Delay tactics.
"Which bit are you planning on using? Send a photo of it"
"That's not a good bit for that"
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
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I feel this deeply. I am of the opinion that one who has never used a power tool should ever use a power tool for the first time unsupervised. I say this this as a man who volunteers helping high school students build robots. Accidents happen, and you don't know what you don't know.
For many years I used to keep my sawzall at a buddies house. Because my Wife decided-- not once-- but twice to cut down the couch we had at the time with the sawzall. The first time she wanted a "small sectional" in her words. The second time she just wanted 2 smaller couches. At the time we were dirt poor and we couldn't afford to be replacing a couch just 'because'.
I eventually had to enforce a 'no touch my tools' rule and you don't fix ANYTHING rule to save my sanity and life.
Embrace that shit. Help her enroll in a carpentry class. You can probably find one cheap or free in your closest city. The will to act is harder to come by than the skills to do it right.
First off: I totally agree, teach people these skills.
Secondly: There are however people who should never be trusted with anything more destructive than your average spoon.
A carpentry class will teach you how to make a bird house. Maybe even an end table. Which is cool and all.
But it will not teach you how to trouble shoot a furnace at 11pm on a Saturday night and it's -25F outside, (it was a sticking vacuum switch I got working and making it a $50 repair the next day rather than a $800 service call).
It will not teach you to understand what that clunking sound might be on your car. And how important it is. ( That Check Engine code was just a "gas cap leak" because you accidentally didn't get the cap properly tight or something far more serious).
And most importantly, it will not teach you know what is worth the effort to fix and what is not.
My Wife is a VERY talented and creative artist. She a good painter and she designs and makes some of the most beautiful jewelry I've seen. But she's frankly incompetent with shop tools and repairing things. There are many, many people just like her across the planet, both men and women. Just because someone has the will to act, does not meant they have the aptitude to act.
.... I mean yeah? You need a HVAC class for furnaces, automotive classes for the car.... you didn't just magically know wtf you're doing because of "Who you are as a person". Yes, there are many, many people just like her across the planet... until they gain the knowledge.
This is some weird "they're just not capable" gate-keeping. Show your spouse what your commenting about them and I 100% believe they will prove you wrong. You might try even encouraging, learning with, or helping them build confidence instead of telling them they're not allowed to FIX ANYTHING in their own fucking house. Jfc.
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Then help her do it right. To paraphrase Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, "the greatest things from the age of legends came from men and women working together."
This is true. Working together by supporting each other with the skills they are best at.
Well not with that attitude.
Only a few sentences on Lemmy from one person's pov but that rings loudly of a mental disorder that requires professional intervention. IANAD. But if my SO decided to sawzall a piece of our furniture on a whim my reaction would be, "You're out of your fuckin' mind."
Also "I'm not helping pay to replace that, this just became entirely your problem"
If you need to be instructed in how to set up a tool you are unlikely to use said tool correctly or well. It is important to be aware of your actual skills when engaged in things like home or car repair.
I've used tools before that I knew how to use, but this particular model had a weird latch or something.
It's entirely plausible someone who is totally capable of drilling a hole to hang a picture might have never needed to use a drill with a chuck key.
Maybe. Who knows.
If you don’t know how to use a chuck key Im going to presume you need supervision while drilling.
I honestly wouldn't. If you've only used a drill with a keyless chuck knowing you need to put a little knobbed gear on a stick into a hole and twist it to change bits is not what a lot of people would expect.
You're probably not getting a job in construction, but if you're looking to put up a coat rack or something you're fine.
Fuck correctly or well, they're much less likely to use it SAFELY! Drills in particular love to grab long hair.
And twist out of your hands if you hit a knot without auto-stop.
This is dumb. Just explain in a phonecall and/or tell them to look it up on YouTube.
Getting that bit in that drill will just be the beginning of his problems. If she doesn't have enough knowledge to even get that far then there's no telling what she intends to do or the damage she may cause. Or may have already done before she thought to ask.
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Putting a bit into a drill is not something that can be adequately learned by talking, IMO.
You need to see someone do it at least once before you can actually understand what you're trying to do.
I mean. It's not that complicated of a thing. You can figure it out by playing with it a little. The real concern is the potential damage she will cause doing whatever it is she is planning on doing with the drill after she gets the bit in.
Seriously? I mean, presumably we're talking about quick release chuck, not one with a wrench.
Yeah, I'm not thinking of one of your new fangled contraptions where a bit will just snap in
There's a painting of Hobbiton that has been sat in my living room for two years because I dare not hang it up for fear of doing it wrong. Last time I tried to hang anything up (a clock in that case) the plaster just came off the wall around it and I had to pay to get it fixed. That was with just a hammer and a hook! I'm not getting a drill!
If it's a plaster wall / dry wall don't use the masonry anchors mentioned by the other person lol.
Just go to a hardware store and ask for a 'hollow wall anchor'. My favourite type is wall mates. Watch a youtube video on how to put them up with any cheap screwdriver!
(If it matters I use this stuff daily in my job)
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Drywall anchors are required for hanging heavier objects on drywall. You drill a hole and hammer them in to attach screws into, and they distribute the force over a larger area so they don't just pull out the drywall. You also need to consider the weight limits of drywall anchors. If you need to install something heavy on drywall you need to drill into the studs, the wooden support structure between the drywall. It's not hard, and a lot of drywall anchors have a little visual guide on how to use them.
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My wife knows how to load the chuck, but she's definitely gonna break a bit
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