Hi All…
After reading all of the posts in the “tool regrets” thread, and then perusing various threads on routers, table saws and various other machinery and tools, I have come to the conclusion that all woodworking tools are exactly the same!
How else can we explain the mighty and powerful difference in tool opinions? One says that PC are terrible, while another lauds PC but laments the black and yellow.
It is my supposition, then, that we are all endowed with a karmic spirit at birth (and by birth, I mean when we discover our tool and woodworking selves) and that karma determines how our tools and machines will perform throughout the rest of our woodworking lives.
For instance, about 15 years ago I purchased my first right angle grinder. It was just a little 4 1/2″ and I bought it right off the shelf from Sears (of all places).
Well, we’re in the log home business, and that little grinder sometimes gets used for 10 hours a day a week at a time. It’s been used to the point where we had to have gloves on because it was so hot! It’s been dropped in beautiful Lake Placid NY, and took a plunge from the top of a fully extended 40′ extension ladder in Worcester MA (wooster).
On the other hand, I just purchased a 20″ Powermatic planer a few months back… used it for 1000 bf or so of pine, and now the thing needs service for a slipped bearing or something.
My point is this… how can so many different people have such amazingly opposing experiences with the same brands of tools?!
I really do (kind of, but not in a seriously deranged sort of way) believe that our lot with tools is set! You better just figure out which brands and which types of tools you were meant for and stick to ’em!
You can’t change your karma!
If someone has a better explanation than Tool Karma (Tool Gnomes are going to be the subject of a completely different thread), please let us know!
Merry xmas! and may Santa fill your stockings with clamps!
I love my Powermatic tools! This post was in no way meant to disparage Powermatic! I have the 66, an 8″ jointer, a hollow chisel morticer, and my 20″ planer. I love them all! And, by the way, you wouldn’t catch me buying ANYTHING craftsman! Go figure.
Replies
If you buy a "cheap" tool, it will either blow up the first time you use it, or you will never be able to kill it.
Kind of like the proverbial albatross.
"If we' treading on thin ice,
Then we might as well dance".
Hi Mike...
But that is exactly what I'm saying...
It seems as though your adage even applies to expensive tools!
It's gotta be a government conspiracy or alien experimentation. Kind of like no matter which line you are in at the grocery store....
I have always believed that no matter where you go,
there you are."If we' treading on thin ice,
Then we might as well dance".
Mike, fix the extra spaces thing!!!! I am going to have to replace the wheel on my mouse!!!!
I agree it's a karma thing.
example:
I was revamping an entire office full of computer equipment and this one pc kept giving me trouble. it was in an office right next to a hallway and every time this gal would walk down the hall the computer would make odd noises, moniter would go out, reboot, turn off, wierd stuff.... and every time she would walk away it would come back up or stop making odd noises or the moniter would turn back on... very strange.
This gal.... never did get a computer to work consistently for longer than 2 weeks. After that the poor thing would need to be swapped out. The really odd thing is that the computers (after taken away from her) would always, always, with no help or adjustments end up being the PC's I would never have to look at again.
what I do for money is fix computerswhat I do for love is to make things out of wood
As one with terrible cab karma (I hide out of sight while my friends hail taxis for us), bad parking karma (I have to circle the block for hours before a space opens up) and the worst retail karma I've ever known (one time I had four pieces of furniture -- not my own; I don't make upholstered furniture, for the most part -- scheduled for delivery on one day by three different outfits, and three of the four pieces showed up damaged)...
...I know bad tool karma. Just last Thursday, I had to return an expensive tool (which will go unnamed) that I bought three weeks before. At the time of purchase, I had a choice between a cheap thing and its much more expensive counterpart. I decided to go with the more expensive one, with more options and flexibility, because we've all settled for lesser tools that either break right away or sit on the shelf because our needs outstrip their capacity fairly quickly. We've all underbought.
Anyway, so I justified buying the better quality, better reputation tool because I WAS NOT GOING TO GET FOOLED THIS TIME! Ha, ha, ha... the joke was on me, and the tool gods still had their way. The thing quit working, for no apparent reason, after a very, very short period of use, and even the guy from the store where I bought it is still scratching his head.
