I wonder if it would work once the street projects are up (I'm assuming they're still not, but haven't looked for awhile). Sometimes tinkering is one of the actions required. And since you're not tinkering an actual tool, you can keep going as long as your tinkertool holds out and you have the energy....
But I don't know if that would count toward that particular quest.
ETA: I was totally wrong and I'm now successfully carrying out the mission - I'm not sure what went wrong the first time but it's working now with no lotion. Leaving the original post for context...
[See also the butterfly milking mission that requires the use of lotion - can't complete this one once your animal kinship is high enough that you automatically massage without lotion, even if you have it in your bag. Poor uncompleteable missions :-(]
I finished the butterfly milking quest without lotion and the game counted it... (although I began it still needing the lotion- I got the skill halfway through)
thanks for the tips, guys. Yeah, I repaired my watering tin in no time at all, I'll try and grab some heavy duty stuff to break in a bit ^_^
Also, I like that idea, G33kgurrl. I generally queue a bunch of skills, then log in and do the quests. I'm not a huge sandboxer, and the "downtime" between quests just doesn't do it for me.
I just got busy with work, and queued a bunch of em, and this happened
I spent a couple days trying to wear out my fancy pick and was really annoyed when it only took 10 seconds to repair. I'll have to wait for bigger tools!