Replies

1. 
   JasonWhite | Jan 28, 2009 02:27am | #1

   I have it.

   There is no cure.

   Good luck.

   TP

2. 
   Buster2000 | Jan 28, 2009 02:40am | #2

   Tool addiction is a very serious affliction, but very misunderstood.  It is typically characterized by the purchase of tools of no real use, or the purchase of tools FOR no real use.  A tool addict will typically purchase a tool ‘For a project’, when no project actually exists.  While a tool addict may claim to be a woodworker (cabinet maker or furniture maker), very few projects are produced.  Typically the tool addict’s tool budget will be higher than the addict’s lumber budget.  Sadly tool addicts often lie to family and friends; claiming a task is impossible without a certain tool.  The worst addicts will even claim a certain brand of tool is necessary.  Tool addiction is not necessarily a power tool or a hand tool affliction.

    

   There is some confusion between Tool Addiction and the afflictions of ‘Tool Upgraders’ (Who feel the need to upgrade all tools for each project), ‘Tool Researchers’ (Who spend more time researching than using said tool), ‘Tool Fettlers’ (Who spend more time fettling with tools), and ‘Brand Loyalists’ (Who feel the need to own all the tools of a brand regardless of the use or quality, and will defend said brand to the death).  Tool addiction should not be confused with the legitimate hobby of tool collection, where the intent is to display a tool as a thing of beauty.  Though Tool Collectors may become Tool addicts if the intention is to hoard tools, or claim status as a woodworker.

    

   The tool addict is in direct opposition of the ‘Enlightened furniture designer’.  A form of superiority complex, whose sufferers shun all tool purchases as low class, a thing for amateurs and idiots.

    

   How to tell that you might be a tool addict:

    

   1. There is a tool catalogue beside your toilet, or read them before bed.
   2. You own multiples of the same tool, and none of them get used.
   3. You have tools you don’t really know how to use or maintain.
   4. You have tools in original boxes.
   5. You have no wood, but have recently purchased a tool.

    

   One should be treated immediately.  The first step is to stop all tool purchases.  There are multiple ways to skin a cat, and there is no task in woodworking that requires a specific tool.  Start buying wood (but don’t do overboard you don’t want to become a wood addict…), and start planning a project.  Invest your time (and if you must your money) into becoming a better woodworker.  Practice with your tools, keep them maintained, hang out with woodworkers, take a class…  If that fails, buy a display case and put your tools in that…  Claim you’re a tool collector.

1. 
   Hastings | Jan 28, 2009 03:17am | #3

   LMAO and ROFLHastings

2. 
   RJT | Jan 28, 2009 07:05am | #6

   After reading this post I think I need to seek out T.A.A. (tool addicts anonymous).

1. 
   Dave45 | Feb 01, 2009 01:33am | #28

   Hi. I'm Dave and I'm a tool addict. - lol

3. 
   RalphBarker | Jan 28, 2009 05:19pm | #7

   Excellent description of the malady, to be sure. But, you overlooked a couple of things. First, the source. It does not appear to be either a virus or a bacterial infection, as it can be inherited. My father had it, and passed it on to me. I, in turn, passed it on to my son. So, it may be in one's genes. Strangely, however, it can also be passed on to friends and associates, although the method of infection remains a mystery.Also, TIDs (TAs in denial) often spend considerable time building jigs and fixtures to augment the utility of their tools. While the excuse is often improved convenience or productivity, the underlying symptoms are apparent. As a side note, in photography, we refer to the ailment as GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Same symptoms, but the focus is different.

1. 
   Buster2000 | Jan 28, 2009 06:38pm | #9

   It does not appear to be either a virus or a bacterial infection, as it can be inherited.

   I believe most addictions are mental.  However I do believe that addictive personalities run in families.  It's sad when people become addicted due to families, we treat tools as something harmless...  Just try them once and you're hooked.

   Now for my confession...

   Hello everybody, my name is Buster and I'm a Binge Tool Addict.  While I never buy tools during the week, I go overboard on the weekend.  I was tool free for 6 months, but I fell off the wagon two weeks ago:  Lee Valley had an instore Plane sale...  None of the planes have any use for any project I'm currently working on...  But I swear I really needed them...  Doesn't everybody need a beader?

1. 
   RalphBarker | Jan 28, 2009 07:11pm | #10

   Now you've done it. PETW (People for the Ethical Treatement of Wood) will be picketing your home, carrying signs accusing you of being a board beader! ;-)Please don't tell them about my old Stanley #50, OK?

