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Unnecessary tools
Warbirds
Member Posts: 16,928 ✭✭✭✭
My wife thinks its absolutely rediculous that I own a decimeter.
Sometimes I want to know how loud something really is.
I’m sure some here have a tool or two others may deem “unnecessary”.
What ya got?
This is my decimeter measuring the sound of my 3d printer before I enclosed it.
After the enclosure
Comments
I have used and needed every tool I have. To me none are unnecessary.
I have one though it's really an antique now. Back in '92 I was hired by Allison Gas Turbine to work on a new project that studied engine noise level. The feds had just mandated max airport noise level. I worked for years on studying the source and possible reduction of our engine noise output.
Also Warbirds, you might question your wife's use of all her extensive collection of pots and pans. You might want to book a night or two at the Holiday Inn first.
I have a 3/4 drive rachet and socket set in my shop.I seldom need it,but if I do,I have it.
I had a lot of tools that weren't used often but when they were needed, they were needed badly.
I did have one of those Stud Finder thing. Couldn't get near it without setting it off.
I think I have more tools than Lowes and Home Depot combined, some are very special & unique 😊. After I'm gone the next owners can decide what to do with them......but I'm keep'en them.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
If you ask my wife, she would probably say all the tools in the garage are “unnecessary.”
I would say the same about all the “junk” in her craft room.
My wife wondered why I needed a chronograph. Now I have two. Had to check the accuracy of the first one. Found that one is consistently 30-50 fps slower than the other but I don't know which one is right. May have to get a third and then average the three.
Sometimes I won't need a particular tool for several years and then when I do, it is nowhere to be found. I have gone as long as a week looking for that tool in those situations before giving up and buying another one. A couple times after completing the project, I looked at my new tool and figured out the best place to store it so I can find it if needed. Yupp, you guessed it, I found the missing one where I decided to store the new one. So no, I don't have any unnecessary tools, but I do have multiples of ones that are rarely needed. 😁 Bob
"Toolman" ......enough said.
i want to see the readings as wife is yelling at you😄
I plead some what guilty over the years I have bought tools that may have been just for that one job or a coupe ) but it still way cheaper than have a shop do the work
not bragging by a long shot so please don't take it that way l what's a lot to me may be nothing to others
as it took me a life time to accumulate them , when my wife and i married I had a just a small craftsman tool box with basic stuff that was it . so I started buying bits and pieces as money would allow and working on people's cars and scrounging junk yars and reselling car parts on the side I used the money to buy more tools but after the internet came along an opened up the used tools at 1/4 the new price I was like a kid in the candy store and having a decent job by then that allowed me to buy tools of course
with out detail I have about every trade covered from plumbing, electrical, auto repair, small engine repair car engine repair auto body repair , gun repair and many more . Like I have posted I truly enjoyed working and repairing about every thing I would buy ( sill do a little ) damaged or non working, broken items get them working the internet is a fantasic place to find just about evey part or piece you need but time and a some what worn out body have cut deep into my enjoyment and time spend doing such things .
I am sure I have tools when I kick off people will be asking what the heck is that for and what does it do
and same thought if one is good than four is better
sorry for the story I cut it back several times I am a toolacholic 😁 😎 and wife would swear to that. but she know I can repair just about any thing so she some what puts up with me but a few yrs back she did say no more tools my god LOL
I made the mistake of buying a very expensive set of wood working chisels some years ago. Have only used the 3 smallest ones and have even worn them out and had to replace them. I learned to buy the pricey tools in the needed sizes only!!
I have 7 woodworking routers!
cleaning out garage year or two back, looking for something, found an old craftsman engine analyzer, small about size of a toaster, did all sorts of things from timing, tach and dwell, rpms, ect. really nothing you could use on a new engine.. put it out in one of the wifes yardsales and had an old fellow, older than me anyway, ask me if I would take $10 for it, as he only wanted it for the feature to set the points on an old tractor of his. we talked about wether or not it would work for that and he seemed to think it would. since it was late in the day I just gave it to him, allways wondered though if it worked for him. I know I bought it back in the early 80's and doubt I had used a dozen times.......
did keep my timing light, though with todays variable timing, computer run engines I think it is useless also....
I've always wanted one of those colored FLIR camera's to scan the woodline at night. So darn expensive though.
'Unnecessary tools'...
