Just realized my whole workbench was held together by one cheap clamp
Last week a neighbor came over to borrow a drill and he just stared at my bench for a minute. He pointed at this rusty 6 inch clamp under the left leg and asked if that was load bearing. I laughed it off but then I tapped the top and yeah, the whole thing wobbled around that clamp. He helped me bolt a proper corner bracket from his truck, cost maybe $8, and now I can actually lean on the damn thing. Anyone else find out their bench was one harbor freight clamp away from collapsing?
Kept finding this same thing all over my house once I started looking. My bookshelf was leveled with a folded business card, the dryer sat on a piece of scrap wood, and my desk chair had one screw holding the arm rest that I just kept tightening every few months instead of fixing right. It is like we all just quietly accept these little half fixes and forget they are there until something makes us stop and stare. Your neighbor basically did what a good mechanic does, he saw the weak spot before it failed and fixed it for eight bucks. I started going around with a level and a wrench after that and it is kind of scary how much stuff is just barely holding on. We build our whole lives on tiny things we never bother to check.