20 or so years ago I collected a bunch of Crow Foot Sockets, at work, scrap yard, flea markets, swap meets. I think 3 or 4 [around 1/2" +/-] came with a new Craftsman tool set which caused me to collect the rest. Pretty much sat unused till I replaced all the hyd hoses on my new acquired Case skid steer 2 years ago. Small machine so really tight around the drive motors. Used about every one I had and milled out duplicates to sizes I didn't have. Ass saver!
Bought a Craftsman NexTec 3/8 cordless drill when they came out, many years ago.... just because. The whole kit; drill, charger, & 2 batteries was right at $50. One of the handiest tools I've ever owned. Now, the "bare tool" runs around $55 used on ebay , fer cryin' out loud. A new kit can run up to $150
Yep. Classic example; I do a lot of woodcarving and when Craftsman came out with this triple head sander I snapped one up. That was 15 yrs ago? I have never even turned it on once. I think I personally keep Harbor Freight in business.
All the time...best one was just because - I was looking at a factory gizmo at an estate sell when a young lady came up and close to the quote " oh my dad likes those kinda things" (basically take it out of my hand) she balked at the price on it - that was all I needed to say I'll buy it........
I'm not a big tool collector, but I do have a few one time use tools in the old tool box. Back when I was working, I always had a new 4 1/2" grinder and a couple of different die grinders sitting on the shelf, but mostly because when the one I was using died, I often didn't have time to run to a store and get another one. A replacement one on the shelf, ready to go, was a real time saver. An index set of drill bits fell into the same category, as did grinding wheels, cut off wheels, Sazall blades, and nuts and bolts. These days, a "just because" tool buy was just because the old, mistreated and abused, cheap one, died. It probably would get replaced with another cheap one, because I don't intend to do the forever, my body isn't going to let me. Gene
I have quite a few I got for just one job, but if it saved me the labor or the wait, screw it. I also have a handfull of multiples because I lose one, get tired of looking and just buy another (then find all the old ones). Got a power probe because my buddy had one and it looked cool, that damned thing has saved my butt doing electrical many times! I dont think I have any that have never been used, at least once. I do need to do a major clean/organize/thinning of the herd in my shop though!
Those packs of cheap vicegrips "On Sale" at Harbor Freight, I better buy one more pack of those vicegrips, they almost work to clamp things down
I buy a lot of tools "just because" because I know in 10 years from now I might need it. In all honesty, I love tools. I love all kinds of tools. I used to be a tool snob, always looking for the name brand USA-made stuff. Now I just look for quality and value wherever it was made, and my shop is better for it. If a tool can help save me time, money, or help me do a job better, I'm 100% on board. My wife is also totally supportive because not only do I use those tools to work on my classic cars, I use them to work on our daily drivers and our house, and with the work we've done to our properties over the years and our late models, those tools have paid for themselves several times over. None of our cars have seen a shop in the 10 years my wife and I have been together.
I bought a 1930's 4' South Bend lathe at an auction a year or so ago and still haven't set it up. It's a nice one with lots of tooling. I keep thinking about selling it since I haven't really any use for it but like they say, "out of sight out of mind"...
4' ? maybe a 9" South Bend ? or a 6" If you decide to sell it someday, state the size by measuring the swing over ways X the distance from a dead-center in the headstock to a dead-center in the tailstock. For instance; 9 x 42 https://ozarktoolmanuals.com/ozarks...-the-size-and-swing-of-a-wood-or-metal-lathe/ However, note the part about pre 40's lathe mfgs.
Got a "just because" tool today. Went to a garage sale. Guy had one of these.. like new, with all the dies. He had it marked for $20. Asked what he'd take for it (it's a garage sale, ya know...) He said "make an offer" I said "How about 10 bucks?" He said "OK" I don't know what I'll ever use it for (maybe crimp some terminals ?), but couldn't pass that one up
Ia ll the time, if it says made in USA I buy it. Just did this morning on a Baldor slow speed grinder 1850 rpm. Cost 4 times what a Rikon cost but I only buy American. Pat
I'm a tool whore. If I can use it once, I usually buy it if it's not too expensive. The proper tool saves me a lot of time and gives me a better end result. I have no patience for tools that don't work. I have lots of Craftsman, and HF tools and some Snap On (Not many) but it's all about whether it will do my job.
I have two of those, one at home and one at work. Work great on battery cables. I love them. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I bought an off shore mill at auction earlier this year $400. The I had 3 bouts of gout due to my bad kidneys. Then I developed cataracts in both eyes. Had surgery last week great vision now. I'll get to it this month. nick
... stuff bought but never used Mikrotest tool to nonintrusively measure paint thickness Alignment tool to measure camber
Headed from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix on my monthly car buying trips that I would take when I lived out there. Can't have too many rust free Az. cars. Stopped for gas and a guy sees my car trailer and figures I am a car guy or at least someone who uses tools. He walks over and gives me a hard luck story about needing gas money to get to San Diego for work. I ask him if he has anything to sell because I am not going just fill up his car for nothing. He pops his trunk and has about 300 bucks worth of Snap-On hand tools . I told him to pull his car over to the pumps and fill his car up . I didn't need the tools as they were duplicates of what I already had ,but for a tank of gas and a meal I couldn't pass them up.
That's kind of depressing. The guy sells his tools at a discount, now how is he going to work? I guess that's the kind of guy who keeps pawn shops in business.
He told me he was going to work as a carpenter so he would not let those tools go. He just needed to get there.
Well that sounds hopeful. I feel sorry for people who end up in his position (but not sorry enough to give them a handout). Anyhow, back to tools just because, I had to buy this one at the flea market. Who ever heard of a wrench made in Ethiopia?