Isn't that kinda like 'unnecessary guns'?
when I met my going to be wife . our 1st Christmas together she ask what I would like for a present I told her a Sun tune up kit so she bought it for me at the time ( 1978 ) I think it was ball park of $100.00 at the time . it was a truly great present for a car nut at the time I had nothing even close to help tune up a car it was by ear and feel . I still have the set and even bought a another one a few yrs ago off the internet 😁 why well just because 🙄 like I posted 1 is 0 and 2 is one LOL
I still have a couple 69 Camaros and had some friends that have older cars I would help them with ( but they have all passed on 😥 RIP to a bunch of great friends ) ) but any way as for the tools I can still use them.
besides I think they just remind me of the good old days of being young and fast cars were a passion of mine
here is a photo of one like it
my wife even bought my 1st air compressor and paint gun a local auction (the fellow worked on and painted cars . ) came up I had to work so she went ( love that woman ) I ask her if she could and gave her a ball park amount to spend she had no idea about any of it , when I came home she had bought the compressor a small one and a Binks paint gun or two and several boxes full of automotive paint and related items . I was in heaven 😉
did I mention I truly love that gal
I have of computer collection of engine rebuilding tools . Ridge reamer, valve compresser , bearing removal / install tool etc . Doubt that I will every redo another 289 or 390 but the tools are there. I can say the same thing about a lot of my stuff.
Yes i have tools that rarely get used because I needed them at the time and to rent was almost the same as to buy... things like that do seem to not be found when I need them the next time so yes I do have a couple of em when I don't need them... currently building a shed/well house and will end up with more tools than will fit in the shed most likely... Men and tools are kinda like women and just about anything clothes related, can never have too many.
I have around forty Monoset collets for my Cincinnati milling machine. I use around six of the most common fractional sizes but I won't part with the extras.
I would have asked why you have a 3-D printer.😈
way back 😥when younger I would have loved to had a mill, now using it would be a different story 😕I just knew I wanted one and a lathe 😁 but back then it was like the best ultimate tools for what I could have hoped for . just finding a older better grade drill press well some what was a huge step up for me . never did get a mill or lathe. odds are they would have just been garage art in my case any way 😐️
when I was just a really young fellow around 10 to 12 yrs old their was a older fellow he must have been at least 50 😲 LOL
had a old garage/ shop in the ally we called it .
its doors stayed shut 95 % of the time even had the few windows frosted that faced my friends yard , any way he never said much to us kids except yell at us for bouncing a ball off his garage doors some times the old wooden sliding type
but when we did get to see inside I remember he had a lot of machining tools and a nice shop set up . well beyond my compression as a kid at the time like a page out of a popular mechanics magazine
but what us young fellows did know the pin up girls and calendars with mostly nude ladies that were posted on the cabinets and walls ( not a lot of them just a few ) around his shop truly were what drew our attention 😍
many years later I met a grand son of his , he said ya grandpa was a some what quiet fellow loved to work in the shop and had some nice tools .
Several of our so called male politicians should be required to pass this Stud finder test BEFORE being allowed to run for office or for re-election. (drain and weed out the swamp)
Better to have a tool and not need it than to need a tool and not have it.
I do most all my own repairs and finally got my tools where I know the general vicinity of where they are located if I need one. I've found once I know where one tool is located/stored at I do not try to move it to a new location so as I can locate it easier later. (I usually cannot remember it's new place, just that I moved it when I see it's not in it's old place.
Harbor Freight is my go to place nowadays and took the place of Sears. I live about 10 miles away from the nearest. If I need something fast there is an Ace Hardware 3 miles away.
Thinking about it, I guess the closest to unnecessary I have would be a old SWR meter. Haven't used it or a CB radio in probably 35-40 years.
Or unnecessary shoes?
Or purses?
Brad Steele
I have a 3 ft pipe wrench that, although it's the real deal, it won't ever do any thing more than hold down the floor.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
How many of you still have your 10mm socket or wrench😣. Yes, I have tools that I only used once, but I do have it, and that is what counts
No such thing as an unnecessary tool.
I have a timing light and dwell meter, ocassionly use it.
This thread resembles me.
operating system
router
earthnet cable
printer
Or coats?
At my age the handiest tool I own is a homemade "cheater bar", I never leave home without it, it's priceless 😊
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
Plenty of useless tools in the White house.....
I went to harbor freight and bought every 10mm wrench and socket they had.. Painted them red and still have one or two.
Very true! I have two 50 ton, and three 100 ton porta power cylinders. They are rarely used, but when you need to rare and push the living heck out of something nasty, they will do it, and right now.
No such thing as an unnecessary tool. I have a shop full of tools my Father in Law left me. I seldom use many of them, but my neighbors often come by to borrow some from time to time. And they have used some to fix my equipment too. So it is always good to have the right tool for the right time even if it sits around gathering dust most of the time......
for a while, i had a STARRETT [ THE name in micrometers] revolutions micrometer. a little device that had a cone shaped probe that one put into the centering hole of a motor shaft to gauge how fast it was turning. i sold it to an electrician that used it on electric motors to double check the printed operation parameters of a motor.
I have 2 of those rev meters and still use them now and again.