Had a 20-year-old staple gun finally give up on me mid-job in Tacoma

It was my dad's old Duo-Fast, the one he gave me when I started out. Thing had been through everything, from oak to bamboo. I was putting down some 3/4 inch solid maple in a living room last Tuesday, and on the third row, it just stopped driving staples. The spring sounded weak, like a tired cough. I took it apart right there on the drop cloth, but the main coil was just worn flat. Felt weird throwing it in the truck bed with the other scrap. Ended up running to the supply house for a new one, but the balance was all off. It got me thinking, all the old guys I learned from used tools you could rebuild. Now everything feels like it's made to be replaced. Anyone have a go-to brand for a staple gun that'll actually last a decade?

The guy at the flea market was so sure his 'first appearance' was legit

Honestly, I saw a dude trying to sell a copy of 'Amazing Spider-Man' #300, but the cover colors were way too bright and the price was only $50. I asked to see the indicia and the print date was from 1991, which is a reprint. He got mad and said 'It's the same story, man, it counts.' Ngl, it matters because a real first print is worth thousands and that's a big deal for a collector. Has anyone else run into sellers who don't know the difference between a first print and a later one?

Pro tip: I tried using a regular socket on a Cummins ISX fuel line fitting and it was a comedy show

Had a 2015 Freightliner in the bay last week with a weepy fuel line. My good flare nut wrench was on another job, so I thought, 'how bad could a regular 12-point socket be?' Bad. Real bad. I got it on there, put some pressure on the ratchet, and the socket just rounded off the fitting's corners like it was made of butter. Spent the next hour trying to get a grip on this shiny, smooth nub I'd created. Finally dug out my old, beat-up snap-on flare nut wrench, the one with the super thin walls. It bit right in and the fitting came loose with a normal grunt. The difference was night and day. That thin wall on the right tool makes all the space it needs without slipping. Anyone got a good trick for getting a rounded fuel fitting off when you're already in that deep?

I went against the grain on a tricky 316 stainless job and it saved the day

We had a run of 316 stainless parts with a deep pocket that kept breaking tools. Everyone in the shop, including our lead, said to slow the feed way down and use a high helix end mill. After wrecking three tools in two days, I was fed up. I remembered an old timer at my last shop in Dayton talking about how sometimes you need to push harder, not softer, with gummy stuff. I switched to a four flute, low helix tool from Helical, bumped the SFM up by 15%, and actually increased the feed per tooth by 0.0005. The chip cleared better, the tool stopped loading up, and we finished the run with one tool. The lead was surprised but couldn't argue with the parts on the table. Has anyone else found that the standard advice for a material can sometimes be exactly wrong for a specific cut?

The week my old Palm Pilot saved a project and then died for good

Had to choose between a fast pour or a slow one on a big iron casting last week

We were running a 500 pound gear blank and the mold was getting a bit cold. My lead guy wanted to pour fast to beat the chill, but I remembered a tip from a guy in Toledo about slow pouring for less turbulence. We went slow, maybe a 45 second pour instead of 20. The casting came out with way less slag and almost no surface defects. Anyone have a rule of thumb for when to pick speed over a steady pour?