Taking Stock Of Your Tool Collection
Nothing is more frustrating than needing a tool and not having it. I have a substantial tool collection in the garage which contains all of my woodworking tools, wrenches, plumbing tools, power tools and electrical wiring gear. The other day I was replacing a part of the gear mechanism on my mountain bike and needed a dial torque wrench for one of the nuts on the brake assembly. There was no way around it, I wasn’t taking a chance of breaking something by improperly tightening the nut so I had buy the wrench the next day.
This made me think about all of the tools that I should have that I don’t have, things that I needed more than once over the years but didn’t have like a torque wrench. A palm sander is another small but useful tool that would have saved me some elbow grease on several occasions. One time in particular, we picked up a small antique table that was in good condition which we wanted to strip and refinish. The existing stain or varnish was mostly worn away and could easily have been totally removed with a palm sander in no time. My belt sander was too big for the job so I ended up doing the job by hand.
Then there are all of the tools in my Snap-on tool boxes that are hardly if ever used. A good example is the pneumatic framing nailer. This very expensive tool was used once four years ago and not since then. I purchased it when we remodeled the basement and I framed the area that we divided into a family room with a wet bar. The floor sander is another expensive item that I used once and may never use again. Besides it takes up a lot of space in the garage. I could easily sell both of these items on eBay and put the proceeds towards getting some tools that I would get far more use out of.
Another item that I need from time to time is an electric pipe snake. This is an excellent piece of equipment to have on hand to deal with slow or stopped drains. It is also great to use on an annual basis as maintenance to keep drains and the main sewer line clear. Currently I have the local sewer cleaner come by each spring to clean out the main as well as the drain at the base of the driveway which gets a lot of sediment build up. That service costs about one hundred dollars each spring.
It doesn’t pay to keep tools that you will really never use. Trading them in for other tools that you find yourself looking for more often is a much better use of resources.