   Edited 1/28/2009 11:12 am by RalphBarker

2. 
   Jim65 | Jan 29, 2009 08:47pm | #20

   To Ralf and Buster,  Sweet.... 

3. 
   roc | Feb 01, 2009 07:22am | #30

   > My father had it, and passed it on to me. I, in turn, passed it on to my son. So, it may be in one's genes.I think in my case it skipped a generation. My Dad didn't have it or he suppressed it so long he never rekindled it when there was no reason not to. He was turning an adult during the thirties. Bad times in more than the obvious afflictions of the day. He rallied beautifully partly from his grit and unwillingness to give up or give in and partly due to a break through in modern medicine of the day. More examples of unwillingness to give up or give in.He could do about anything from put up a barn to building brick walls and he was a steam and pipe fitter on big jobs like flood gates on dams and piping in steel mills. He had a few tools around but didn't spend any time admiring them. Just necessities to an end for him. He once gave me some SnapOn flare nut wrenches. I am not sure he ever used them; they may have been free samples from a big job etc. Nothing he used at home and all his tools were provided at his work so I didn't hear ( or remember ) the story behind them and at the time I was a bit baffled why he would give these to a young kid who didn't work on big hydraulic machinery. Today they are one of my treasures.His idea of a good time was fishing or staying at home with his beagle hound and his garden; edible and roses. I can't grow a cactus so I guess that gene skipped ME.I am making up for his lost time on the shinny brass and iron tools though. The latest quarry in my sites, and I been good toooo looonnngg, is the LN beading toolhttp://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=66I don't even need it for any project I have planned so far. YET. I just want one ! I know I can get a nice old iron one. But I want this new shinny bronze one !The tax return isn't far off . . . I am weak . . . roccogottahavedabronzeshinyting

   Edited 1/31/2009 11:26 pm by roc

1. 
   chgorugbyref | Feb 02, 2009 12:45am | #31

   Hey Roc

   I saw this on Ebay.  It's screaming for your attention....

   http://cgi.ebay.com/Lie-Nielsen-Bronze-Beading-Tool-and-Bladeset_W0QQitemZ280306973232QQihZ018QQcategoryZ13874QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

   Go for it.  It'll be good for the economy.

   Plus if you really don't use it, Mel promises me you can re-sell it on Ebay for more than you paid....

    

   Edited 2/1/2009 4:46 pm ET by chgorugbyref

1. 
   roc | Feb 02, 2009 01:39am | #32

   Thanks !Gotta wait for the T return though. Rules are rules. . . . although . . .? . . . hmmm . . .

4. 
   nboucher | Jan 28, 2009 06:34pm | #8

   Brilliant!

5. 
   kent51 | Jan 29, 2009 01:26am | #12

   At least now I know what the problem is and that it might be curable. I plan on making no effort to to seek a cure as that may divert funds away from tool purchases.

6. 
   noviceneil | Jan 29, 2009 06:36pm | #17

   Thanks for clearing this up...I have worried that I am a tool addict since my lovely wife said to me after I signed up for a hand tool course at MASW, Honey get whatever tools you need.....I haven't stopped...but there are always projects to use them on and sometimes I just plane a surface to use my plane..so since I use them I guess I'm not an addict...now where's that Lie Nielsen catalogue?

   Neil

1. 
   philip_r | Jan 29, 2009 07:50pm | #18

   Are you an "addict" if you buy it on sale or with a coupon?  My wife swears it's okay! 

7. 
   johnlill | Jan 29, 2009 08:35pm | #19

   "Start buying wood (but don’t do overboard you don’t want to become a wood addict…), and start planning a project.".

   Sounds like good advice. Now let me see, what do I need to start planning my project. I think I'll get some graph paper and a pencil. Then I'll pick up DesignCad, then Sketchup, and maybe AutoCad, and ..........

3. 
   BruceS | Jan 28, 2009 03:39am | #4

   On this Forum I don't think that's a very PC        (not the tool)  question ;-)    I will defer your question to my Wife :-(  for an honest answer! 

   Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

4. 
   WoodLess | Jan 28, 2009 05:24am | #5

   What's wood?

   Chuck

1. 
   PeterDurand | Jan 30, 2009 05:02am | #22

   Good one, I love it! 

   Better life through Zoodles and poutine...

