3 ms·

Physical/hardware DIY is significantly easier with the more (and more-specific) tools you have.

brabel 2y ago
I have nearly filled my shed with tools. Still, almost every new job I do requires me to go buy a new one (even if sometimes it's just a washer that needs to be just 2mm bigger than my biggest one, which is so frustrating). It does get easier with time, but right now, I am still on the stage where I only have everything I need already for the really minor jobs around the house, and I am not sure it will ever get much better.
- bluGill 2y ago
  Remember if you would hire someone to do the job they would have that tool. So you can use the money you save on tools and then have the tool. The first time you DIY a job you shouldn't plan on saving money. Friends are also good. No need for you to own a weird tool if you can borrow if from someone else who also has done the job. (so long as you return the favor)
drawkward 2y ago
I now own a ton of tools I have used only once.
- op00to 2y ago
  Do you ever line 'em all up and look at them in awe? I do.
  - genewitch 2y ago
    I do this with unused HF radios!
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
acomjean 2y ago
I learned from a friend, if you are going to need a specific tool and don’t expect to use it a lot (for a single job), buy a cheap one that can do the job at your friendly cheap importer ( harbor freight etc). Renting is ok too. You can skip the cordless too.. Going for use the tool a lot (drills, pliers etc) buy something better.
- luma 2y ago
  I've often heard this advice, and while I acknowledge the financial sense it makes, it also puts the new user into a hard place. Here's the problem: the advantages of "good" tools disproportionately impact the new user. A crusty machinist with decades of experience can make high tolerance parts on a clapped out Bridgeport, because she knows all the subtle ways things can go wrong and doesn't need to rely on the tool handling those things for her. The new user? No idea what he's doing, and if you throw cheap/poor quality tooling into the mix, now it's just that much harder to figure out if what's going wrong is the user or the tool. None of this is to suggest that everyone should toss out their home gamer woodworking tools and replace it all with Festool, but there are some pretty serious advantages to having trustworthy tools to help you learn.
- wolrah 2y ago
  > I learned from a friend, if you are going to need a specific tool and don’t expect to use it a lot (for a single job), buy a cheap one that can do the job at your friendly cheap importer ( harbor freight etc). A critical factor to keep in mind: What are the implications if the tool fails? If a failure means I will be inconvenienced and have to buy a better tool next time, sure as hell I'm starting with the cheap one. If a failure means something expensive is getting messed up or someone's getting permanently harmed, I'm going to aim for the point on the bang-for-the-buck hockey stick right before it turns north.
DannyBee 2y ago
It is hard to believe how true this is until you start to get to really esoteric stuff. Example: I have electronic mortise locks (historic house with very custom doors that used mortise locks, replacing doors would be ... remarkably expensive. There are two doors i replaced with non-mortise locks by filling the cavities with marine epoxy, but wife really like the look of mortise locks on the others). There are a very small number of wireless mortise locks, all of which are garbage and look ugly to boot. The way these are electrified is either: 1. Wireless power transfer from the strike side - this is complicated and only works sometimes. or 2. Drilling a hole all the way sideways through the door and running a wire inside the door, using special hinges with embedded wires to transfer power through the hinge, and then connecting that all to a 24v supply somewhere. I have the tool necessary to do #2, which will properly drill a straight hole 36 inches deep horizontally into a door with perfect alignment. In part because the tool is as expensive as paying someone with a tool to do it for you, so i might as well own the tool. Doing this without the tool, I imagine even with the right set of bits, you would screw it up probably 99% of the time.

I have nearly filled my shed with tools. Still, almost every new job I do requires me to go buy a new one (even if sometimes it's just a washer that needs to be just 2mm bigger than my biggest one, which is so frustrating). It does get easier with time, but right now, I am still on the stage where I only have everything I need already for the really minor jobs around the house, and I am not sure it will ever get much better.

bluGill 2y ago
Remember if you would hire someone to do the job they would have that tool. So you can use the money you save on tools and then have the tool. The first time you DIY a job you shouldn't plan on saving money. Friends are also good. No need for you to own a weird tool if you can borrow if from someone else who also has done the job. (so long as you return the favor)

drawkward 2y ago

I now own a ton of tools I have used only once.

op00to 2y ago
Do you ever line 'em all up and look at them in awe? I do.
- genewitch 2y ago
  I do this with unused HF radios!
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

acomjean 2y ago

I learned from a friend, if you are going to need a specific tool and don’t expect to use it a lot (for a single job), buy a cheap one that can do the job at your friendly cheap importer ( harbor freight etc). Renting is ok too. You can skip the cordless too.. Going for use the tool a lot (drills, pliers etc) buy something better.

luma 2y ago
I've often heard this advice, and while I acknowledge the financial sense it makes, it also puts the new user into a hard place. Here's the problem: the advantages of "good" tools disproportionately impact the new user. A crusty machinist with decades of experience can make high tolerance parts on a clapped out Bridgeport, because she knows all the subtle ways things can go wrong and doesn't need to rely on the tool handling those things for her. The new user? No idea what he's doing, and if you throw cheap/poor quality tooling into the mix, now it's just that much harder to figure out if what's going wrong is the user or the tool. None of this is to suggest that everyone should toss out their home gamer woodworking tools and replace it all with Festool, but there are some pretty serious advantages to having trustworthy tools to help you learn.
wolrah 2y ago
> I learned from a friend, if you are going to need a specific tool and don’t expect to use it a lot (for a single job), buy a cheap one that can do the job at your friendly cheap importer ( harbor freight etc). A critical factor to keep in mind: What are the implications if the tool fails? If a failure means I will be inconvenienced and have to buy a better tool next time, sure as hell I'm starting with the cheap one. If a failure means something expensive is getting messed up or someone's getting permanently harmed, I'm going to aim for the point on the bang-for-the-buck hockey stick right before it turns north.

DannyBee 2y ago

It is hard to believe how true this is until you start to get to really esoteric stuff. Example: I have electronic mortise locks (historic house with very custom doors that used mortise locks, replacing doors would be ... remarkably expensive. There are two doors i replaced with non-mortise locks by filling the cavities with marine epoxy, but wife really like the look of mortise locks on the others). There are a very small number of wireless mortise locks, all of which are garbage and look ugly to boot. The way these are electrified is either: 1. Wireless power transfer from the strike side - this is complicated and only works sometimes. or 2. Drilling a hole all the way sideways through the door and running a wire inside the door, using special hinges with embedded wires to transfer power through the hinge, and then connecting that all to a 24v supply somewhere. I have the tool necessary to do #2, which will properly drill a straight hole 36 inches deep horizontally into a door with perfect alignment. In part because the tool is as expensive as paying someone with a tool to do it for you, so i might as well own the tool. Doing this without the tool, I imagine even with the right set of bits, you would screw it up probably 99% of the time.