Our kid bath tub has been slow to drain recently and I've been very nervous about what was gumming up the works. Normally I'd just pop the drain cap off and take a look... but the darn thing was stuck.

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It basically looks like this, but the top spins about the bottom spindle freely. The bottom of the spindle is where it attaches to the bath drain. After 10+ years of living in this house, we've always removed these by spinning the top part and having it transfer maybe 50% of the spin to the bottom piece, screwing or unscrewing as necessary. But the bottom piece was more secure this time, and no amount of twisting the top was going to untwist the bottom.

What a stupid design!

There's not enough clearance to grab the spindle with pliers, so I was about to get serious and dremel the thing to bits and replace it with a new one. Then I noticed a seam where the 'A' meets the top. With some gnarly pliers, I untwisted the top knob from the top and, lo and behold, there was the top of the bolt that secured it to the bottom. A couple cranks on the ol' reliable and out it came.

With about a pound of... stuff.

Minor miracle!