Used to torque by feel for 11 years until a guy in Tulsa handed me a $30 beam wrench
I spent my first 11 years on the line just going by feel on smaller stuff, elbow, wrist, that little click in your hands. Last spring a lead in Tulsa watched me button up a panel and said 'you're guessing, aren't you.' He pulled a $30 beam wrench out of his box and made me redo 6 fasteners on the spot. Every single one was off, some loose, some way over. Now the beam wrench comes out for anything under 200 inch pounds and I'm not embarrassed about it. Anybody else get humbled by a cheap tool they swore they didn't need?
Have you ever noticed how the stuff we're most sure about is usually the stuff we've never actually checked? I did the same thing with my weight for years, swore I could tell when I'd gained five pounds, then stepped on a cheap scale at my sister's house and found out I was off by almost fifteen. Same deal with my sleep, thought I was getting seven hours, wore a $20 tracker for a week and it was closer to five and a half. We trust our own senses because they feel solid, but feelings don't come with numbers attached. There's something good about a cheap tool that just tells you the truth, no fancy features, no app, just a straight answer you can't argue with.