Everyone I know no longer eats with thier fingers but uses a knife, fork and spoon...Special tools for eating... and in the modern world regarded as a 'must have' item.
For the last couple of weeks I have been sorting through my stock of spare parts, most of which are in 'as purchased' condition, requiring cleaning, blasting etc. etc. before use.
What is alarming and depressing, is the amount of uneccessary damage that has been inflicted by previous owners, to the extent that what could have been useable components in some cases are now scrap...
Virtually anything that requires the use of a special tool to extract it, tighten it, remove it from a casting etc. etc. is damaged...and many things such as timing covers are damaged just because the wrong 'ordinary' tool was used...for example, the wrong sized screwdriver or spanner, or a hammer instead of a hide or rubber mallet...
It's basic stuff and there really is no excuse for it.
The fact is though that many regard the purchase of tools, and particularly special tools, as an unfortunate additional expense and they would rather try and get by without.
The result, unfortunately, is inevitable and that is what I spend much of my time trying to put right....
As an Engineer nothing gives me more pleasure when doing a job than to have the right tools to hand, as I know that I am half way to a successful outcome when thus equipped...Periodically I will also replace worn or damaged tooling to ensure that generally things remain in that happy state.
I have also spent some time sourcing or making all the tools needed for particular applications...
To me it seems the obvious way to go, yet I know from experience many people don't think like that...Why is that?. Why don't they think you need, or benefit from, having the correct tools to do a job?..and why don't those people eat with thier fingers?...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
Oily fingers with bleeding knuckles and dirt-encrusted nails. Would you want to eat with those ? 
The only excuse for bodging, to my mind is a roadside repair but I suppose many 1940s sidevalves spent much of the 1950s and 1960s, propped up on the kerb being subjected to precisely that.
....and who breaks all those bloody fins off ?
rik vandals thats who breaks fins and and damage parts i have a clutch nut that is nearly cut in half with a chisle
email (option): roger.beck@node6.com
Pet hates!! Having to use three sets of spanners to strip a bike:- Whit/Metric/UNF......and F*CKING painted threads!!! There is seven hours between these pictures today and should have only been four or five
Ron
email (option): ronpier@talk21.com
RonI didn't know that you had a post-1971 Norton Commando too, Ron ?
It's one of the nice things about completely rebuilding a bike..Fitting the correct fasteners, cut to the correct length and without rounded off hexagons and buggered up screw driver slots... ....Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
If people haven't taken their bike apart before they don't know they need a special tool, so try to get it off with whatever they have. Or it means finding where to get this special tool from (if they even know there is a tool for that job) and not being able to complete the job for a week waiting for it. This added to inexperience and impatience = knackered parts
I really try my hardest to think of ways to disassemble parts, sometimes walking away and having a cuppa is a good idea. Or ask a mate to have a look, who sometimes points out the obvious 
But if all that fails there's not choice but get the big hammer and chisel 
email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk
and dont forget, in the pre internet days...where the hell could you get special tools ?
some of us live in the middle of nowhere, and the nearest brit dealer was then Terry Hobbs, ( and Ian ! ) which was a 2 hr drive away...with a bike off the road then there were no options but to belt it with a half brick !
email (option): chris.astinbarker@btinternet.com