TOOLS

[woodone]

When do you have enough tools?
Seems like I spend quit a bit of money on tools. Now I have been a tool nut for many years and in different fields. Automotive for 20 years. Every new year model and you found new tools needed to work on them. First you just needed US standard-then metric. 500 kinds of screw driver- recall the butterfly- clutch heads- yea I have them too. Then Torx.
Moved to the industrial field- more tools. You get the idea- I have a garage full of tools for mechanical things.
Now with the hobby (trains) I find my self in the same game- always a new gadget-tool I need (do I really need it)?
Bought a milling machine a while back- still tooling it up! Got a small lathe too- seems like for every job I need a new wickerbill tool!
Wonder if it ever ends.
How about you guys- tool poor?

[C855B]

When do you have enough tools? ...

Never. If I don't have the right tool on hand for the job, the project is put on hold until I do. Never mind that the job might take 15 minutes with a make-do, and would take like 30 seconds with the correct one... I will spend an hour or more plus lunch for the round trip to the DIY store to "do it properly".

Explained like that it seems silly/wasteful, but the reality is many years of projects have taught the hard lesson that trying to fudge a job with inappropriate or substandard tools frequently damages something up to and including one's knuckles, or worse. Which leads to our household catchphrase, no job is successful until lubricated with my blood.   

[RBrodzinsky]

The great thing about model railroading - you get to spend all your money on tools and toys for the same hobby!

[propmeup1]

I ware out tweezers several times a year and I can never have enough clamps and hemostats.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I ware out tweezers several times a year and I can never have enough clamps and hemostats.

Damn dude! What are you doing to them?

I have a pair that I think I've had for 20+ years that still work just fine.

[Tallmatt]

I reckon I had too much junk and only a few tools that I was regularly using.

When I emigrated I chucked all the ruined files, marked out which ones were for brass/whitemetal/plastic and had a good pick through the nasty jewellers screwdrivers and mismatched pliers.

Long story short I now have a nice little teng drawer toolbox, good knipex mini pliers, whiha micro screwdrivers and a I use one scalpel system... there are still a fair few specialised tools, but only ones I could actually recall using.

[mmagliaro]

The short answer is "never", if I find a tool very specialized to a problem I'm trying to solve.  And as long as that keeps happening, I'll keep buying tools.  For example, during my 0-6-0 project, I discovered that somebody made a super-thin (1/64") file (Grobet), and I needed just such a thing for some filing I was trying to do.

I will say that at this point, I am extremely selective, so my tool "swell" has slowed way down from what it was 20 years ago.

[thomasjmdavis]

I think the rule is-
I have every tool EXCEPT for the one(s) I must have to complete the project I am half way through....

This also applies to paint colors, decals, lumber, electrical connectors, dinner ingredients, etc.

And don't forget the corollary, the probability of breaking a tool or bit is inverse to the number of spares you have on hand. 

[jdcolombo]

As others have said, you never have enough.  My father-in-law, a master carpenter, taught me (1) always use the right tool for the job, (2) if you don't have that tool, buy it (or rent if that makes sense), and (3) only buy quality tools, since junk tools are no better than not having the right tool.

I don't have a lathe (yet), but I've acquired a milling machine, a professional soldering station, God-knows how many different tweezers, pliers, knives, etc.  And now Peteski has me eyeing a $500 wire stripper!

John C.

[mmagliaro]

... (3) only buy quality tools, since junk tools are no better than not having the right tool.


John C.

THIS THIS THIS.
Grobet/Vallorbe files - I will use nothing else now.
USA-made wire drill bits, new-old stock Precision Twist, Union, Cleveland, etc.   They are all miles better than any hobby shop drill bit.

I took the proceeds from my recent RMC article as "seed money", and have begun dedicated saving to finally, once-and-for-all, buy a lathe.   I want something sturdier than the little Harbor Freight machines.  So while I will still be buying a China import, I am pushing for more of an 8 x 16 with roller bearings in the spindle, a bigger motor, all metal gears, etc.  It will cost a little more, and I will buy it from Grizzly or a similar US house, so I at least have some warranty protection.  I briefly entertained the idea of trying to find a really solid, reconditioned old US-made lathe like a South Bend heavy 10, but those machines are either thousands of dollars more expensive than I will ever be able to afford or they are old bruisers that would require a ton of rework to make them into their former greatness.

Which brings me to my thread-related point:
SOME tools, like a lathe, you have to go on a crusade to get, as opposed to just picking one up when you need it.

[peteski]

. . .
  And now Peteski has me eyeing a $500 wire stripper!

John C.

Be patient grasshopper!    Set up a search on eBay and you will eventually find one for much less money.  That is how I picked up mine. 

[RBrodzinsky]

And now Peteski has me eyeing a $500 wire stripper!

   I won’t even ask....

[Steveruger45]

Yep. Never.
I also have loads of tools for many things involving different interests past and present and just so I could fix something I have no special interest in.
I buy tools when I need them and also tools that last.

One way to look at this investment is that buying the tool and doing it yourself is still often less expensive than hiring someone to do it and in the end you still have the tool.

[mmagliaro]

...

One way to look at this investment is that buying the tool and doing it yourself is still often less expensive than hiring someone to do it and in the end you still have the tool.

YES YES YES!
That explains how I came to own various plumbing tools, a pop rivet gun (mighty handy for repairing aluminum band road cases!), and other esoteric things.  But invariably, even if it takes a few years, I end up using such tools a 2nd or 3rd time after buying them.  It's RARELY a waste of money.

[Lemosteam]

"A correct tool never goes away, but once sold or discarded the future need for that tool will haunt you forever."

-A tool hoarder

They need a reality TV show called "Tool Hoarders". When the time comes for the host to help clean that house (garage?) out there will be a line around the block for the tools they unload.