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Back to the Forum Archives Recently, while I was smoking a cigar and having a beer with a good friend he spoke of tools. He was talking about the power and hand tools we often use to build and fix things. His lament was, it is a shame we tend to acquire the good tools rather late in life. In fact, we have already done most of the building and fixing we will ever do before we have anything like a complete tool set. How did we manage? We did it by making do with the tools we had at hand. In fact, we utilized tools. That means using a tool for a task other than its intended purpose. For example, I cannot remember how many times I have utilized a pocket knife or even a screwdriver to substitute for a good cabinetmaker's chisel. Of course, it makes the whole task more difficult to work that way, but good tools are expensive, or are they? A few years back, I had a complete change of mind about this. I have concluded, good tools are not expensive compared to my time. Time, I have finally realized, is a nonrenewable resource. By that standard, time and effort saving tools are not expensive at all. In fact, they are essential. After that realization, I did not hesitate to buy a good tool whether I needed it right now or not. There was still a problem though. It occurred because I never go shopping without Mrs. gaffer. I'm not really sure she would allow that. It's not so much about restricting me. It's about her missing an opportunity to go shopping. At any rate, she developed an annoying habit of asking, "Why do you need that." She would do that whenever I picked up a tool with that glint in my eye. She was especially adamant if the new tool happened to resemble a tool I already had. Many times, I did not have an answer to the why. I had to fluster and bluster. I still bought the tool, but it was uncomfortable to deal with the questions. Fortunately Mrs. gaffer did come to a change of heart recently. Two events brought this change about. The first event was when Mrs. Gaffer decided we needed a new counter top in our kitchen. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that my sister recently had a new counter top installed in her kitchen. I'm sure that was just coincidence. Whatever, when she made the decision, I began discussing how I would do the job. Well, that got a quick no-no from Mrs. Gaffer. I was not going to get this job. It was too much for a man my age. She would do as my sister had done and get a contractor to do it. I was a bit reluctant based on some bitter experiences I have had with local contractors doing things for me. Too often, I had to end up redoing the job after the buffoons had vacated. Still Mrs. Gaffer was adamant, so someone from Home Depot came in to bid the job and he did. There were two things wrong with his bid. First, the price he quoted was about twice what I estimated it should cost. The other thing was he terrorized Mrs. Gaffer with explanations of how the task would require him making a heck of a mess in our kitchen over about a month. We would essentially be shut out of our kitchen for the duration. Not only that, but he would be there making all of that noise and dust. How would I even be able to think, let alone write? Mrs. Gaffer was a bit less adamant, but she was still going ahead. Well, she went to sign the contract with Home Depot, but there was another problem. They had no record of the bid. It seems the hotshot who bid the job had not shown up lately. Great! The store suggested they send out a new subcontractor and start over. Then Mrs. Gaffer got ticked. She said forget it! I can shorten this up a bit. After that debacle, it was not too difficult for me to convince Mr's Gaffer I could do the job with much less fuss and muss at much lower cost. She gave in. Then I studied the task at hand and we went shopping. First we ordered the materials for the job from a local building supply. The cost of material was trivial compared to what had been bid. Next, we went for tools and I got a whole lot of neat ones. The main one was a new small Porter Cable® router especially for working counter tops and tight corners. I also go all of the necessary carbide bits. Then I slipped in a few in case tools, in case I needed them later. Mrs. Gaffer never opened he mouth. Now the bottom line. With Mrs. Gaffer's help, I did the whole job in four days. Not only that, I created very little mess doing it. Dust was minimal. Instead of tearing out the old counter top as the buffoon had planned, I put new Formica® over the old counter top. It worked fine and we were never shut out of the kitchen. With all of the new tools and material, I still came in at about 1/3 of the contractors bid. If I figured my time at 100 bucks an hour, I would still have underbid him. The other event was a bit simpler. Mrs. Gaffer had wanted cove moldings put up around the ceiling in a hallway. The problem was there were panel joiners that went to the ceiling between the four foot wall panels. These would keep the moldings from fitting flat against the wall. They would have to be notched out. That is when I found a use for one of those, "Why do you need that?" tools. It was a tiny router bit for my Dremel® tool. So instead of spending hours with a hammer and chisel I notched the joiners in a few minutes with my Dremel®. In addition, I only needed one Darvocet® for my shoulder pain. If I had used a hammer and chisel it would have been a three Darvocet® job at least. Mrs. Gaffer still has a tick reaction when we go shopping.
I notice a tremor in her lip whenever I pick up a tool, but she
clamps her mouth closed. So, I have a dandy tool set and I can
add to it whenever I find new and useful tools. Also, I can plan
any task with confidence knowing I either will have the tools
or can acquire them. The best thing is, because of the natural
frailties that come with age, I would not be able to do many
of the things I do If I had no power tools. The most obvious
example is in the pneumatic nailers. If I drove one or two nails
with a regular hammer, I would be in pain and finished for the
day. With my nailer, I can drive nails long enough to get some
real work done. So Hurrah for good tools!
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