TXwoodchip

I experienced the lack of quality this Christmas. For years I've been using a Delta 4 x 36 bench top combo disc and belt sander.
It had been a work horse but finally gave out. My kids bought me a new one for Christmas. Not knowing that much about power tools they bought me a Skill 4 x 36 sander. The workmanship was atrocious. Very sharp edges on the bottom of the steel case, flimsy parts, milled smooth in some areas and not others and some parts didn't fit. Of course it wasn't made in this country. It went back to the store. I went on line looking for another Delta. No luck. Finally found at one place a Black & Decker that was exactly like my old Delta. I ordered it but I'm still waiting for it. What really bothered me was the inability of finding this machine. My old one was in many stores when I bought it and the workmanship on it was perfect. We'll see what the B&D is like. Hope they kept the quality of my old Delta, don't want to have to send this one back. I guess some of these companies don't care about their reputation just the bottom line. Make them fast and cheap. When they break down in a short time they sell another one. No long term usage as in the past.

I have 2 pet peeves and a comment. Peeves, kits (plans and hardware) for outdoor furniture, etc. that don't include stainless hardward. The screws and bolts eventually rust. I replace all hardware with stainless. Packages of say jigsaw blades that you can't reclose after opening or that have small perforations that once punctured still don't allow you to remove the item without enlarging the opening a good deal more. My comment, I won't let anyone use my tools anymore. A so called friend who is a professional furniture maker ask to use my table saw when his went south. (NO GOOD DEED EVER GOES UNPUNISHED) He refused to use the dust collector or the blade guard so I had dust in places I never have dust and on top of that, burned the h... out of my saw blade. His remark was, oops.
No one uses my tools again, ever.

Since my shop is both heated and cooled I could spend time in it year round but I have 16 heavily wooded acres with trails I've cut winding here and there. It takes most of my "spare" time trying to keep ahead of all the downed limbs, poison ivy and ruts dug by wild pigs. Then there's the acre surrounding the house and fishing pond to keep up. Since I live about 70 miles from Houston I also had the task of rebuilding one of my barns after hurrican Ike put an Oak tree through it. I'm resawing some of it into lumber. Sometimes retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be but then I go to my shop and all is well again.