{"id":2335,"date":"2008-12-18T11:02:01","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T16:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hogonice.com\/?p=2335"},"modified":"2008-12-18T11:02:01","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T16:02:01","slug":"severely-malled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/?p=2335","title":{"rendered":"Severely Malled"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shopping is Unavoidable<\/em><\/p>\n

I read the most disturbing thing in my comments today. Someone said I was “setting up a shop.” Is that what I’m doing?<\/p>\n

What a way to look at it. It’s distressing. Here is how I saw it: I was “buying a reasonable variety of tools in order to be able to handle fairly routine jobs.”<\/em> Now it’s a shop? Only freaks have shops! Ack. I’m in trouble.<\/p>\n

I wanted to do stuff with tools. I used to go in the garage, get ready to work, and realize I was doomed, because I didn’t have the right equipment. I figured I could buy a few things and reach a point where most tasks would be within reach. But it doesn’t work that way. <\/p>\n

You know how it starts. You get a bunch of wrenches and a small welder and a miter saw and some drills and drivers, and you think you’re set. Then you try to build something, and you find out you can’t do it without a grinder\/dry cut saw\/router\/table saw\/vise\/whatever. Or you can do it, but it’s so hard without the required tool, the tools you already have are about as helpful as your former tools, the butter knife screwdriver and the scissors with one broken tip. Which you kept in your former shop, the funny drawer in the kitchen, which also contains old rubber bands, twist ties, and the short pieces of phone cable which come with cordless phones, which are too lame to use and too good to throw out.<\/p>\n

I was tired of dealing with people who did not return phone calls, ran off during jobs, did incredibly bad work, overcharged, and\/or had a bad attitude. I also wanted to have a way of implementing my whims and creative ideas, in 3-D. I thought tools were the answer. I was right, but I didn’t realize how much junk you have to have in order to get these people out of your life. You probably need to spend five thousand dollars to get a reasonable degree of tool independence. You probably have to spend ten to approach having a realistic hope of limiting outside hires to one or less per year. Maybe I overestimate. But you can’t do it with one trip to Sears.<\/p>\n

I probably made some stupid buys. A drill press might have been smarter than a giant sliding miter saw, for example. It’s tough to know what you need, when you’re as clueless about tools as I am. And a great buy will always warp your judgment. I got that saw for a third off. The price made my palms sweat. And I’m trying not to drive to Pompano Beach and buy a Steel City drill press while they have their hundred-dollar-rebate going. I may fail.<\/p>\n

Temptation is everywhere. Every time I go to get bird seed and toys, I grouse about the bird toy selection and the hideous prices. A good bird toy costs a minimum of eleven dollars, and some sell for 25. Some last for months. Some last an hour. In five minutes, with a drill press and miter saw, you can create something as good or superior, from scrap. But I continue to resist the drill press bug.<\/p>\n

Tools are going to win. I can see that. They already have. I have a beautiful stainless tool chest, three sets of sockets, a welder, a compressor, two miter saws, an impact driver, a very nice router, a table saw, and a bunch of other junk. I am not going to stop. I just felt like whining about it. You can understand that. Surely.<\/p>\n

My sister and I didn’t get to shop yesterday, so it’s happening today. I am steeling myself in preparation for braving the mall. Wish me luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shopping is Unavoidable I read the most disturbing thing in my comments today. Someone said I was “setting up a shop.” Is that what I’m doing? What a way to look at it. It’s distressing. Here is how I saw it: I was “buying a reasonable variety of tools in order to be able to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toolsofrenewal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}