This Canadian redneck’s incredible YouTube channel narrating the dismantling and analysis of tools is hilarious, educational and my new favorite thing on the internet.
Piet Hein, or “AvE” as he calls himself, has been YouTubing since 2012. In case you haven’t discovered him yet, as I hadn’t until I stumbled across this incredibly informative deconstruction of a Harbor Freight grinder, you’re welcome for what you’re about to see.
This, and his other videos, are best appreciated if you’re actually interested in what’s inside the tool. His humor is only slightly more high-brow than somebody making toilet noises in narration. There’s also a lot of actual information in between jokes.
And for those who are hoping to find out whether or not a Harbor Freight grinder will burn your house down without sitting through the whole video, the answer appears to be “no.” As long as you don’t give it what AvE describes as “a hot supper,” meaning you run it so long and hard that the whole thing heats up like a Hot Pocket. The components inside mostly look decent.
Other highlights include digging into this ancient radio:
And a method of extracting broken bolts that “might” work:
Wait, one more, look how he made his own bit to drill square holes!
I like how this AvE character sounds like he knows what he’s doing, but also might be a character from Trailer Park Boys. Like your bachelor uncle who sits you down for weird stories from his shore leave trip to Bangkok at every family barbecue, but dammit, he’s the only one who knows the trick to making that rusty grille work.
Oh yeah, here’s one where he actually identifies himself as “your weird uncle:”
Not sure what his problem is with banana peelers, though. From his about page– “If you are thinking you’d like me to review your fantastic new banana peeler, I invite you to please fuck off.” At least we know he’s not in the pocket of Big Banana.