Yup! I just sold my "old joint jigger" tubing notcher on ebay last week. I bought it 18 years ago when I was building '32 frames in my garage. I opened the box, looked at it, admired it, NEVER used it.
My dad instilled in me the value of investing in tools and the skills to use them. The whole "if you don't use it in 6 months, throw it out" thing is bogus IMO. I've always been a big fan of machining (carrer and as hobby), so naturally I have a few machines at home. I ended up with a mill/lathe combo machine that was really a kinda rare, but also very small. Somehow a collector back east found out I had one and offered to pay me twice what I paid for it (which wasn't much). I entertained the thought, but then he said he would throw a very old lathe in the deal and I caved. I now have a 14"x12 foot long lathe in my suburban 2 car garage.... its way cool! A friend wanted me to thread rifle barrels for him. I told him no, but I would be glad to thread Howitzers for silencers.
I bought one at cavalcade of customs in Cincinnati 30 years ago and never used it. I think I ended up throwing it out on a cleaning spree Most all of my air tools sit in the drawer since battery tools came out. I need to buy stock in Milwaukee.
Here it is before I stashed it away. I was told it is a early to mid 30s Southbend Model C. I really haven’t done any research yet to verify the accuracy of this.
Hello, When I was first introduced to rebuilding anything on a motor, I was given a torque wrench with a dial on it. My brother told me to tighten the “whatever” to a certain pressure the pointer indicated and that was it. All I had to do was to watch the needle go up to whatever and stop. That was fine for the majority of engine bolting and tightening as we had the long block already assembled. But, as the day wore on into night, the eyes, even though they were young teenager eyes, played tricks on the reading dial. So, I had to check and recheck the bolts over again to make sure they were the correct numbers. The bad thing was this torque wrench could only be laid on its correct side and care had to be taken to keep it that way without putting other tools on top of the wrench. It had a tendency to put stress on the long rod from the head to the handle, without support underneath. The heads and other places that I used the torque wrench came out OK. But, when we were racing our first version of the 283 SBC motor in the Willys Coupe, we decided to go bigger and get some added horsepower. We were considering a Paxton supercharger like the set up Junior Thompson had on his 41 Studebaker. By the time we decided to go to an 1/8th over 292 from the 283, a new Isky Gilmer Drive Belt System came out on the market. Our dad’s friend told us about it since he was in good terms with the Edlebrock Company and they would supply the base manifold. Now, the torque wrench was brought out again, but this time, I opted to purchase a torque wrench that had the Click Measurement, instead of the red dial pointer. We now had double the parts that needed the torque wrenching and the click stop dial was perfect for this task. Set the dial, pull until the wrench did its click tab. Simple as baking cookies. The dial in the handle click wrench did its thing, it was pleasurable not having to read the dial each time. Just pull and wait for the click. Jnaki The click stop torque wrench was a life saver, just because it helped out in the final “full on, bare block” motor assembly to a full running 671 supercharged engine. There were so many nuts and bolts to tighten down to the correct specs. My brother used the old pointer wrench, I used the new click model. similar motor with 671/Strombergs After we were finished with the complete 292 671 SBC motor build, we gave our pointer torque wrench away to a friend. He thought that was the cat’s meow. Back then, we now had to make sure our ears were always clean and that our hands were not wearing gloves, so we could hear and feel the click.
The only use those type of torque wrench have is for lug nuts when you've got left and right threads on the car. You can't tighten lh threads with a clicky torque wrench. I like to have tools, and I have a collection of new ones (usually bought for a reason, to do one job but they end up used for everything) and a few special tools that got used one time for rebuilding one particular thing that will never need doing again but needed a special tool for the task. Phil
When the economy took a dump in 2008/09, I made a deal with the Snap On dealer that stopped by my Wifes Subaru Store. I told him I would buy any repo'ed Snap on tools he had to pick up, excepting metric. I wanted to fill out my shop at home. I ended up buying a 60" almost perfect tool box, full sets of 3/8th's and 1/2" sockets several sets of screwdrivers, chisels, hammers the list goes on.. I told him I would give him cash money when he brought the tools by. I paid pennys on the dollar for the real stuff. He was happy to get the cash and recover some money as most of the tool sales off the truck are on time payments. I have that large Snap On box full of the good stuff and when it fails or breaks he replaces it for free. I took an inventory a couple of years ago for the insurance company, and it totaled out at $17,000.00 retail or new, I invested about $2400.00. He still stops by with domestic tools to add to my Snap On collection. brasscarguy
I got easily over $100,000 In tools that I’ve purchased since I was a kid. Calling me a tool whore is an understatement! Im the Heidi fleiss of tools !!! doubles and triples of just about anything. I just bought a 3/4” snap on dial torque wrench cause it was $50 bucks Sure a torque wrench worth over $700 buck for less then a case of beer? Ok Just bought a portable Milwaukee bandsaw cause my buddy went to a cordless one and wanted this one gone , sure I’ll take it for $20 bucks And the big one is my Milwaukee mag drill for 300 bucks with a couple dozen bits with it. Just can’t say no as I never really know what I’m doing next and if I have the tools to make the job easier then it’s that much for fun.
Just to let our American cousins who might be shocked that a case of beer up here costs $50, our dollar is only worth 7 cents.
Couldn't pass this one up.... A new Craftsman Hammerhead at a garage sale for $10. I bought it mainly for the battery; as those are kinda pricey..like $35 or so. I have 3 other Nextec tools that use that same battery, so it was a no-brainer to get it. A flashlight, a 3/8 vari-speed drill, and a 3/8 right-angle impact driver. Those tools are very handy. But now that I see how nice it is, I'll either keep it to use as it was intended or sell it on eBay.
The Jalopy Journal
