Personally, that's the only thing I will grab now if I need to work on (or even evaluate) myself. Nothing else I have does the same job. Like the old lawyer expression about defending one's self in court though: 'anyone who works on themselves has a fool for a nurse', so what do I know(?). That certainly applies in my case because I have no knowledge, but of course in the end one does what one must do. I have an M61N, and I imagine it would do the job very well, although I pick a smaller light than that w/ the same emitter for ease of use when fumbling to try to do fine work on myself. Guess I need a headlight w/that emitter.
What did you use your flashlight for today?
- Thread starter Bigmac_79
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
Here's an unusual one....
A short while back, got fed up using the awl feature on my Swiss Army Knives or my multi-tools from various brands to put extra notches in my thick leather belts. To be clear, I mean putting in extra notches behind the original ones; NOT in front of them. Been losing weight. Now the awls on my SAKs and my multi-tools get the job done. But require a surprising amount of effort (due to the leather belts being very thick). And, when I'm done, the new notches end up being badly frayed. Which just makes it much easier for the belt to start splitting along the new notch after some time has gone by. Unlike what happens when you use a professional leather punch to make a clean and effortless new notch in your belt.
So that's what I used! Bought one online. Almost immediately had to use it. Bought a high-quality belt online around the same time I got the tool. Belt finally arrived. Seller said go up one size from your waist measurement. Horribly bad advice! With his belts, you're better off going down a size. So, I'm at work. Off comes my belt. (No worries, literally no one around.) Placed the belt flat, face-down on a flat marble slab. Took a wooden 12" ruler and measured out three new notches. Used a Sharpie fine-tip marker in metallic silver to mark each increment. And to make sure I'd punch the holes straight. Took an extremely thin piece of cardboard backing. Placed a different section of it underneath each dot of silver. Very carefully lined up the tool, and made the notches.
Where's the light? In my mouth! Powertac Sabre 2AAA LED penlight on high to easily illuminate my work, so I wouldn't cut the notches crooked. Had to use my mouth since one hand was holding the tool. Other hand was holding the belt with the cardboard backing behind it. (Have to use the backing with the tool, otherwise the soft leather alone will cause the tool to bind up and not make a precise punch through the belt.)
Yup, I upped my leather belt notching game. I also like to cut off the front of my belts at a downward diagonal angle. Makes putting them on MUCH easier! Nice wedge shape. To keep the front of the belt from badly fraying, I take a black marker and color in the now exposed grey or silver on the front of the belt. I then take a lighter and burn the front end of the belt. This helps to both seal in the black dye job, and also prevents the front of the belt from ever fraying. When the belt starts to smoke but not quite catch on fire, you're done. Yeah, this "custom" job is what I now do to all of my EDC belts.
A short while back, got fed up using the awl feature on my Swiss Army Knives or my multi-tools from various brands to put extra notches in my thick leather belts. To be clear, I mean putting in extra notches behind the original ones; NOT in front of them. Been losing weight. Now the awls on my SAKs and my multi-tools get the job done. But require a surprising amount of effort (due to the leather belts being very thick). And, when I'm done, the new notches end up being badly frayed. Which just makes it much easier for the belt to start splitting along the new notch after some time has gone by. Unlike what happens when you use a professional leather punch to make a clean and effortless new notch in your belt.
So that's what I used! Bought one online. Almost immediately had to use it. Bought a high-quality belt online around the same time I got the tool. Belt finally arrived. Seller said go up one size from your waist measurement. Horribly bad advice! With his belts, you're better off going down a size. So, I'm at work. Off comes my belt. (No worries, literally no one around.) Placed the belt flat, face-down on a flat marble slab. Took a wooden 12" ruler and measured out three new notches. Used a Sharpie fine-tip marker in metallic silver to mark each increment. And to make sure I'd punch the holes straight. Took an extremely thin piece of cardboard backing. Placed a different section of it underneath each dot of silver. Very carefully lined up the tool, and made the notches.
Where's the light? In my mouth! Powertac Sabre 2AAA LED penlight on high to easily illuminate my work, so I wouldn't cut the notches crooked. Had to use my mouth since one hand was holding the tool. Other hand was holding the belt with the cardboard backing behind it. (Have to use the backing with the tool, otherwise the soft leather alone will cause the tool to bind up and not make a precise punch through the belt.)
Yup, I upped my leather belt notching game. I also like to cut off the front of my belts at a downward diagonal angle. Makes putting them on MUCH easier! Nice wedge shape. To keep the front of the belt from badly fraying, I take a black marker and color in the now exposed grey or silver on the front of the belt. I then take a lighter and burn the front end of the belt. This helps to both seal in the black dye job, and also prevents the front of the belt from ever fraying. When the belt starts to smoke but not quite catch on fire, you're done. Yeah, this "custom" job is what I now do to all of my EDC belts.
tech25
Flashlight Enthusiast
This is made by Stryker. These are the basic settings. Can change color temp, brightness and spot size.
To stay on topic, I used my HDS NLT to remove some sort of pointy food particle lodged in the back of their mouth.
To stay on topic, I used my HDS NLT to remove some sort of pointy food particle lodged in the back of their mouth.
scalpel_ninja
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2020
- Messages
- 1,188
Used my Peak Eiger with 219b on a NiMH AAA to light up some photos taken of a headlight housing before swapping out the halogen bulb. Very helpful to see the locking tabs because I had to blindly remove and install the bulbs via the wheel well. Quite a challenge to get the new bulb back in without touching the glass and lining up the locking bracket.
Came to visit, and it was my turn to clean the siphon under the bathtub from women's hair. A small MсGizmo Sapphire held in the mouth helped a lot
Yup, 3rd Hand technique is very useful.
Yes trying to swap out the headlight bulb in my daughter's Mazda CX5 is particularly challenging. Not only to get my hand in deep enough but to keep my wrist from getting slit on the sharp edges of the fender. Then to be able to twist the socket into place.
Someone should make an inexpensive tool that makes replacing them easy.
Jean-Luc Descarte
Enlightened
Using my new S21E to spot and nail mosquitos at my workstation right now. Already killed five. Normally the extra light would be redundant, but EVERYTHING at said workstation is black: black monitor, black keyboard, black mouse, black mousepad, and worst of all, huge all-black granite countertop. So despite the annoyingly bright overhead lamps, them buggers are hard to spot.
No idea where they all came from, it's not like the hot and extremely dry weather we're having favors their numbers. All I know is apparently somebody opened the floodgates of insect hell and made it my problem.
No idea where they all came from, it's not like the hot and extremely dry weather we're having favors their numbers. All I know is apparently somebody opened the floodgates of insect hell and made it my problem.
I used my Eagtac P200LR to change the deck belt on my lawn tractor. Sorry no pictures. I was in a hurry and tired from a long day. LOL The light did nicely!!
So.... Huge leak in the underground garage that is technically on ground-level that I share with just over 40 of my neighbors. One guess which spot the leak occurred. Thankfully in front of my sweet ride, and not on her. Two days later they finally get around to fixing it. It's morning. I'm getting ready for bed. Knock on the door. They need me to move my car so they can fix the overhead pipe. I tell the guy, give me a few minutes, I'll be out there. I get there, these "geniuses" have already started working on the pipe right above my car. "What the Hell?!"
Tells me they waited for me before using the angle grinders. Yeah, that didn't improve my mood! But okay, they're working side-by-side with the building Super whose a genuinely cool dude, and the rest of the maintenance staff. So I let it slide. Que some more bullshittery, and I let the guys know I'll just park my ride outside for today. Obviously no spots outside.
So, I go up a very long block, where I know I'll eventually find a spot. Straight block that in reality is the length of 3 normal city blocks. Of course, I find a spot almost at the very end of it. Gorgeous, beautiful abomination of a city block in the daylight. One guess why no one parks there unless they literally can't find any other street in the neighborhood to park on. That's right! At night the lighting on that freakishly long block is blacker than the soul of the Abyss! Unless you have a flashlight....
Powertac Sabre 2AAA penlight on its highest setting to the rescue! Used it to light my way to my car. Then I used my high-beams to drive along the narrow as Hell street with parking on both sides, in opposite directions! (Yes, some dang fool thought THAT was a good idea!) No worries, no on-coming traffic. Seriously, no one wants to drive on that street unless they absolutely have to. Though it is beautiful during day-light hours.
Edit: Typo.
Tells me they waited for me before using the angle grinders. Yeah, that didn't improve my mood! But okay, they're working side-by-side with the building Super whose a genuinely cool dude, and the rest of the maintenance staff. So I let it slide. Que some more bullshittery, and I let the guys know I'll just park my ride outside for today. Obviously no spots outside.
So, I go up a very long block, where I know I'll eventually find a spot. Straight block that in reality is the length of 3 normal city blocks. Of course, I find a spot almost at the very end of it. Gorgeous, beautiful abomination of a city block in the daylight. One guess why no one parks there unless they literally can't find any other street in the neighborhood to park on. That's right! At night the lighting on that freakishly long block is blacker than the soul of the Abyss! Unless you have a flashlight....
Powertac Sabre 2AAA penlight on its highest setting to the rescue! Used it to light my way to my car. Then I used my high-beams to drive along the narrow as Hell street with parking on both sides, in opposite directions! (Yes, some dang fool thought THAT was a good idea!) No worries, no on-coming traffic. Seriously, no one wants to drive on that street unless they absolutely have to. Though it is beautiful during day-light hours.
Edit: Typo.
Last edited:
Jean-Luc Descarte
Enlightened
I purchased a few 23.3mm TIR optics for my 21700 lights, to test them out (and replace a smooth reflector with mild artifacts). Found out that the 30º frosted is my favourite, it gives me great smooth flood without losing the central spot and its modest but usable throw. Here it is on my Convoy S21A :
(click to expand, I used thumbnail upload to not clutter the page)
Last night I used this very S21A to walk to my favourite pizza place (mentioned a few times in this thread). The sidewalk is very wide (like 4m+ wide, it serves as a driveway for cars and can be repurposed to expand the tarmac area if necessary) and barely lit by the streetlamps on the opposite side of the street, and with this optic I could keep the S21A pointed down the centre, at 10% power, and illuminate the whole thing left to right, with throw to spare. I could turn my head in any direction without moving the torch a centimeter and still see everything. No tunnel vision here.
The only downside is I had to take off the glass lens to fit the TIR, so now I need to be careful to not drop it in water. Not a huge deal, I'll take the tradeoff.
The other TIR I got is 45º beaded. It has a pretty uniform beam, but not really any floodier than the 30º in practice, and I lose the central spot. It beats the aforementioned reflector, but I don't like it as much as the 30º.
(click to expand, I used thumbnail upload to not clutter the page)
Last night I used this very S21A to walk to my favourite pizza place (mentioned a few times in this thread). The sidewalk is very wide (like 4m+ wide, it serves as a driveway for cars and can be repurposed to expand the tarmac area if necessary) and barely lit by the streetlamps on the opposite side of the street, and with this optic I could keep the S21A pointed down the centre, at 10% power, and illuminate the whole thing left to right, with throw to spare. I could turn my head in any direction without moving the torch a centimeter and still see everything. No tunnel vision here.
The only downside is I had to take off the glass lens to fit the TIR, so now I need to be careful to not drop it in water. Not a huge deal, I'll take the tradeoff.
The other TIR I got is 45º beaded. It has a pretty uniform beam, but not really any floodier than the 30º in practice, and I lose the central spot. It beats the aforementioned reflector, but I don't like it as much as the 30º.
Last edited:
PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
I dropped a small 4-40 screw on the floor. Found it pretty quickly with my PD-36R. While I was scanning the floor I found a few more screws and small metal bits that would have eventually found my feet if I hadn't found them first.
@Jean-Luc Descarte you make this combination sound so GREAT that I ALMOST ordered it.
To test it to see if I'd get one for my daughter who walks her dog in the dark. She already has her choice of a maglite M25L, a Convoy 2+, a pair of Sofirn D25L headlamps, and a Sofirn SP36 BLF. So she is pretty well covered.
Yesterday I used my SP36 BLF for a number of tasks, all of which ended up being a fail.
The grease trap in the commercial kitchen at my Elks lodge was clogged. We opened it up, and scooped out 5 gallons of water and grease, and decided to call in a professional to finish the job.
We discovered that the pressure release valve to the furnace (that also serves as the hot water heater) was leaking. The system is a maze of pipes. We turned off about 5 valves before the leak stopped. We'll need to get a plumber in to fix it before Friday, because we have an event coming up and there won't be any hot water.
One of the urinal flush valves works when it chooses to work. We tried to locate a shut off valve for so that the diaphragm can be replaced. No luck. I guess the water will need to be shut off at the main.
Boy... that flashlight gets hot/warm even at relatively low settings.
Well its Friday and the start of a long weekend....... and I just had to use my Nightstick 2424 to clean up a toxic still inside of a tractor trailer. Turns out the driver didn't have to proper training so its was up to me and my crew even though he caused the spill and it was inside his vehicle.
I hope everyone's weekend is starting better than mine.
I hope everyone's weekend is starting better than mine.
PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
Yesterday I had to meet with a vendor in the basement of a building that has some dark and slightly creepy areas. I ran across one room with bare concrete walls, no working lights and some graffiti on the walls inside. My PD36R came in quite handy there.
Best reason of all. 🙂
One Bright Light
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2020
- Messages
- 6
Used my six (6) D-cell Maglite to fend off an intruding dog.
Shined the light in its eyes or were you forced to use the other end?
Main thing is that you're okay. As a child, I was attacked by a dog thanks to a disgustingly irresponsible owner who had it off its leash. After the attack, the miserable low-life piece of trash scooped up his dog, climbed into a van and took off at a high rate of speed. That was about 40 years ago. The guy looked as though he was in his mid. 30s at the time. No one got the plate number because everyone else on the street was an actual human-being and came over to check on me. I wasn't too badly hurt.