5. 
   Eef | Jan 28, 2009 09:44pm | #11

   idaho,

   for years i thought of myself as a social tool user. then i got the fettling urge. now when i merely look at my hand planes, my heart flutters and i get a funny free-floating little anxiety in the pit of my stomach...

   does this sound as if i've crossed some invisible line  into the real thing?

   eef

6. 
   oldfred | Jan 29, 2009 01:33am | #13

   how do you know you have it? 

   Well...........You're here at the bar with the rest of us drunks, so................

   When should one be treated for the condition?

   Treat yourself  ................every chance you get.....  I just treated myself to a new drill press last week.

    

   Oops.   edited to say, CHEERS!

   
   

   ---

   Edited 1/28/2009 5:34 pm ET by oldfred

7. 
   jpat | Jan 29, 2009 03:46am | #14

   Hey Idaho,

   I am pretty sure your wife will cure it if you really have it ....

   John

8. 
   pft57 | Jan 29, 2009 02:06pm | #15

   When my uncle Charlie passed away and they cleaned out his shop they found numerous tools purchased that where still in the box.

   Aunt Janis said "if he was alive today I would kill him" so be warned tool addiction can be fatal.

1. 
   pezzi | Jan 29, 2009 05:15pm | #16

   guilty as charged.<awaiting the verdict>

9. 
   genec | Jan 30, 2009 04:14am | #21

   When you buy the last one you need your done

10. 
    idahoknotty | Jan 30, 2009 11:57pm | #23

    Buster and all,

    Beautiful descriptions of the malady and path to recovery.  Here's my condition(-fession):

    I used some free slabs of elm (pic) to justify buy one of these (bs on the right, pic).

    Then i used the bs to build a shelter for my propane tank out of hte crating from the bandsaw (pic) and then made a decent chisel hammer out of some firewood (pic )... but didn't stop there and have gone handtool crazy since...  Either way, by my math, that's a 'free' propane pagoda and a really expensive hammer. 

    Do i stand a chance?

    Cheers,
    C

     

    
1. 
   Eef | Jan 31, 2009 12:21am | #24

   idaho,

   pic one looks as if it ought to be in a garret wade catalog.  is that a mirror fettled 91/2 winking at me?

   eef

1. 
   idahoknotty | Feb 01, 2009 12:38am | #26

   Thanks!  Actually a LN 60 1/2 as it was out of the box...

11. 
    Lataxe | Jan 31, 2009 07:41pm | #25

    C,

    We are hoomans and therefore have to be addicts of something.  With beer or them card-games there is only misery at the end.  Who loves a drunken card-sharp with bad debts?

    Now, addiction to tools MAY result is a nice piece o' furnitue popping out the shed from time to time.  All that pops out of a drunk is [deleted].  Even if there is no furniture, the children can always sell your valuable tool collection to cover the cost of a fancy coffin or the small wake (309 guests) to tell you "tarra" when you have give up yer ghost.

    In fact, we ought to here and now compile a list of "OK addictions", "suspect addictions" and "real bad addictions". 

    For example, the collection of a certain number of cameras is an "OK" as long as they are not Leicas; nice pickshers might result (framed by wooden frames you also made via your tool addiction). 

    Motor-sickle addition is a "suspect"; one may be lucky and enjoy wind-in-the-hair, frightening old ladies (har har, see 'er jump) and taking up with leathery girls - but there is always the chance of gravel-rash, including the fatal kind.

    But then there is the evil of shoe-buying, a terrible addiction often caught by ladywives, when wardrobes fill up with rows of bizarre items that are best worn (if ever) in the bedroom rather than the street, as ankles take a while to heal and bunnions rarely do.

    Lataxe, a taxonomist.

1. 
   idahoknotty | Feb 01, 2009 01:21am | #27

   Lataxe,

   Yes, I agree that a "bad" addiction is one where resources are used in a way that is harmful (to one's self or family).  All joking aside, it seems this rarely happens in woodworking, if for no other reason than the one you outlined--quality tools retain most of their value.  Assuming the addiction is not bad as defined above, then could we call it "passionate enthusiasm"?

   I've posed the question in part because I sense that for myself much of the passion comes from having fine tools-both their craftsmanship and the possibilities that they hold for creative expression.

   Cheers,C

    

1. 
   pcott | Feb 01, 2009 05:19am | #29

   I'm a recovering drunk and I channel my addictive tendencies into other obsessions like woodworking. It's pretty common with most of us who have remained sober for a long time (25 years for me.)Hey it works!PaulOh and by the way, my name is Paul and I, too, am a tool addict.

   Edited 1/31/2009 9:20 pm ET by pcott