Quote Originally Posted by sossol View Post
This is the first I've heard the notion that water is *in* the metal. Maybe he meant on, but misspoke.
It's a very common myth all across Canada and the US with tradesmen. They call it "sweating out" the steel. They will swear up and down that there's water in steel, and that a torch makes the water come out. I've gotten into a number of arguments about this.

Also extremely common:

Gasses don't weigh anything. For example, a full bottle of argon will weigh the same as an empty one.

If you put an extension on a socket it will somehow make the torque "go away," and you need to increase the setting on your torque wrench. This one really gets me because guys overtorque bolts ALL THE TIME, sometimes to the point of snapping the heads off because the torque "disappears" inside the extension for some reason. If a bolt needs 100 lbs-ft of torque, you can be guaranteed that the tradesmen will tack on at least another 25-30 lbs-ft if they're using an extension. This isn't just common it's basically a rule among the trades. Drives me nuts.