I try to not to do that. I may place more importance than I should on a particular feature.
My wife persuaded me to get a SS/safer saw. As most know I cut half my thumb off about 28 years ago. Sooo I began my hunt for a safer TS. I was always sold on the SS and I was very interested in the Laguna TSS with sliding table and scoring blade. I was thinking about more bang for my buck If I was going to upgrade from my Jet cabinet saw.
Because my safety was the ultimate goal I chose the SS and have been very happy with the choice, very happy. I still think the sliding table and scoring blade would be a nice feature but I have ways that I get around without either.
About 5 years ago we were shopping for a new Mini Cooper. We were really sold on a particular 2 seater model. It was going to be a fun to drive car. With more research we got fewer answers from the manufacturer and the dealer, it was like thay had something to hide. We passed, as much as we wanted to buy that vehicle. As it turns out passing was a great decision. Like most European vehicles they have very high maintenance costs and reliability is way shy of the Asian competition.
Hmmm... I would respectfully beg to differ. Some of my employees and even a couple of subs are lifetime tradesmen. Seems they all have at least a fe w kids, and with differing ages it is cheaper for the wife not to work, but to mind the house front and keep from paying exorbitant child care for 2,
3 (or even more) kids. Every week is a struggle. Add in normal kids' cost, family illness, rain/weather days, and on and on... they don't have the mo ney.
Example: Festool hammerdrill/driver with batteries, and the impact driver tool only is $525 + $300 + tax, and you are at nearly $900. That is a ton of money for a lot of folks, regardless of how much the long term returns m ight be. It is important too, that one remembers that Festool is only conf ident enough to offer a 3 year warranty on their products. I remember many years ago when one of the guys I knew that worked at Woodcraft told me how much "out of warranty work" cost. It was scary.
And... as we say, sometimes, $10 is $10, right? ;)
Example: As you know, I just bought the Ridgid equivalent of the above ment ioned set. $178 + tax, and a LIFETIME warranty. Buy once, cry once, etc. No whining about Ridgid standing behind their warranty as I have followed their instructions implicitly and they have stood by their warranty without squabble. The Festool has batteries that should be longer lasting, but the y really add a LOT the tool weight and it does come with a Systainer instea d of the crappy nylon bag. Some guys like the soft cases as they are more easily packed into totes for transport (that includes me) as they have give to them making it easier to pack, but the Ridgid bags just plain suck. One big gold star to Festool for a usable tool case.
(So I bought an excellent Husky bag at Father's Day on closeout for $16 I r eally like, so back in business. The drill/driver bag now holds my Bosch 5" sander, a 4" finish sander, and a pile of sandpaper for both. Not a total loss, but still a POS.)
As far as affordability, from time to time I buy tools for my guys and let them pay me back over time. Got to be my "all star guys" or I don't. Miss a couple of days of work due to rain, the kids are sick from something goin g around school and have to go to the doctor, and you get your truck fixed. .. and you are broke. So if they actually own and use their own tools, I w ill put a drill, saw, impact, or something like that on a tab and let them pay me back. Sometimes, as I remember well, you just don't have the money.
It's that way with just about anything new. I have a first generation Milw aukee circular saw that had RED plastic parts with unpolished aluminum cast ings. Boy was it red... in a world of polished aluminum (Porter Cable, etc. ), and black plastic with polished aluminum (Millers Falls, etc.) it really stood out. It also stood out years later when it was still running, and d ecades after that after it had been rebuilt (bearings/triggers/brushes) a f ew times. It still runs, but it isn't strong. At 40 plus years, it has ea rned a rest.
I still remember how much fun the boys made out of that saw, "Hey Robert, g o get your Fisher Price saw and cut up the studs" and "I didn't know Mattel was in the tool business! What a POS!".
As someone that literally uses his tools to make a living and buys specific tools for specific purposes, I can say that most folks never use their too ls to their potential, and some never learn how to use them correctly. Tha t's fine; it;s like a guy that owns a Corvette that will go 180 mph... how often does he do it?
I was glad you added other tools to clarify the nature of your Domino tool, though. I thought it was a second son... "Well, I was out in the shop th e other day with Domino and we got a lot done!" and "I took the Domino (kin d of like saying "the boy") to work with Karl and me the other day" and it worked out great. Then "I have come up with some new joinery with the Domi no and it really speeds things up; I can't imagine doing this without my Do mino!" and comments like that. I thought Brian had a kid brother!
Just kidding... just messing around... the day is almost over here. The boys are putting in the last of the plumbing on a kitchen remodel and I will get a nice draw and go smoke a cigar.
But you know, I told guys for years that my DeWalt 713 I had was the son I never had... no kidding!
Ahhh yes, you are correct and I was painting a bit too much with a broad brush. Anyone pretty much means Everyone. And that was not what I actually meant to day.
Surely, I fall under that category. Case in point is my torque wrench. I may only use it once or twice a year, to attach a lawnmower blade or a sparkplug. I have relatives that "do without", but I wouldn't be without it (I'm such a "beast" I would screw stuff up : ) ). I'm soon ready to use again one of those oscillating tools, that were highly-touted here, to remove some thin-set (from under a few tiles). I'm learning that to use tools to their potential, you have to put a little effort into how they can be used. It wouldn't take long to persuade me to buy an angle grinder from HF, I just have to learn more about what I'm going to do with it. For instance, is it any good for demolition? I've got a too damn-well built "umbrella table" that my wife got from free 5 years ago. Cut the legs off yesterday with my ($25 HF) reciprocating saw (another tool I use a few times a year, at best). The 8' table top must still weight 50 pounds (I like to put it in trash bags). It's got a heavy duty angle-iron steel frame under the top. A bit of a errant post, but you can see I'm using a few tools, if not using them "to their potential".
My trash service, that I contract directly, will only pick up trash bags or empty those 60 gallon trash containers. There charge "ridiculous" extra cost for other things, since they say they have to make a special trip (based on prior estimates, I'd say they would want at least $80). I think we have figured how we are going to get rid of it (with permission).
I was trying to avoid removing the (30+?) screws holding the frame to the table, and screwing around with it any longer. I'd rather use the time trying to remove the abundant mold and algae that resulted on my deck as a result of the table's presence. The deck looks bigger already!
As do I. I may use some of them all day long, or use them to skillfully, b ut certainly not all of them. I use my carpentry/woodworking tools a lot an d have developed a proficiency with them as well as other tools I use regul arly in my business. Same with my spray guns and finishing equipment.
But the plumbing tools... it takes me 10X longer to solder a joint, flare a connection, etc., than it should.
You can easily make the same assumption with computer use. I use my comput er to do my books, generate invoices, generate estimates, write reports, ed it/annotate pictures, pay my company (and personal) bills, order materials, set up labor, general correspondence, to design my business cards, my stat ionery, do product research, contract research and on a on. I am on the co mputer so much I have two laptops (one I carry all the time, one for non-se cure locations), a desk top and a tablet. According to the good folks at M icrosoft, I fall into the category where I use about 25% of my computer('s) capability.
So I think depending on how you look at it, none of us use our tools to the ir highest use!
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