Extension Cord Pro Tips

for 34 years i've been daisy chaining or chain stitching my extension cord so that i can store them and use them quickly and efficiently now this may not be the best for everybody but for the type of work i do and the way that my truck and my trailer and my shop works this is the way that saves time for me and gets me off the job and back onto the job quicker than any other way that i found so this is a cord that's wound up stitched together ready to be put in the truck the big advantage with this is when you pre-tangle a cord it can't get tangled accidentally and by that i mean you can throw it into the truck you can load gravel on it you can do anything you want and when the time comes to get it out and go to work you can grab it by any part that you get a hold of drag it out and it's ready to unwind let me show you how this works i just hook one end over anything go to the last end that was coiled and start walking that didn't work so my cord can be deployed in seconds and it's laying there not tangled ready to grab an end and go to work let me show you how i like to do this first thing when you get a new cord is you got to mark the middle of the cord so you have 50 feet on each side of some kind of a mark you take that mark and you put in what is known as a lark's head or a lark's foot i don't know which is right some people call that a cow hitch right what you're trying to do is create a loop that'll come apart easily you do that like that then with that loop you begin to grab both of the lines a bite which is a loop or a hole in the mid section of both lines and stuff it through the loop you just made and then i stick my wrist through i grab another bite i pull it through the loop i just made and i stick my wrist through and i grab another bite and pretty soon you can just put it together like this now i don't know how long this takes what maybe eight or nine seconds i don't know let's say 15 seconds that's still a pretty good way to coil up a cord so you know it's never going to get tangled so the second reason that i love a chain stitch and it is only barely the second reason is if you start from the middle of the cord like i just showed you then when you take it apart you have both ends that means if i need 20 feet of cord i pull out 20 feet of cord if i need 50 feet of cord i pull out 50 feet of cord out of a 100 foot cord there's no tangle i can plug in i can go to work whether it's 5 feet or 10 feet or just a little bit your 100 foot cord is readily accessible both ends at the same time for a long distance or a short distance and when the time to put it away comes you just pick it up and put it away now one thing that's important when you come to the end plug your cord together and make sure that both ends are through the last half hitch the last bite and kind of pull it down because you can get sideways when you're deploying this if you don't start at the right time or in the right way let's say you get like this and then you go ahead and and put your chain stitch over the top of something like that and you think you're ready to go to work well you're not because that tangle that you put in there stops the progress so be a little careful when you're coming to the end of the winding up process that you keep everything clean and neat and the bitter ends are plugged together put through the last loop and tightened up that way back to reason number one you can put your cord away as carelessly as this and know that you can get it out and be back to work in 10 seconds i love the time advantage of chain stitching so much that i even do it with my air hoses and yes i give up some of the so i mean an air hose wants to come off the ground anyhow right when it pressures up time sometimes it'll raise up and it does that after i have used a chain stitch on it for a while but the time i save and not being tangled the time i save and putting it away is for me cumulatively a big enough chunk of my life that i'm happy to give up that flat limp feeling that comes with a new cord that's been carefully you know over and under and coiled so that it comes out nice and flat now having said and acknowledged that everyone has a different method there's one method that drives me crazy and that i am not hesitant to become sort of sanctimonious about and it's what i see people doing and i've done myself in the past thinking that i was doing a good thing so don't do this guys because as you do this you're rolling a hard twist in this cord every time it comes around it's twisting and over time a twisted cord is less useful than a bent cord so if you're if you want a small coil like that you can always go to youtube and watch some of the nice videos about overworked underpaid now see it already twisted i did that one time and it has hopelessly twisted my 125 foot cord but if you want it to lay flat you don't mind coiling use the sound guys trick overworked underpaid overworked underpaid and what that does is put your short cord in a nice neat coil without building in a twist which will really really frustrate you over time so it's not likely that i'm going to do another extension cord video anytime soon so just two things before we actually sign off and that is the fairly recent innovation of a little light in the end of the cord is a money maker it's not just a convenience it's a home run so spend the extra eight bucks it takes to get a lit end no matter how long it lasts you're going to be glad you've got it and the other thing is if you're a pro i'm not talking to to the homeowners and the guys that are just you know taking care of business at home but if you've got to get there and get to work and produce a certain amount of work by the end of the day don't fool around with 14 gauge cords your tools will thank you because one way to shorten the life of an electrical tool is to starve it for electrons and a 14 gauge cord does not carry as many electrons as much electricity at the same voltage as a 12-gauge cord does so loosen up your wallet just a little bit by the heavier cord do your tools a favor thank you for watching essential craftsman and keep up the good work you

Channel: Essential Craftsman

Views: 633,486

Rating: 4.9544587 out of 5

Keywords: anvil, forge, blacksmith, forging, craftsman, mentor, trades, tradesman, career, smith, carpetner, builder, wisdom, workbench, fabricate, tools, tool, tips, trick, hacks, protip, extension cords, extension cord storage, tool care, tool storage, daisy chain, tool maintenance, extension cord maintenance

Id: EwaGcPmtTsQ

Length: 8min 0sec (480 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 25 2020