To the best of my knowledge, the first Kevin was fashioned by Leo St. Clair in the 1960s. For anyone unfamiliar, a Kevin is a device used to hold one end of something in place while you work on the other end.
The first generation of Kevins was,
literally, Kevin. Leo would enlist his
son, Kevin to help him hold something in place while he measured or fastened it
in place.
When the real Kevin was not
available, Leo took to making various widgets to hold in place all manner of building
materials or mechanical contrivances.
I tend to do a lot of building projects
by myself. I have learned to make a few Kevins
of my own.
For the last couple days, I
have been installing the metal soffit material inside my sunroom. The ten-foot lengths of J-channel are
impossible to hold in place while fastening at one end (as is necessary for a
proper fit).
I needed a Kevin to hold the
lengths in position. Additionally, the Kevin
needed to allow me to shift the metal back and forth a little.
Today, I am posting photographs
of my Kevin.
Simple, but it works.
My Kevin
My Kevin in Place
—Mitchell Hegman
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