"I thought that field stripping a 1911, along with loading an M1 rifle, driving a finishing nail,
sharpening a blade, rebuilding a carburetor, filleting a fish, tying a Bowline knot, and a lot of
other similar things were required knowledge for graduating to manhood."
Yes, exactly. Too many folks these days are just unequipped to deal with things other than
phone for help.
I would imagine that I have saved $200K at minimum in my life working on my own stuff, cars,
aircraft, guns, power equipment, etc. And what Ian says about building on previous experience and
figuring it out, is right on target. After a while, you are comfortable disassembling anything.
I wind up pulling down a small engine carb at least a few times every year. Power washer, generators,
weed whacker, zero turn, lawn tractor, two leaf blowers, and more. With the darned ethanol in gas,
they are always going wrong. Years ago, with real gas, I never fiddled a carb on a small engine more
often than once in 5 years.
Bill