Axle stands

[Zetomagneto]

Duncan, it was intended to be a humorous post, like " when I were a lad" type humour.
Yes bricks are brittle and break easily

[Duncan Grimmond]

Oops, I did hear that they'd removed the word "gullible" from the dictionary!

[Ritchie Wilson]

My axle stands are neither pin nor ratchet - they have an thread and nut to adjust the height. One lot were made in Auckland by the Bramley company and the other pair in the UK by "Jack Frost". The NZ ones have "for cars and light vans only" cast in the base, indicating that there has been trouble in the past. I like them because they are Old School (as we say) and are infinitely adjustable.
Back in the day I had stands which were knocked-up for me by the local wrecker. Each stand was made from two steel car wheels welded together at 90 degrees. Strong, cheap, but unwieldy.

[John Mims]

Found these from SGS Engineering:

Ratchet and Pin Axle Stands

They seem to combine the best features of each type

[Bruce Nicholls]

Surely the whole point is any stand is better than none?!

[andrew34ruby]

When I first used ratchet stands I was a bit dubious, then thought about it. If the ratchet fails the car will drop a few inches, but not far.

[Tony Griffiths]

I find assorted sizes of wooden blocks very handy for all sorts of "temporary" jacking jobs and keep a selection in the garage. They come in surprisingly handy for all sorts of job....