Tooltarts and Old Sring one of my reminices

[Petej999]

During some down time, I was comparing tools tool carrying bags etc, e/when I harked back to the days of my mentots carrying their tools in a old Army ruck sack, none of yer VETO Pro packs or Tough built in those days, yet most of my mentors produce far better results than some of the Sparks today.
I guess my question is do you think that todays New sparks are more interested on new tools etc and how they look, rather than the results they produce? like tarting up CU installation with the latest do all screwdrivers etc, in other words are Todays Sparks more interested in how they appear to the public ,is this a bad trend? just asking, as I remember the Sparks I Trained with, e/who used a Stanley screwdriver or two Elliot Lucas pliers and cutters, all dumped into a haversack, clipping cable using a tacking hammer, do you think times skills etc have changed that much for the better or the worse? open for discussion if you wish, thanks for reading.

 

[Mikegh]

I'd say overall installation standards are way up

Installation is way faster

Don't think skills are better , worse i'd say but the modern tools and equipment makes work more convenient and faster

 

[Petej999]

I'd say overall installation standards are way up

Installation is way faster

Don't think skills are better , worse i'd say but the modern tools and equipment makes work more convenient and faster

Sorry about the bad spelling and grammar

 

[Mikegh]

Work was just too slow and hard back in the day

It's probably too fast now it's Impossible to keep up unless you're.up to speed on a site

 

[MJPD29]

There is no doubt the quality of work was good, but they had to know far far less. Less controls, less electronics, less everything. It was a relatively basic job compared to what we do today.

 

[Mikegh]

There is no doubt the quality of work was good, but they had to know far far less. Less controls, less electronics, less everything. It was a relatively basic job compared to what we do today.

Well that's it , the mechanical installation skills.i think were higher

It's way more complicated now but it's compartmentalized too so you may only need a limited area of expertise depending on

Domestic is complicated enough , regulations are a minefield and you have to work with allsorts

 

[Petej999]

I'd say overall installation standards are way up

Installation is way faster

Don't think skills are better , worse i'd say but the modern tools and equipment makes work more convenient and faster

What do you put the speedier work down to, corner cutting, unskilled labour ,new tools and methods, Money. couldn't care less as it gets done regardless, what??

 

[Mikegh]

I'd say on the tools ,.it's because they produce the results really

 

[Mikegh]

What do you put the speedier work down to, corner cutting, unskilled labour ,new tools and methods, Money. couldn't care less as it gets done regardless, what??

Tools ,equipment ,methods, building structures,

,? More

 

[SparkySy]

I think that having kit that saves time and makes the job easier is very important.
It has come on so much even since I started 25ish years ago. The old cordless kit used to take 12hours to charge and would last about an hour If you were lucky, now you can change a battery in under 30 minutes and it will last all day if not longer!
I think there is a lot more to consider in the electrical industry than there was years ago especially modern Electronics. Things have got a lot safer with RCDs and such things.
And I think looking at the quality and knowledge that can be found on this forum that most of us do our very best to make a job neat and compliant. There will always be exceptions to this as there is in all professions.
I also have a lot of respect for my seniors who were back in the day doing this job, i've played with the tools they used (brace n bit, rawl plug tools) and I can honestly say that you guys had it hard and still did an amazing job!
I still regularly come across very neat wylex consumer units and old mem panels that would put some of the modern abortions to shame!
So yes tools are important but not for image but the most important thing is the person behind that tool!
Sy

 

[GBDamo]

I'd say overall installation standards are way up

Installation is way faster

Don't think skills are better , worse i'd say but the modern tools and equipment makes work more convenient and faster

I'd add that many installations are not specified to last, commercial especially, as often businesses look no further than a single cycle.

Hence you get cables thrown around in strap banding. It meets all the requirements if done with care but just looks rank.

The customer simply won't pay for tray or the time to make it all look pretty and as such the number of sparks that can make it look all pretty is dwindling.

 

[Dan]

During some down time, I was comparing tools tool carrying bags etc, e/when I harked back to the days of my mentots carrying their tools in a old Army ruck sack, none of yer VETO Pro packs or Tough built in those days, yet most of my mentors produce far better results than some of the Sparks today.
I guess my question is do you think that todays New sparks are more interested on new tools etc and how they look, rather than the results they produce? like tarting up CU installation with the latest do all screwdrivers etc, in other words are Todays Sparks more interested in how they appear to the public ,is this a bad trend? just asking, as I remember the Sparks I Trained with, e/who used a Stanley screwdriver or two Elliot Lucas pliers and cutters, all dumped into a haversack, clipping cable using a tacking hammer, do you think times skills etc have changed that much for the better or the worse? open for discussion if you wish, thanks for reading.

No way is this Pete Pete?!?!?!

Welcome back mate! Didn't clock the intro thread. Hope all is well matey.

 

[westward10]

No way is this Pete Pete?!?!?!

Welcome back mate! Didn't clock the intro thread. Hope all is well matey.

He is using a new user name as apparently he cannot log into @Pete999 for some reason can it be sorted?

 

[darkside]

When I was young I had very few tools - exactly as the OP said, Stanley screwdrivers (not VDE insulated - they hadn't been invented back then), Elliot Lucas pliers and cutters, etc, all kept in a mechanics cantilever toolbox. I had one Bosch DIY hammer drill which I abused to death with Mason Master drill bits far in excess of its max rated diameter into concrete, but I never managed to break it. Also a Black and Decker circular saw for floorboards and that was about it. I remember when I first got a Makita 6095 cordless - the one with the long battery in the handle - that was a big step forwards. Now I have a Veto Pro Pack full of Wera and Knipex, plus a load of Bosch 18v battery tools.

But I still did good work back then. I have always taken the view that the most important tool is the one between your ears, and if that's sharp, you don't need fancy tools (although they make the job easier).

I normally work on my own, but recently did some subbing where there were other sparks on the sites. They were younger than me to varying degrees, and I was really quite disappointed with their workmanship - I ended up redoing some as it looked awful. I treat electrical installation as a highly skilled craft, and think of myself as the equivalent of a cabinet maker, but I could tell the other guys didn't have the same attitude.

 

[Petej999]

Well that's it , the mechanical installation skills.i think were higher

It's way more complicated now but it's compartmentalized too so you may only need a limited area of expertise depending on

Domestic is complicated enough , regulations are a minefield and you have to work with allsorts

Yes but there weren't Domestic, Commercial or Industrial Sparks then, mostly Apprenticeship trained guys and Dolls properly supervised used to be Pete999 now Petj999 don't ask, yes a;; isw

No way is this Pete Pete?!?!?!

Welcome back mate! Didn't clock the intro thread. Hope all is well matey.

yes all OK TA

When I was young I had very few tools - exactly as the OP said, Stanley screwdrivers (not VDE insulated - they hadn't been invented back then), Elliot Lucas pliers and cutters, etc, all kept in a mechanics cantilever toolbox. I had one Bosch DIY hammer drill which I abused to death with Mason Master drill bits far in excess of its max rated diameter into concrete, but I never managed to break it. Also a Black and Decker circular saw for floorboards and that was about it. I remember when I first got a Makita 6095 cordless - the one with the long battery in the handle - that was a big step forwards. Now I have a Veto Pro Pack full of Wera and Knipex, plus a load of Bosch 18v battery tools.

But I still did good work back then. I have always taken the view that the most important tool is the one between your ears, and if that's sharp, you don't need fancy tools (although they make the job easier).

I normally work on my own, but recently did some subbing where there were other sparks on the sites. They were younger than me to varying degrees, and I was really quite disappointed with their workmanship - I ended up redoing some as it looked awful. I treat electrical installation as a highly skilled craft, and think of myself as the equivalent of a cabinet maker, but I could tell the other guys didn't have the same attitude.

 

[Dan]

He is using a new user name as apparently he cannot log into @Pete999 for some reason can it be sorted?

I swear he deleted his account fully so it's gone. But let me check.

Edit: No I've found it. I'll PM him now.

 

[Rockingit]

I think back in the day because everything used to take twice as long, and with effort, people thought about it more, measured twice etc. If you were using a bit and brace to put a hole through an oak joist you needed to make sure you did it once whereas now if you make hole in the wrong place then a new one only takes seconds.

 

[telectrix]

if you make hole in the wrong place.

we're not plumbers, you know. they are the ones that put holes in the wrong places when they can't use the ones we've drilled for our cables, , pipes in front of CUs,, radiators in front of socket outlets, wood butchers cupboards is a different story.

 

[ferg]

I think there is always a tendency to hark back to the good old days where all we had was X, Y and Z and things were better, grass was greener and workmanship was better.

The reality is that there have always been rubbish tradesmen and nothing has changed much.

Modern tools make life much easier, more productive and less likely to end up with painful ailments.

 

[UNG]

The biggest change for me has to be the plethora of battery powered tools that are available now that speed up the job no end.
Looking back, how much time was lost running out and coiling up extension leads sometimes to only drill a few holes, how many of us actually carry any corded tools for day to day work now, the only time I use a corded drill is for core drilling and that is not that often