Verdeboy -
Inside joke? I thought it was pretty obvious.
Ha-ha on the forearm joke. But when you crank on something really hard with your hands, the forearm muscles come into play... all I know is that, when he's tightening wire nuts, sparkie's elbow moves. He's putting his whole arm into it.
Seriously - if you're going around twisting wire nuts just hand-tight, you're going to get a lot of call-backs for loose connections... if you're lucky. If you're unlucky, the results might be a bit worse than that.
(Side-comment... just so you don't think I'm all Joe T on you) Lesson #1, if you're working outside the law, is to make sure your work is
perfect. "As good as most" doesn't cut it, and "good enough" is just out of the question. It has to be
better than any pro's. If something goes wrong, a licensed/insured guy's butt is covered, to some extent. But if you're being Harry Tuttle, they're out to get you already. You have no safety net, you can't afford a mistake, you are
completely on the hook if something goes wrong. Cover Your Ass, bro... learn up on this stuff.
Molo -
The danger of overheating is if you don't tighten them enough. Loose connections = arcing = fire hazard. As long as you don't go tight enough to damage the wire or the nut (I think this is why they don't use tools to tighten the nuts)... the tighter the better.
And yeah, electrical tape is the mark of an amateur. Not to take cheap shots, but if you're going to leave nuts insufficiently tightened, then it's a
good idea, as it does give the next guy fair warning that an amateur's been at this wiring.