LOL, that’s true, OK4450, but there are a whole lot of HS kids more than happy to mark every bolt to earn gas money! Maybe a few retired old farts. Where can I apply?
I tend to consider a tool “cheap” only when it fails to perform its function. I bought a serp belt wrench once and it broke as soon as I pulled it to compress the tensioner. That was “cheap”. I used a regular breaker bar with socket instead. Yet I have tools that I’ve been using for decades for which I paid very little. They were “inexpensive”. I tend to see the two terms as different adjectives.
Somehow this has morphed into family member conflicts and backstabbing… Dont make me pull out the 3ft Breaker bar…or the “Persuader” (4ft long 3/4 drive Ratchet handle)
HAHAHA Oh Car Talk…the admission price alone is worth the entertainment I promise you Sir.
Bing: My new house in the early had no backyard fence so that was a priority project. I bought a chalk line. A couple years later I got around to front and rear decks. The bottle of blue chalk powder was in the garage but the retractable line tool was nowhere to be found. I bought another one. When I started building the garden shed the 2 bottles of chalk were right where they were supposed to be but again no line tool. We moved in the mid 1990s. I had the #3 chalk line and of course found the 2 missing ones. As far as throwing away something you haven’t used in 2 or 3 decades it is almost guaranteed you will need it within 2 weeks.
Sears will replace a hand tool if they still make it. I had a needle nose Craftsman locking pliers that wore out. They had nothing like it, The new one had jaws about 40% shorter and 30% wider making it much less useful.
I believe the design change is due to an inferior steel alloy in the Chinese made one. They did offer to exchange it for any other Craftsman locking pliers which I did but I didn’t really need another type. I have six others, mostly Vise-Grios.
I also had a 40 year old Craftsman hand rivet gun that jammed and they wouldn’t fix or replace it, claiming it wasn’t a hand tool and thus wasn’t guaranteed. To add insult to ingury they then tried to sell me a really cheesy Chinese made Craftsman an a pretty hefty price.
I told them that if I wanted cheaply made Chinese tools, I would buy them elsewhere for 1/3 the price. The Craftsman name only meant something when they didn’t put it on junk.
This might reflect badly upon me but so be it. Many years ago some punk kid approached me one night about buying some tools from him. Apparently he was wanting 10 bucks for a tote box of tools in order to buy some beer.
So I asked him where the tools were and he told me they were on a deserted street buried in an evergreen bush on the corner.
So this revelation obviously meant stolen from who knows where and while I wasn’t sure the punk was even telling the truth about tools actually being there I figured for 10 bucks WTH.
Off he went with a ten-spot and I drove to the area in question, got out, fished around in the bushes and sure enough; a medium sized tote stuffed full of quality wrenches mostly with a few handfuls of sockets and screwdrivers.
The point could be made that I’m a weasel for doing this but someone, somewhere was going to end up with those tools and it might as well be me. Fire away…
On a few occasions, I’ve bought stuff on ebay that was quite possibly hot. I’m saying this based on the ridiculous low prices. Either hot and they want a quick sale, or the seller was an idiot and should have set a
What I do condemn are those LOSER ebay sellers who “withdraw” an item at the last moment, when you’re about to win it for pennies on the dollar, and there is no reserve and very few . . . if any . . . other bidders
I’ve emailed a few of them, and asked what happened. All I ever got was some PATHETIC and obviously FALSE excuses
Dont feel too bad @ok4450 in the Philly area well lets just say some parts didn’t get their dose of Brotherly Love yet… You run into all sorts of guys, I have seen many an instance of the same story you describe. My close friend used to live in Philthy and he knew some of the people who put on one of those Flea Markets… He told me that he had been checking in with his guys and one day he brought back about 8K in Snap on and Mack tools for about 400 in cash. They just didn’t make it to the Flea Market Tables…this was quite a while back…they have wised up considerably.
ANOTHER instance…and I may get in trouble for this one… Me and the same fellow were at a Storage Locker facilitly…We notice a Snap On truck…it is near the dumpster and the guy is throwing away all the warranty exchange tools…Snap on Tools…in the Dumpster. Now his logic was the tools were probably taking up too much space and the factory didn’t want them or whatever…I dunno exactly but they werent new…and most werent broken either…just swapped out for new by mechanics all over. He Leaves the facility and we run to the dumpster which is 1/3 of the way FULL…
Now the manager comes over and says we cannot be going thru the dumpster…turns out the Snap on guy payed the manager to make sure that whatever he threw away…STAYED thrown away. So what did we do? Pulled both of our cars over and went dumpster diving while the mgr called the police. I said whatever Buddy… He could have had a Sherman Tank and I was still goin in that dumpster.
We each still have many many many tools from that episode…Snap On Air Guns…Pry bars…a few computers…Rad test Kit…Torque Wrenches…A/C leak detector…and on and on and on. The Booty from that one day…still makes me smile almost everyday.
This might reflect badly upon me but so be it. Many years ago some punk kid approached me one night about buying some tools from him.
25 years ago one of my co-worker’s tweaker friends came in on a Saturday and asked for Stan. I said he didn’t work weekends. The friend then pulled out a brand new Snap-On 3/8 long handle flex-head ratchet and said “Oh, I was gonna ask him if he wanted to buy this for $20.” I took him up on the offer. As he was leaving he asked “If I come back Monday can I buy that back for $40?”
When I was fixin’ B52s, we used to carry our basic tool set in a canvas bag. Sometime during my last year I found a half-empty tool bag that was left on an aircraft in a place where it didn’t belong… one does not want a tool to get hung up in the elevator rigging or short out a circuit. There was nobody around, no identification on the bag, and it couldn’t remain there, so I took it back to the shop with me. I asked around, but nobody knew its owner. It came home with me when I got discharged. The canvas bag got all moldy, but I still have some of the tools all these years later.
Honda, I can see the call to the cops now-
There’s guys here stealing things from our dumpster!!! You gotta come here quick!
Ohhhkkkaayyy, is this a prank call??
I would do you one better- I would be staking that place out waiting for subsequent opportunities…
I know you at least tried to find the rightful owner.
Its settled law. Just because its in the dumpster doesn’t mean its abandoned. This was before recycling but we had a guy suspended and almost fired because he was collecting pop cans from the trash and selling them. Cleared about $20K to supplement his income if memory serves me. Same thing as you putting your trash out for collection on Tuesday. Just because its in the trash cart, doesn’t make it public property, and you can’t just rifle through someone else’s trash. Now if it hits the dump, that may be a different matter, but then its county property. I guess it it were me, I might have dumped a pail of chicken or fish guts or something on top of the tools if I really wanted them to stay there.
Well, I don’t mind being labeled a criminal under those circumstances.
We used to have people rifling our trash cans for can/bottle deposit money. I could care less as long as you don’t make a mess doing it. Heck, I even started placing them out in a separate can to make it easier on them. Now if someone was searching for personal information, well, maybe if I was concerned, I should have taken some precautions and shredded those documents first (I do). Same thing here. He doesn’t want someone fishing those out and claiming warranty on them again or selling them and cutting into their sales or potentially ruining their reputation. Then mark or damage them in some way first. Throwing them in a dumpster is no insurance. They could be pilfered at any point before being destroyed. You’re too lazy to do that, then expect someone to reclaim them somewhere along the way…I bet the cops gave this “case” the attention it deserved…
BTW- animal guts wouldn’t slow me down if there was a impact gun or similar to be had. That washes off
@asemaster, you got a deal and then some on that ratchet. In my opinion there are simply no ratchets on the planet that can compare with Snap-On.
HondaBlackbird, I don’t blame you for dumpster diving. I’d have been in there head first and the guy can call out the SWAT team if he wants.
I did the same thing at a Subaru dealer many years ago when they started that idiotic obsolete program where they considered anything older than 5 model years out of date. The parts reps were going around to dealers buying parts off the shelf at cost LESS 10%, smashing them with a ball peen, and sending them to the dumpster.
The rep at our dealer got tired of beating on parts after a day of this so he just logged them in and sent them to the dumpster with a light love tap just so he could say he hit them.
I parked my car by the dumpster and every time I’d see the parts guy hauling stuff around back I’d wait 15 minutes before going out and loading up.
I hauled a carload a day home for almost 2 weeks; all new OEM and most of it still in the original packaging.
Recycling at its best. We’ve been recycling then for many decades before recycling became green. I used to love going to the dump to pick stuff up that looked good yet, and the junk yard was right next to it. Now we just worry about plastic bags and phosphates.
I would have loved to be able to work on a B52… Did you see that heartbreaking documentary bout those guys who free’d a B52 from the Artic ICE ?! They repaired it on the spot and were about to fly away… Ugh…I almost jumped thru the TV to B Slap someone
This is the first I’ve heard of it. Sounds like one I’d enjoy.
I have seen them come back from Hanoi pretty shot up, full of holes with chunks missing, and still land safely. It’s amazing the abuse they’ll take and still fly as long as no critical hydraulic lines or circuits are hit.
I think its a MUST SEE for you @“the same mountainbike” I will see if I can dig it up for you. It is heartbreaking however…I must warn you…from a mechanics perspective that is…
@TwinTurbo …you can Bet I wanted to stake the place out… I’ve just been busy and have not had any legal access to that lot. Its worth a fence hop…but the dumpster is being watched. Its one thing to hit it while legally on the lot…its another to be there without permission.
So tempting however. I know guys who would be there come Hell or High water. I still enjoy using my 625ft/lb Snap-On Air hammer.
