Just a small question here.
How many times have you seen a worker using tools for a job that they were never designed for?.
A common on over here, is Electricians using a pair of pliers as a spanner, to loosen and tighten nuts and the pliers have the name as an Electrician's spanner over here.
Can you guys name any like-wise situations?.

When I was an electrician I never carried a hammer. I got better at swinging my linesman's than the carpenter's did with their hammers!

Ryan,
Yeah, I've seen that happen before!.
A new apprentice learnt the rule of "never lend out your tools", when he saw our Boss using HIS brand new Klien pliers to drive in a 4" nail, which I might add, he wasn't doing that very well either!.

With a certain general contractor I used to work with, I saw it all the time!

He'd drill with wood bits into masonry, and vice versa, gouge out concrete with wood chisels, and use a hammer for just about everything else!

I tended to guard my tools rather carefully on his jobs, especially after finding him using one of my large fully insulated Philips screwdrivers as a makeshift hole-borer.

Paul,
That's one of my pet hates, seeing a guy using a screwdriver as a drill or a chisel!.
I was at a house fire a couple of years ago to pull the mains fuse and happened to turn around and here was one of the firemen using my hotstickto bash holes in the soffit of the house!.
I went and asked him what in Gods name he was doing with my stick and he said "Gotta let the smoke out some how!".
This wound me up even more!.

Or your new (non "2000" series) Kliens as nail cutters?

How about a fish tape as a drain rodder?

Duct tape in lieu of electrical tape?

The ever popular sheet metal / self tapper as box cover or grounding screw?

Aluminium Roofing nails to secure boxes and straps?

Nails bent over to serve as straps?

Ohh, the list grows...

Doug,
Isn't Duct tape conductive?.
I've seen a pair of vice-grips holding a Drop-out fuse in before today, with a 50A wire wrapped around it, BTW, this was not done by a Liney or a Faults worker!.
How it was done without a serious shock to the person, that done this, is way beyond me!.

Most printed instructions I have read call for a screwdriver to knock out knockouts on boxes.

I've seen references to usingm a screwdriver for knockouts as well.

I have a small ball-pein hammer for that, the ball being just the right size to tap out the knockouts on British boxes.

Paul,
I prefer to drill these out with a holesaw of 20-25 or 32mm diameter, just means that our cheap plastic enclosures don't split!.

The Admin offices over the other side of the road are having a bit of a makeover at this point in time.
And I have looked out the Control Centre windows, to see all sorts of tools used for things that they were never designed for!.
The builders are the cheapest in the district and believe me I have never seen a 14" crescent used as a hammer before!.

yanno, i've a tool belt that's gotten so heavy i had to get suspenders for it, and a van so full i had to get extra springs

all due to the tools i carry

many times i fall short of having every tool for every job readily available

so i make due...

fwiw, those who physically WORK with toolage usually understand this....

Most of the boxes where I need to knock-out the conduit entries are metal. We do have some surface mount ABS boxes which have K/O's for use with conduit, but I rarely use them.

The urea-based back boxes which are most prone to splitting here don;t generally have conduit K/Os, but they do have "break out" tabs so that surface run cables can enter.

A lot of people seem to have trouble snapping these out without splitting anything, but the trick is to just use a junior hacksaw to cut the thin sides before using the pliers.