[AT] HF sawmill

[Indiana Robinson]

On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 8:30 PM, Henry Miller <hank at millerfarm.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday 11 August 2010 11:32:13 Indiana Robinson wrote:
>> If a man tells me that he is really proud of having a complete set of
>> the very finest (insert your favorite brand here) tools my response is
>> "good for you, I'm glad for you"... If on the other hand he tells me
>> that he absolutely cannot work with less than the best and that I am a
>> damn fool for buying less than the best then my response is "how
>> pathetic"... He probably is not much of a mechanic and I probably
>> don't want to waste my time trying to become friends with him. In this
>> world you are wisest to just learn to do the best you can with what
>> you can afford to work with. If you just "can't" work with a cheap
>> tool at all then you probably can't work with a good one either...
>
> I have long learned that a quality tool is worth the price.   Sure I can work
> with junk tools - I do all the time.   I spend more time sharpening my cheap
> chisels than I do working with them.  By contrast I have some expensive planes
> that hold an edge well (so long as I don't abuse them), and so I don't spend
> nearly as much time sharpening them.
>
> Of course there is a place for junk tools.  If you expect to drop them in a
> manure pile (if you have to work in a manure pile you have to expect
> something), a cheap tool is important, so long as it will get the job done.
> If you never expect to use the tool again, so long as the tool has one use in
> it, all is well: no need to store or sell it, just put it in the trash.
>
> I believe it is true that it is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.
> However this is often a reflection on the tools the craftsman has around in
> the first place.
> _______________________________________________
>
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Even better is getting really good tools cheap.  :-)
I buy a lot of stuff at yard / garage sales. I recently acquired a
number of 12" adjustable wrenches for $1 to $3 each. One was a
Crescent and one was Diamond. A couple of the $1 wrenches were
Chinese. I buy those to have scattered around in tractor tool boxes or
hanging on a nail in one of the barns. If they get lost (or walk away)
I'm not out a good wrench. I have .50 cent yard sale pliers all over
the place.
I was at a yard sale a couple of years ago where a young lady was
selling all of her suddenly ex-boyfriends stuff. She was selling his
stuff at "get even" prices. I felt sorry for him (he obviously was not
there) but I figured that somebody was going to buy his stuff at
give-away prices so it might as well be me.
I think of him every time I use that 1/2" like new Milwaukee drill I
bought for a buck. :-) or any one of a number of other tools I bought
there.
Most of my Snap-on stuff came from yard sales. Those are often sales
that are being ran by people other than the previous owner of the
tools like at estate sales.



-- 


Be tolerant of almost everything but intolerance...

Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com