to remember the really good lunch counter at Woolworth's.

And I'm even old enough to remember the WalMart advertising which hyped all the "Made in America" merchandise they sold.

[Nick1911]

Vise vice, baby.
My vice was breaking vises. A simple socket assisted universal joint job left two cracked bench vises in its wake.  The second Vise was left at the Lowe's ser vice desk. I left in sort of a huff when they accused me of abusing it.  Suffice to say my vice got the better of me, but I got the best of the vise.
With a little help from 3' length of 3/4" black iron pipe.

Gotta agree with Lowes; using a bench vise as a press, with a 3 foot long cheater pipe is abusing it.

I have a harbor freight bench vise.  I broke the acme nut doing something similar.  It was just cast iron, I replaced it with a steel nut, welded into a little bracket I machined to fit with the other mating parts.  Haven't had trouble since, however I have a hydraulic press I use when I need a press.

[GigaBuist]

Fiskars makes a beast of a shovel.  Steel shaft welded to a 14 gauge steel blade.  http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-Long-Handle-Digging-Shovel/dp/B000B6Q6BA?

[Andiron]

https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/shovels

Ridgid not only makes excellent pipe wrenches,  but shovels as well.  I've got two with fiberglass handles that have NOT had any easy life,  and I can only praise them.

[Unisaw]

I had no idea Montgomery Wards lasted that long.  The last time I can remember going to one was back in the 70s.  We hated the store but my parents got a really good deal on something.

[Perd Hapley]

Didn't Woolworth's have a bunch of mall stores years ago? Or maybe it was another name. I remember going to those, and not all that long ago.

[Hawkmoon]

Didn't Woolworth's have a bunch of mall stores years ago? Or maybe it was another name. I remember going to those, and not all that long ago.

Fuzzy recollection, but I think around the same time that Kresge's morphed into KMart, Woolworth's morphed into Woolco. Might have changed names again before they finally threw in the towel. A lot of once good stores couldn't adapt to new marketing methods and new buyers' habits and expectations.

[230RN]

I bought my mom some jewelry there one Christmas in the 70s and I still have grandpa's SpeedKing(?) 1/2" drive breaker bar in the garage.

Our Monkey Wards had a little 8x12 building in the parking lot that served a special market.  Not a photo-mat.
Any guesses?

Key shop?  I remember those in parking lots.  I always thought that was kind of weird, having a little building just for making keys out there all by itself.

I don't know if it's still there, but the Sears on Colfax in Lakewood CO used to have one, too.

Yeah, I remember "Monkey" Ward and shopping there.  I'm sure I've bought .22 ammo from them.  And everywhere, for that matter.  I don't think I could walk past a display of .22 bricks without lightening it by a couple of pounds.

I've also exposed the vices of vises.  Welded (actually brazed) it back together with nickel rods.  Tap-tap-tapped it 100 times to relieve the stresses of "welding." Returned it to light duty that way.

Terry, 230RN

[zxcvbob]

I still have a Monkey Wards chest freezer that I bought in the early 80's.

[Scout26]

Monkey Wards...it's been a while since I heard that.  I wonder how many on this board remember shopping at one.

My second job in college.  I did collections for them for almost 2 years.  We worked in the basement of the store in the Yorktown (Lombard) mall.  I called all over the world as my specialty was going after military.  If you wouldn't talk to me or worse, lie to me, then I'd talk to your First Sergeant.

Probably O.C. was the best boss I ever worked for.  Super Lady and took real good care of us part-timers.

[RoadKingLarry]

I still have a Monkey Wards chest freezer that I bought in the early 80's.

My big chest freezer is Monkey Wards too. It was bought in '78 by a late uncle, wife bought it at the estate sale in 2011. Works like a champ. We know it was bought in '78 because there was an envelope inside it with all the paperwork and the canceled check they bought it with. Uncle was a bit of a pack rat.
I also ended up with a good bit of tools from him.
I also have my grandpa's old craftsman table saw. A lot of cast-iron in the table, solid as a rock, it's probably late '60s vintage.

[charby]

Didn't Woolworth's have a bunch of mall stores years ago? Or maybe it was another name. I remember going to those, and not all that long ago.

I think those were all gone before Reagan left office.

[Jamisjockey]

http://www.idealblasting.com/microblaster.aspx

Or there's a ton of info on microblasting using .30-06 and .45-70 blanks on caving sites.  Pretty much ideal when you just have one rock to bust up.

Dude I can set my watch to the regularity of you arriving to post idiotic, outlandish, expensive or dangerous ideas.

[Brad Johnson]

I do. Along with W.T. Grant's, S.S. Kresge, Kings, Caldor, Woolworth, and a couple of others whose names escape me at the moment.

Don't forget M.E. Moses.

Brad

[zxcvbob]

I do. Along with W.T. Grant's, S.S. Kresge, Kings, Caldor, Woolworth, and a couple of others whose names escape me at the moment.

Weingarten's, FedMart.   Much more recently gone, Foley's.

[KD5NRH]

Dude I can set my watch to the regularity of you arriving to post idiotic, outlandish, expensive or dangerous ideas.

Oh yeah, because people do it every day.  And removing rocks is exactly what it's for.  Or do you think everybody who needs a rock removed taps it with a rubber squeaky mallet until t falls apart?  Hell, illiterate farmers used to successfully use dynamite on a regular basis for lesser tasks.

[K Frame]

Monkey Wards...it's been a while since I heard that.  I wonder how many on this board remember shopping at one.

You kidding? They only went under in 2001.

I'm still sitting in the glide rocker I bought there, and washing my clothes in the Amana I bought there.

And Monkey Ward is "back," sort of... In 2004 a direct marketing company bought the brand, and is now selling online -- http://www.wards.com/

[K Frame]

I do. Along with W.T. Grant's, S.S. Kresge, Kings, Caldor, Woolworth, and a couple of others whose names escape me at the moment.

Korvette's (Pennsylvania when I was a kid, sort of like Grants or KMart)

Town & Country and Colonial Fair (Pennsylvania when I was a kid, sort of like Grants or KMart).

Hills (Pennsylvania when I was a kid, sort of like Grants or KMart).

Ames and Jamesway (Think the crappiest KMart you've ever been in, and it would still be tons better than a Jamesway. Ames was better, but not much).

Danks (Decent PA department store, small chain).

Pomeroy's (tried to be a higher end dept store, but never really suceeded).

Woodward & Lothrop (DC higher end department store)

Hecht's (DC higher end dept store)

Wanamaker's (Philadelphia higher end dept store)

[Tuco]

Korvettes

My go-to bird gun, a no name, 6.7 lb 12ga Itallian SxS, came from Korvettes, pre 1968.
Or so I've been told

[Jamisjockey]

Oh yeah, because people do it every day.  And removing rocks is exactly what it's for.  Or do you think everybody who needs a rock removed taps it with a rubber squeaky mallet until t falls apart?  Hell, illiterate farmers used to successfully use dynamite on a regular basis for lesser tasks.

That tool costs more than your cars. 
Larry bemoans the cheap potmetal the average shovel is made from, and you tell him to buy a $650 tool.