Tool Talk

[BlackLagoon]

I know we have some guys here who make a living with their hands, and some who stay pretty active with house work.

So from cordless drills, to socket sets--or power equipment (maybe even tools you use for model building or collecting?) We can chat about it a bit.

I'll start--my favorite tools are MAC. I have some Snap-On stuff and I cant say it isnt awesome, because it is--but for the money the MAC stuff is just as good.

Plus, my old Snap-On guy used to push Blue Point on me all the time, he sold me an impact gun and it wouldnt take 7/8 lugs off a dump truck. He freaked out and refunded me.

I told the story to my MAC guy--and he sold me a new impact gun and an air rachet for the same price--I've been a MAC guy since.

[ChattyLMS]

It's an interesting topic.  My dad was a carpenter.  He had a workshop in the basement.  He liked to be down there putzing around and whistling.  I didn't answer the question, sorry!  But it brought back some pleasant memories of my dad.

[BlackLagoon]

We have alot in common there! My dad was constantly fixing something. He was truly a jack of all trades--even the house I spent some of my teenage years in was built from him by scratch on land he bought.

He was a machinist, then got hurt in a motorcycle accident, when he healed up he started his own masonry/carpentry business.

The garage  had his little workshop in there and he always whistled while he worked. In fact, we used to joke about it--you knew it was fixed when you heard the whistling lol.

Glad I could help bring back a memory like that 

[Gillman-Fan]

I've got tons of tools but am not particularly loyal to any one brand or whatnot.

The loft space I currently live in has been completely rehabbed by myself from ceiling to floor . . . actually this space started as two condo/apartment units and I knocked out all the connecting walls. I'm down to finishing the guest bathroom off as we speak.

[BaronLatos35]

I have mostly Craftsman with some others thrown in. I can do some basic carpentry and do projects around the house, but I'm not a master carpenter. That was my father. The man could build/fix anything including decks, porches, room additions, cars etc.

The last big project I did was lay down wood floors. Granted it was only Pergo, but it was the living room, dining room, kitchen and foyer. We put hardwood upstairs, but had someone come in for that. You need contractor equipment for that job, especially since they were unfinished wood floors.

I have to replace a board around the upper front window this weekend. Shouldn't be too difficult to replace and paint it. Just not a fan of working on 28' ladders!

[BlackLagoon]

I hear that about dad Baron. I'm nowhere near as problem solving and mechanical as my old man was. However, I noticed as I've gotten older--I'm getting alot closer to how his "hands on" demeanor was.

Classic example of my dad was for my 13th Bday I got a weight set. It was a "Marcy Monster" that came from Herman's Sports in the late 80's.

When I started getting more into it I asked for a lat pulldown. He took some pulleys for a garage door, cable and clamps and a piece of pipe--some broken up cynder block went into a bucket and that was that. Rocky IV style lol.

He was just quick like that.

As for the craftsman stuff--everybody has craftsman tools in there tool box one way or another. I still have my dad's Craftsman radial arm saw--I turned it on for the 1st time since he used it, which seriously was probably 1989--it fired right up and worked like a champ.

The hand tools have come a long way--I started with them, but I worked in a motorcycle dealership for almost 7 years, when I realized I was going to be a "career mechanic"--I went to the MAC stuff, way more comfortable on your hands.

[Fester]

My dad taught shop for twenty years or more.

Metal shop in Jr High.
Then wood shop in High School.
And, I don't know how many community ed classes too.

He retired several years back and promptly went yo work for a friend that built and sold garden sheds.

Then he finally retired for good.

Now he spends two days a week at his local VA hospital assembling and repairing wheelchairs, walkers and prostheics.


Me?

I don't know which end of the screwdriver to hold when pounding in a nail.

[Wicked Lester]

I'm the senior warehouse supervisor for Makita power tools central region. GOOD stuff but pricey. Don't really know much about the stuff I just make sure it ships out right. All my out door  lawn stuff is Black and Decker. SSHHHH>

[BaronLatos35]

I will definitely look out for MAC tools next time BlackLagoon, thanks for tip.

[JuliaAdamsIsSoHot]

Makita, Mac, Craftsman, these are all good. DeWalt is good too. They're actually a Black and Decker company, but better quality than their normal line. Of course the best tools are ones you get on sale, so my workshop has a mishmash of everything. (But never the poor quality stuff.) I have a few Delta tools that I bought when I was younger. They're low priced, but I've had them for years with no problems. It all depends on what you're making. I wouldn't build a deck with the cheapest drill I could find, but neither do I find it necessary to purchase a radial arm saw with laser sight to build birdhouses.

[tv horror]

I still use a Black and Decker drill gun that my father bought in the late sixties! What stories that drill could tell.

[BaronLatos35]

When I was fixing a board above the second floor window on a 24' ladder last Saturday, the 18 volt drill I had wasn't cutting it. My neighbor who was holding the ladder goes to his truck and pulls out a DeWalt screw gun. Banged those heads right in.

I told my wife what I wanted for Christmas.