To fix a chair.

[enismirdal]

Desk chair has been driving me barmy for most of the term. You see, after sitting on it slightly oddly, one of the corner joints would start to come apart, and sometimes the joinery bit would pop out altogether, resulting a minor collapse.

Today, my last full day in Cambridge, I bother to turn the chair upside down and find out what's wrong. You see, the corners of the chair are contructed like this:



And the upper of the two screws was missing. Consequently, there was nothing really holding the two bits of frame together at that side.

So it was a simple matter of adding a new screw.

Well, relatively so. On second attempt, screw of suitable length located and inserted into empty hole. Now, grab a screwdriver and screw it in nice and tightly.

Problem - screw located is flat-head. I have 2 sizes of flat-head screwdriver. V. big and v. little. Why the maker of the toolkit decided to include a huge range of cross-heads and no flat-heads I cannot say, but such is the way of things. So, I need a thin, sturdy piece of metal to use as a screwdriver.

Ideal item found - vegetable knife.

Yes, I tightened up a screw with the back of the blade of a vegetable knife. It works...

Chair now fixed. Can sit funny on chair and seat does not unexpectedly collapse.

Operation deemed a success.

Comments

[ilanin.livejournal.com]

That's Philips-head screwdriver (as opposed to crosshead), you [perjorative] you....

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, but that still doesn't mean it fits in the top of a screw with a single flat slit thingy. :p

[ex-deadbard179.livejournal.com]

lol crosshead screwdriver, right up there with Whatchamacallit

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

When vocabulary runs out, make new vocabulary :D

Crosshead tells you far more about the item than Philip's head, anyway. It's not as if the screw actually has Philip's head on the top *chuckles*

[ex-deadbard179.livejournal.com]

You must know a different Phillip than I do, he is Pencil D... nevermind

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Exactly; it's perfectly clear. It might even be *more* precice, if Philips was a trademark or something.

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Most people, in a normal office environment, would simply swap the defective chair with a co-worker's.

BTW, a popular 'last-day-at-work' revenge against the Pointy Haired Boss in Dilbert's office is to dismantle his office chair, down to the very last screw.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

I wish I could swap it. Unfortunately this would require picking the lock of a neighbouring room in the flat, taking their chair out, moving my chair in, locking the door again and putting the new chair in place in front of my desk...all without anyone else seeing.

So instead I use the fix-it method :)

[edith-the-hutt.livejournal.com]

You know. Some people might think that you picked the option with far too much effort and not enough felony there...