Somethings I’ve noticed about tools….
ClancysBro | Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
Letting off some steam here:
IF you treat them like **** and leave them out to be stolen or abused it’s your own fault.
Buying every tool on the earth will not make you a better craftsman.
Useing the right tool, and planning for it, will save you many miles of walking around like a deer caught in the headlights.
Feel free to add anything you like to this thread about tools and the frustrations you have experienced during installations or plain knocking it out on the floor. Good biddings to whatever you do with wood! (Work careful thow.)
Replies
When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem seems to become a nail.
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Dennis, Every tool is a hammer except a chisel and thats a screwdriver or so my DW maintains! <g>
-My tape measure works if you would like to borrow it-
He who dies with the most tools wins . . . He who knew how to use them all when he died won a long time ago.
Some people carry pictures of their kids in their wallet. I just cut out the pictures from the Hilti catalog. (Hey, John, wanna see what we're gonna have come June?)
"The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
He who dies with the most tools is still,... none the less,... dead. (grin)
...........
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Which reminds me. Until recently, I never realised just how versatile being dead can be. Talk about your high pain threshold, these (former) people do some really entertaining stuff. Grab the book Stiff, new release at your fav bookstore. It's science, but it's funny! Some get to have their tools used on them, like the guy who was frozen and photographed. Take a pic, belt sand off a millimeter, take a pic, belt sand off another, . . . upload to computer and voila. Gross anatomy at its finest."The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb " lyrics by Roger Waters
Did they mention what grit belts one should stock up on?
...........
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
It' true that most people like to shop for tools and pay discount prices...and I am certain that when I need a tool that purchasing it at lower then normal prices makes sense. Not being able to afford the nice stuff a lot of the time, I find myself always keeping an open eye for needful tools. I like Oliver machines, whatever that means.
When I really need a tool to finish a job, seeing is believing so going to test items is not uncommon. People get tired of me talking, talking, and then questions that really seem to bother people but don't worry, I won't do that here.
(Victoria's Secret excepts coupons, so there you are guys... ;))
Dryad
Any tool that doesn't have a specific storage space isn't there when you need it.
The most frustrating thing isn't not having the right tool...it's having the right tool and not being able to find it.
Using tools that aren't as multi-purpose yields tools that serve no purpose.
You can never have too many screwdrivers.
Never loan tools to family...If you violate that rule, buy some tools from Harbor Freight and loan those.
Don't give your kids your good chisel to practice with.
Where do all the pencils go? A 24 pack of Black Warriors completely disappeared in my shop in a month. I know Doo (Doolittle,my dog) got a few of them.
Where is that magazine article that inspired me last week? Was it in FW or AW or WJ? And why did the wife take it out of the bathroom?
Surely out of 56 peanut butter jars of screws, I can find 12 of these that match.
Black Warriors...the finest all-wood production pencil in America. Excellent choice in that regard.
TomS
They always go on sale right after you buy them.
The new model comes out a few months after you buy them.
The great deals on Ebay are always back east and shipping all that cast iron to the other coast completely destroys the economics so you buy the new one.
Hardly anybody really needs a 1/2" 'cordless' drill that has a battery that'll start your car. So who buys them all?
John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
I buy em, I love em but it ain't for woodworking, great for pushing that fixing all the way through the window and into the wall in one go. Trouble is have to keep buying em cause someone keeps nicking em.
..Tools work better if they are plugged in.
..Angels must like them .. they grow wings and just fly away sometimes.. surely that's the answer of disappearance's I've encountered.
..If you sharpen them, test the results on something other then yourself...
(LoL, some of you people good with tools, I can just tell.)
Oh yea, if you plug them in when they are switched on, make sure to... to... stand out of the way. And never try to catch a router in mid-air when this happens.
You guys and your tools. You can spend hours looking, testing, and talking about them and never buy a single item. Sounds like clothes shopping to me. Right on ladies! Here's a tip for the baffled guys out there on how to get deals;
1. Buy a Sunday paper and clip your coupons and also bring yourself up to date with current items and prices for what you want and what you need. Research it fully and .
-Then spend, spend, and save , save.
Another thing I have noticed about tools. Guys often times keep theirs in a small throw bag while us Ladies have ours well organized in a box. Open a drawer, find what you need simple as that. Open a carry bag and take your chances on getting cut by something. Why do you dude's do that sloppy tool thing?
Dryad
Uhhh,..... Dryad,
I don't know if its just because I live out here in the sticks or something but my newspaper doesn't have coupons for Lie-Nielsen, Delta, pre-war Stanley, Highland Hardware, or Woodcraft.
And in response to your post I started counting my toolboxes, and I've got more than ten that are multi-tool capable (that is, not the box or carrying case that came with a particular tool). Seven of these were made by me, one made by my Dad, one made by my Grandad. Then there are some storebought ones, but like I say, I stopped counting at ten.
Why would I ever want to put a tool in a bag? Isn't a box the durn epigram of all woodworking?
Ed
P.S. I have, on the odd occasion, gotten paid actual money for carpentry work, and you better believe I always rocked up with one of my better handmade toolboxes.
> ....Why do you dude's do that
sloppy tool thing?
Sloppy??! I'll have you know it's a matter of finely tuned efficiency to carry one's tools either loosely arranged in a bag or even better tossed in a 5gal bucket. Simple. When you need something, you just dump the bucket out on the floor. Their all there easy to find and pick up. Try dumping your nifty carrying box out of the floor for that kind of convenience! (grin)
...........
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Power chords are never long enough, right?
Replaced my aging screw gun recently. Makita model had a nice balance, priced right and, best of all, came with a 50' (that's right 5-oh feet) long chord.
Not all it's cracked up to be. Every room I've had to work in since I got it is about the size of a large walk-in closet!
Can you say "trip hazard"?
...........
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Dennis,
I use "power chords," when I'm playing "We're An American Band," by Grand Funk on electric guitar (a fun song for all you guitar players, but benefits greatly from drums/ percussion). If they're not sustaining long enough, I just turn the amplifier (mine goes to "12") up louder until paint begins to peel from the walls.
Cheers, Ed
You guys and your tools. You can spend hours looking, testing, and talking about them and never buy a single item. Sounds like clothes shopping to me.
Not the way I do it, Dryad! DH and I went out Saturday in search of new office clothes (for me) - hit the secondhand store - were in and out of there in less than 15 minutes with two designer blazers (at obscenely cheap prices) and a coupla shirts.
Now, flip side of that coin is DH spending an hour or two at "The Borg" just browsing around for tools and such - I don't mind it as long as I get to go too!
I don't keep mine in a bag.
Don't lump all guys into one bag.
But is that any different than all lady's purses????.....
Chuckle........
So how about a real name. Nothing wrong with the handle
I just like seeing real names.
Edited 4/21/2003 9:54:21 PM ET by Bart
She sent me a pic and I have to admit to everyone that I don't really care what she knows about woodworking. Although I think we should ask Nancy how her shows are going and hope sales are good. Looks like she works hard to me.
Anyway back to important tool talk. You can bet I really take care of my new one's, as opposed to the older ones, fervently checking it's scope and accuracy. Calculating increases of monetary benefits.
Have fun with your new and old tools everyone, I am going to take some time off soon to go fishing and relax for a spell.
I've read on many forums where peolpe give their advice on what tools to purchase when somone asks their oppinions. Its usually a very good bet that what ever tool the peolpe suggest is one of the more expensive brands and for some very good reasons like quality and warenties but in all my many,many years of expierence no matter when I go out to the shop nothings ever happening until I turn things on. Ive stood outside the door and listed with great intent but until I go in turn on the breakers and push the on switchs to the differant tools or pick up a tool nothing ever happens. So I guess my point is this nomatter the price of the tool or the fit and finish or warrenty nothing happens if it wasn't for the person that opperates the tools. So for me the most helpfull thing I can do to make my job easier is close my mouth and open my mind and listen.
Sincerely,
Jim Clark
Please read carefully and understand the entire "Distruction Manual" before use. Yeah right!
Measure tapes can move and hide all by themselves. I'm tring to solve that problem, I just bought 3 new ones a couple of months ago and one of them is ORANGE! Its working, so far.
I threw away a 1 1/2" pencil today.
Buy utility knife blades in the 100 pack.
Going to Home Depot on a spring Saturday afternoon is insane.
At the WW show last Jan I bought the case of ROS disks. Now I just have to learn to organize them.
Enjoy, Roy
going to H.D. to find something you really need is also insane!
So I go to HD today around 6PM (after the stinking gardeners were done) after a long day in the shop drywalling the ceiling. I really need to get a second battery pack for my screw gun. They ain't got it, haven't had it in a year. If they had it, it would be around $34.00, the salesmen knew his stock and showed me a new screw gun package for $39.+ with the same battery pack, SOLD!. Humm, $34 for a second/new battery pack OR $39. for the whole new package.
Sometimes Sometimes the plan works!
Enjoy, Roy
You can "son of a #$%@!" a tool once when you pay for it or every time when you buy the cheaper one.....
I think the sales guy at Rockler told me that?
yeah............be kind to your tool
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled