dwasifar

Those have a lifetime warranty. You should send them in for replacement.

Organizing my tools in my new rolling chest today, and realized I've been intending to replace my el cheapo no-name metal snips for approximately half my life. Lowes has a nice price on a set of 3 Stanley FatMax snips, or they have Lenox snips individually. It's a substantial jump in price: $25 for the Stanley set, or about $60 to buy three individual Lenox. I know Stanley owns Lenox now, but these are clearly not the same tool: My gut says to buy the Stanley set; I don't use them a lot, and the flush-head pivot instead of the protruding bolt head to catch on the work seems like an attractive feature. But I also know that you typically get what you pay for, and there's gotta be a reason why they can charge $20 apiece for the Lenox. Opinions? I'm going out there to pick them up tomorrow.

I thought the same. Also, lots of 1/4" sockets and no 1/4" handle, just a small 3/8" handle and a reducer. I think this kit is intended for a first-time homeowner who has a lot of things to assemble rather than fix; or maybe it's to keep in your trunk for minor roadside repair.

I was reorganizing tools today. My wife bought me a rolling tool chest for Xmas and I just got around to putting it in service this weekend. (Long story in its own right.) This got me digging through stuff I haven't touched in ages, and at the bottom of a stack of tool cases I found this: It's a little starter set of USA Craftsman hand tools, looking unused and almost complete save for a few missing sockets. I have NO IDEA where I got these. I would not have bought a set like this; they've been in that stack a long time, but I've got a much fuller set of USA Craftsman that are older than these, and the missing pieces make it unlikely that they're mine. (I don't lose tools like that.) So now I don't know what to do with them. They're all duplicates of things I already have, so I'll never use them. I wish I knew someone just starting out who could use a small set of good tools, but I don't know anyone like that, so I guess I'll just Craigslist them. Seems a shame to sell them without solving the mystery, though.

A lot of times when I look at tools like this I find myself just sort of generally marveling at the amount of thought and engineering that goes into trying to make a classic tool better. I remember multi-drivers from 30 or 40 years ago (yes, I'm that old), and they were nowhere near this good. They were sloppy junk, mostly. And most people's screwdrivers looked like this: I know this is a classic, and perfectly usable, but I doubt any of you Wera guys would go back to that design, would you? Or, if you were a cheap-ass like my dad, they came from the 29¢ bin on the hardware store counter and looked like this: My dad hated Phillips screws - what he called "crosshead" screws - because he was always stripping the screwhead or the tool tip, and he couldn't grind a new edge onto a cheap Phillips driver the way he did with the cheap slotted drivers. I eventually realized his problems were due to the cheap tools, but it took me a long time to get there because he would always tell me "It's a poor workman who blames his tools." I finally understood that's only true up to a point, which eventually culminated in ME teaching HIM about the merits of Phillips over slotted, which was an interesting conversation. But I digress. My point is that I feel like we're living in a tool renaissance right now. The market is bursting with new ideas for tools, and new refinements of classic tools; even a simple screwdriver has dozens or hundreds of choices, all competing on their merits and quality. I feel spoiled. Don't you?

Do you actually use the ratcheting function? I've never been comfortable with ratcheting drivers.

I think I'll get one of those Klein 11-1's on your recommendation. It's designed a lot like the ones I already like, but with Torx.

Yeah, I don't think I would like the Wera or Wiha, because it's not the kind of design I prefer. Both of those make you open the handle and fiddle around with little individual bits. The Wiha looks especially fiddly in that regard; it looks like you have to take a cap off the handle, put it down, and turn a selector dial to access the bit you want: The Wera avoids that problem, but instead you have to push the bits back into storage clips: Neither of them have nut drivers, either. The one advantage I can see to these designs over the center-barrel design is that the bits are generic and can be replaced individually when they wear out. Compare how the Irwin is designed: To change bits, I don't have to open any storage compartment; usually I just need to flip the bit, or flip the center barrel. Takes about two seconds. There are three nut drivers. And I can pull the barrel out of the tool and chuck it into a drill to have an instant power nutdriver or screwdriver, without carrying around separate bits and accessories for the drill. The Crescent is similar. I just think this style is a more versatile design. The downside is that once you round off the Phillips bits, that's pretty much it for the tool. I have occasionally touched up a Phillips bit on a grinder to restore the corners and make it grip a little better, but you can only do that once or twice. Fortunately the bits on both are pretty durable. Having said all that, I would totally buy a Wera if it were this kind of design. The Wera drivers look like amazing quality.

Who's up for a discussion on multi-bit screwdrivers vs. individual screwdrivers? Every time I see a nice screwdriver set, I immediately want them; but I know from experience that I'm not gonna use them. Instead, I'm going to grab one of the 7-in-one or 9-in-one drivers I keep strategically scattered around the house. This is why: Pros: Less to carry around (can stick it in a pocket) Chances are better that the tool already in my hand is the tool I'll need next Fewer individual tools to lose track of while working (this is a real problem for me, and it's not a senior moment thing either, I've been saying "I JUST had that, where did it go?" since I was a teenager) Individual bits, or the center shaft, can be chucked into a drill, so I don't have to carry around a separate set of driver bits for that Cons: Sometimes too bulky to reach recessed screws Bits can dislodge on impact Not good for prying (paint cans etc.) For me, apparently the pros outweigh the cons, and I standardized on the multi-drivers. It wasn't a conscious thing, it's just something I found myself doing over the years, and it took me a while to think through why I was doing it. These are my current go-tos: I've been using those Crescent ones for ages, and they're really comfortable; I have a bunch of them. But they don't make them anymore, so I'm trying out the Irwin, and it's really nice too; good feel in the hand, more bits and options than the Crescent, and it feels like the Phillips bits grip the screw a little better. Greenlee and Lenox sell the identical tool under their brands and color schemes, but I prefer the bright colored Irwin because of the aforementioned "where did I put it?" problem. Did I miss anything? Contrary opinions are welcome.

Well, I had good luck with the el cheapo Wen brad nailer, so I thought I might give another el cheapo nailer a try: This 15 gauge pneumatic nailer is a product of the world's number one leader in professional quality tools, "3Plus." I don't know how it's going to be. Amazon reviews were mostly positive. I don't do a whole lot of finish nailing, and for $75 it's worth trying before spending $140 on a Hitachi. The box has some interesting errors: My experience is that mold attaches itself to surfaces without the need for nails. As to the fasteners, I'm pretty sure it's impossible for it to take more than one gauge of nails. Nothing in the manual says anything about 11ga nails. Cut and paste error perhaps. We'll see how it is.

Thinking about it more, because that's what I do without something better to occupy me. The Purdy is $12, so if five minutes of your time is worth more than $12, then you should throw it away rather than cleaning it. That extends out to $144/hr, and I'm pretty sure not many painters are pulling that down. But the knockoff is $4, so if your time is worth more than $48/hr, then you should throw that one away rather than cleaning it. And I can see where a pro might easily cross that threshold, especially if you're paying your crew for the time you spend cleaning brushes. I would be surprised if the quality were actually as close to Purdy as the listings or the reviews indicate. I suspect there is some unconscious bias taking place among the reviewers. Everyone wants to think they got a deal, and maybe this is making them less critical of the brushes than if they'd paid more, thus more likely to rate them close in quality to the real thing.

Well, let's say five minutes. So you use the brush only 12 times, you've spent an hour cleaning it.

I wouldn't buy the knockoffs on principle. It feels like rewarding a cheater. But it does make me think, am I spending too much effort maintaining paintbrushes? Time is money, and if I were a pro painter and these were "good enough," it might be hard to justify continuing to spend time cleaning a Purdy or Wooster brush. If I were to total up the time I've spent cleaning those two old Purdy brushes, it would certainly come to many times their purchase price. But you either maintain them or you don't; if you don't, you're not getting your money's worth out of them, and if you do, then you'll incrementally come to the point where you've spent more money maintaining them than they cost to buy. You can't really strike a balance.

Yup: I don't remember that on my older ones, but OTOH it's been 20 years or more, maybe I just forgot.

Speaking of Purdy paintbrushes. I posted this pic already: That brush runs $12.99 at Amazon and $13.48 at Lowe's. But if you search "Purdy paint brushes" at Amazon, a lot of sponsored results come up for this Chinese knockoff: That's the clearest case of copycat packaging and design I've ever seen. I'm amazed Purdy hasn't sued to stop them. You get an 8-pack of these for $32.99, so roughly a third the price of the real thing. The thing that irks me the most is the little US flag under the words "DESIGNED FOR USA," which of course means it wasn't designed in USA, let alone made here like the Purdy. The Amazon user reviews are pretty positive; the general opinion seems to be "almost as good as a Purdy." There are pros buying them because they're cheap enough to throw away at the end of a job. Does this bug you as much as it bugs me?

Another big splurge: I've been doing a lot of painting recently and I'm told that cutting in by hand is easier with a stiffer brush, so I bought this to complement my other two Purdy brushes. They give a good finish but they have very soft bristles: I've been using those two brushes for over 20 years. I know most paintbrushes die of neglect, but here's proof that they'll last and last if you take care of them well.

Big spender today: I had some carpet installed yesterday and when I went to find my knife today it was gone. I think it accidentally went home with one of the carpet guys. I say accidentally and mean it, because it really wasn't worth stealing; but I did need a knife today, so a quick trip to HD and here's this. I got this over a Stanley because the Stanleys now have hard plastic grip areas, whereas this one is more rubberized, which I prefer. It's a little on the light side compared to what I'm used to, but a utility knife is not a precision tool, so it's just fine.

It's fine. Drop-in replacement, looks and feels the same as the old one except it works. I haven't had any occasion to use this drill in production since I fixed the switch, though.

I did eventually fix the switch. I was considering just replacing the drill, and then someone on another thread suggested buying a 1/2" drill instead, and fixing this one. I thought that was good idea so that's what I did.

An update: Acting on advice from you guys, I had a friend post on Milwaukee's FB page. There were some delays, probably because of the holidays, but I can report that Milwaukee eventually came through and generously dealt with the issues I was having. I am happy with the results, and Milwaukee is definitely no longer on my shit list; quite the opposite, in fact. It would still have been nice not to have it go as far as it did, but I'm absolutely satisfied with the resolution.

Oh look! A big box full of blue packing paper! What could it be? Why, it's THIS! Doesn't quite look like the picture on the box, but that's okay: Will try it out soon and report!

I got a new storage box for the Fein Multimaster: Got tired of wedging it back into the cardboard box it came in and bought this to contain it and its accessories.

Looks like it does fine: This is without any adjustments, straight out of the box. I bought Hitachi nails just because they were cheaper. In the photo I see there's a tiny dent next to the nail hole. The photo exaggerates it; it's actually almost imperceptible in real life, and if I can't dial it out I'm not going to worry about it. There's no dent next to the other nail, and anyway you'd never see it under paint.

The Wen nailer arrived: It's not beautiful, but it looks functional: The owner's manual contains this memorable piece of advice:

Since we're showing off our xmas presents from the ladies: Unpacking is waiting for when I get to turning this garage bay into a proper workshop, which is soon, I hope. The boxes contain these: