Some New Tools for the Collection
Thursday, December 13th, 2007I am all about getting the good stuff these days. I don’t know anyone who can dispute the fact that working with quality tools is better than working with cheap ones. Tool manufacturers do a very good job of making “good” tools feel really nice in your hands. There is a big difference.
Yesterday, I took a trip to Lowe’s to get a few things. I wanted to get a chalk snapper (You know…it looks like a tape measure. You pull the string out of the thing and snap the line of chalk) and two garbage cans. I need the chalk snapper for the floor of the kitchen. I have to make lines to help me screw the subfloor down to the joists. Whenever doing a floor over, this is a good idea. I needed the garbage cans because I have a bit of a mess outside. I already have four full garbage cans outside under the porch and one inside the porch. I have to get the sheetrock off the driveway, so I bought two more. By the way, I filled those two and need about two more. I’m not going to get them though.
So I wandered into Lowe’s. I began searching for the chalk snapper and happened to pass by some face filters. I picked up a nice 3M Dual Cartridge Respirator Assembly and held onto it. I needed this for the sanding of the sheetrock, among other things. My old one leaked. I found this out during the previous day’s sanding. I like these better than the little white ones because they stay on my big head better. Also, I used to wear them when I worked at a bodyshop back in the day. They do a nice job filtering particles.
As I continued my search for the chalk snapper, I passed by some razor blades for my Stanley razor knife. I remembered that I just dulled out the last one on the sheetrock. I picked up a ten pack and held onto them. Then, I saw some screw bits. I picked up the 25 piece Dewalt bit set. I thought of how nice it would be to toss the two bits that I keep switching back and fourth in my screw gun now. It’s like they are going to heal themselves or something. I held onto them.
Boy, that’s weird, where the heck are those chalk snappers? Oh well, moving on. Geeesh, I wish I didn’t see the screw gun battery replacements. I thought back to the day before…me running back and fourth, between the basement and the kitchen to replace the battery in the cordless screw gun. Remember I just got this screw gun about a year ago? Yeah, that’s the last time I buy anything other than DeWalt, Makita, Bosch or Milwaukee. As I said above, I am into the good stuff, especially when it comes to tools. In this case, since the gun is so new, I picked up a FireStorm Two 18-Volt Extended Run Time Battery pack. Just one thing, remember that these are meant for home use. Contractor use is not covered under the warranty. One DeWalt battery is twice the cost of two of these. Say anything about quality? I held onto them.
This trip was getting expensive. I only came here for a few things and haven’t found either of them yet. I swung around the corner and there they were…the chalk snappers. There were a few of them there, but I got the best one. It’s called the Stanley FatMax Chalk Reel Kit With Blue Chalk.
A funny thing happened on the way to Lowe’s. I called my friend, Craig and told him that I was getting a chalk snapper. He said, “Oh good. Just remember to get a good one.” I told him, “Well, the most expensive one is around $12, so ok.” I thought that was amusing. I picked it up and held onto it.
Onto the garbage cans. I took a look outside to only learn the garbage cans were inside. I walked back in and found the correct aisle. I went to the cheap section and grabbed two black garbage cans and their lids. Over and out.
I stumbled to the register and paid for all the stuff I just had to have. Can I ever get out of that store without leaving with a bunch of stuff I didn’t know I needed? Does this happen to everyone when they are initially stocking their tool collections? Perhaps it’s just me.