Now I don't know what to do: Buy cheap and regularly repurchase replacements, or buy expensive and... well, who knows.
David
"The world that was not made is not won by what is done" -- Mundaka Upanishad
Edited 12/14/2003 10:55:25 AM ET by davamoore
Well now, wouldn't it be a terrible world if we all thought alike!
As a group we can advance our collective needs and wants by sharing our individual observations. Also, realize that pride of ownership sometime clouds our judgement.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
Perhaps I need a refresher course on writing. Or at least in communicating. My post was meant to be as light hearted and uncontroversial as possible!
I mean, how controversial can karma be?
I welcome differences of opinion and tool choices! That's not at all what I was saying Mike!
It was more of an examination as to why sometimes a tool will perform flawlessly for one person, and be a total lemon for another.
And it's not only in tools and machinery! Take pick-up trucks for example! Head on over to "Breaktime" and check out some of the pickup truck stories! Same trucks, work flawlessly for decades for some, break down after a few months for others!
This is more of a philosophical question than an actual "give mean an answer" type question. Kind of like the missing sock quandry.
Not all of my posts are lighthearted or uncontroversial... but this one, this one is just a holiday spirit type of good natured musing.
If you dunk the powermatic in Lake Placid then leave it a week, it will fix it .The bearings will be rusted in and it will get nice and hot just like your Craftsman grinder :-)
You've been reading too much Tom Robbins. Although, who could be more succinct and verbose at the same time? And if you haven't read Tom Robbins, do. He'll explain everything.
This thread kind of reminds me of a running argument I used to have with my exwife. She claimed that if something (car, tool, air conditioner, etc.) quit working or was making a strange sound that you should just leave it alone and it would "heal" itself. This would drive me up the wall. Sometimes a wierd sound can be the first indication something is wrong. It would actually work once in a while which would only add fuel to her argument. Go figure.
good thing you corrected yourself - you better be careful about saying anything negative about Powermatic lest your PM karma be reversed. Can't wait to hear if one of those tools gives you fits for a few days just to get back at you!
It's planetary alignment. When a tool shaft is dialed-in with the near planets in axial alignment the resulting gravitational field causes the lowest possible runout. Whereas when the near planets are just willy-nilly all over the place the shaft aligment can't be as precise and therefore runout is increased to the point that the tool vibrates and the bearings just don't last. This also explains why sometimes things worked better before you fixed them. Some may argue that the near planets are too distant to have any real effect. On the contrary consider the distance from the earth to the sun in comparison to the distance from the equator to the poles and just try to explain ice bergs.
The expanation of the poorly performing tool occaisionally working well should, by now, be blatently obvious. It just so happens that the near planets are in the exact same positions as when the tool was assembled thereby temporarily restoring precise alignment. To the uninformed that would attribute animate characteristics to the inanimate this could be termed "healing". This phenominum was first documented in the Roy Rodgers TV series. Roy talked to Trigger, but Pat talked to his jeep, Jezabel, when "she" acted-up. When Jezabel appeared to respond it was really the near planetary field becoming more favorable. John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
petmonkey, from the vibes I'm getting from your post, life has dealt you a bad hand. Perhaps you have sinned or, had not listened to your dad's advice to buy Buicks?
As far as Karma is concerned, is that like a Semi Kolen? Stein.
Edited 12/17/2003 5:15:09 AM ET by steinmetz
Edited 12/17/2003 2:38:00 PM ET by steinmetz
I've been in a bible study for a few weeks. Don't get me wrong, it's been a real head scratcher. I DON'T have all the answers. Here's a quote from the book of Lamentations 3:37-38
Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the most high that both calamities and good things come?
So as you can see all the tools are in His hands. You're just borrowing them.
MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!
This thread reminded me of way way back in the 70's trying to explain the whole concept of karma to a thick headed apprentice working with me. I tried every explanation I could muster up throughout the course of the day but nothing I could say penetrated his skull. At the end of the day, the whole crew stopped at a local convenience store for a soda and snack for the ride home. My apprentice threw his candy bar wrapper on the ground and sat down on the curb -- in a big ole wad of somebody's gum. That my boy, is karma!
Happy Holidays to you all!
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