Lending Tools to Your Neighbor

[gatewaysysop]

I always let everyone in the neighborhood know when I move in that I expect very little from them. They mind their business, I mind mine, you need help, you call, I need help, I call. Other than that, I don't want to know them socially. A good friend can become a bad enemy in short order. I don't want them living next door when that happens.

Absolutely agree, especially on this part. Had one of the few neighbor's that I talk with (very rarely) once tell me that the other people in our neighborhood don't really know what to make of me and the wife since we keep to ourselves. I told him I mind my own business and leave them alone and expect them to do the same.

He did tell me once that if I needed to borrow anything, to give him a call, but he's not the type of person I'd want to borrow anything from and I've never taken him up on the offer.

It's funny, I have lots of coworkers who probably never turned a wrench in their life but I'd be willing to let them borrow most anything they needed. My neighbors? Not a snowball's chance in hell.

 

[nate379]

I'm not buddy buddy with any of my neighbors but I will have a beer or three with them every once in a while. I know their names and have their phone #s. They have watched my dog before... I have cut their grass or watered flowers, etc.

I was at a co-workers house helping him load a car on my trailer and needed to borrow a jack. His neighbor had one outside and I told him to ask if he could borrow it. He said that was the 1st time he had even talked to the guy.

I'm not sure how that's even possible!

 

[michael Mccoy]

I dropped my golfing buddy off at his house and noticed his grass was covering the sidewalk almost to the swale. I said whats up w/ the grass, he said he didnt have an edger. Loaned him my 3 wheel gasoline edger. A month goes by and I have to call and ask where is my edger? He walks it to my house with all the grass stuck to the treads of the tires, gas tank bone dry.
I babysat a friends house w/ their 3 dogs, gorgeous home on the intracoastal waterway w/ an outdoor pool. Gardener cut the grass and the clippings wound up in the pool. Couldn't find vacuum hose so drove over to a friends house to borrow his. Soon as I plugged it in it came apart in pieces.Cost me $40 to buy him a new one. I don't lend or borrow anything any longer.

 

[twostory]

It all depends of your neighbors. I have 3 very friendly neighbors who I would loan anything (they have loaned me tools plenty of times). A fourth neighbor is friendly, but has never asked to borrow a tool.

The one tool I will not loan out is my chainsaw. If they need to cut things up, I will do the job for them. I have seen too many chainsaw damaged by people who should have never picked them up.

 

[stricht8]

I borrowed one of those telescopic branch cutter from a friend to prune my landlord's trees as a favor. I broke it in the process (I was not abusing it, it was a cheapo made in china tool). I replaced it with a new and better one. The landlord for whom I did the favor didn't offer to replace it for me and nor did I ask.

 

[mag99]

I have seen too many PEOPLE damaged by CHAINSAWS who should have never picked them up.

Fixed it for ya!

 

[1320stang]

I once borrowed a texture gun, 25' of hose and a pancake compressor from a guy (Don) at church to do an office I had built out. When I picked it up he gave me the compressor in the original box with the hose on top of it, and the hopper gun in it's box. It was pretty new stuff, but he had used it before.

Now Don is a big guy, I mean 6'-6" or 6'-7" and about 375, not so much fat as he is real stocky. He's got 8"-9" and at least 100# on me, a BIG guy. I didn't notice much about it's condition before I used it, but when I was done, I cleaned every bit of texture out of the gun, not hard, just time consuming, about 30 minutes or so. Wiped down the tank and cleaned the hose, it all looked new when I was done, took it back to his house and dropped it off (he wasn't home).

So Don comes up to me at church and asks with a very serious look on his face, "What did you do with my stuff?" "I...I...I brought it back and left it with your wife!?!...Why?" "Did you break it?" "NO! I cleaned it up, is somethings broke I'll be glad to replace it." "Oh, well I thought you broke it and replaced it, it hasn't looked that clean since I took it out of the boxes." ....whew..... "Anytime you want to borrow anything else, be my guest."

 

[Shocker]

I have seen too many PEOPLE damaged by CHAINSAWS who should have never picked them up.

Fixed it for ya!

Hehe, I think he had it right the first time. Damaging the chainsaws by people who should have never picked it up. Any loss of limb is incidental.

 

[ddawg16]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaHybrid
I always let everyone in the neighborhood know when I move in that I expect very little from them. They mind their business, I mind mine, you need help, you call, I need help, I call. Other than that, I don't want to know them socially. A good friend can become a bad enemy in short order. I don't want them living next door when that happens.

I think that is a sad situation.....

My rear neighbor has permission to enter my garage any time if he needs a tool....he never has and most likely never will....unless I'm home....we loan stuff to each other all the time....

The neighbors on both sides are retired and old....hence, I'm usually helping them...but they keep a good eye on the house....

But it's a great neighborhood....everyone gets along and looks after each other..

 

[ovilla]

For good neighbors, I'll most likely just go over to their place and help them with their repairs. This way my tools don't get abused and there's never any hard feelings. For others, I keep some older stuff handy that I use for "rentals". I also write down who borrowed what as some folks won't return things until I come asking for them.

I'll also borrow tools some times and always make sure to return them in much better condition than when I first borrowed them. The last time I did that, it ended up being costly though. Borrowed an older framing nailer and I ended up having to get it repaired. After that I just went out and bought my own.

Little by little though, I'm hoping to build up enough tools so that I never have to borrow anything from anybody. I just hate wasting time waiting for someone to get home so I can go borrow something.

 

[e-tek]

My neighbours are all AWESOME. Mostly older, a few my age, all very cool, respectful, pleasant. Most are dog people. I am one of two "car" guys on the block. He built a shop almost as big as mine and has all the tools (except the lift) I do. So I have NEVER been approached by a neighbour to borrow anything - and I would'nt borrow anything either. I do however cut the single lady's grass when I cut mine.

 

[...doc...]

the tweeker that used to live next door (moved out last night) was building a "sound proof" room in the garage to play his drums, and borrowed my saw, extenstion cord, and a drill. He said he would return my tools in a couple of days, it was 2 weeks later.


Never again

 

[RobSmith]

Make a whiteboard list and get the "borrower" to sign it. Tell them if they break it they pay for it to be repaired (not fix it themselves because they would probably do a **** job) You will then get genuine borrowers and the duds will leave you alone. My neighbour is a fine man with ten thumbs, so he either returns stuff in good condition or doesn't borrow stuff that he thinks he might break. . . .no problem.

 

[jay50]

I do however cut the single lady's grass when I cut mine.

Mrs Etek will be watching you more closely in the future...

 

[nate379]

Borrowing stuff has bit me in the *** a few times.

Like the wood chipper I have to fix. Borrowed it and unknown to me or the owner it had some cracked welds on teh chipper section (least from what I can tell).

About 30 mins into it the thing blows apart on me. Puts some steel in my leg and about caught the wood chips on fire.

My friend and his neighbor own it and they paid $75 each for it. It's probably 10 years old so it's nothing fancy or new.
Friend is not worried, but neighbor wanted a brand new replacement.
Yeah... NO!

I told him either I would fix it or give him his $75. Seemed fair to me.

 

[twostory]

I have seen too many PEOPLE damaged by CHAINSAWS who should have never picked them up.

Fixed it for ya!

Hehe, I think he had it right the first time. Damaging the chainsaws by people who should have never picked it up. Any loss of limb is incidental.

mag99,

I said it the way I meant it. While I do think some people should never handle a chainsaw, I know several who will not hurt themselves, but they will destroy your chainsaw.

I know one guy who put a hole in the gas tank of a chainsaw WTF?

Also I hate to see a nice sharp chain trashed by someone cutting one log, then hitting the dirt. (instant dull chain)

 

[ImpalaJon]

I used to have a sign in the garage of my old house that said, "I don't ask to borrow your wife, you don't ask to borrow my tools". A neighbor a few doors down came over one day to borrow my edger and I told him sure, as I pointed to the sign and laughed. His wife was hot and loved the attention over the next few years. None of the other wives in the neighborhood were very remarkable so their husbands never got any of my tools.

 

[dustym]

I had one neighbor that would never bring back what he borrowed. He once asked to borrow my router and that was a big no.
Hell I wont even loan my welder to my older brother now. He borrowed my engine hoist once. 2 years later I made him pay me for it, last year I finially bought another one for what me brother gave me for mine.

 

[rsanter]

I have select friends that I will lend tools to. I also have several sets of tools so I generally will not lend anything out of the primary set of tools. generally I have had good luck in lending tools out because I only am willing to lend to a select group.

one time I lent some spare cman stuff to a friend. this was not someone in my 'select' group so he only got to borrow some of the spare stuff. when he brought the stuff back one of the sockets was cracked. I told him that it was his responsibility to get me another one and he complained that why should he have to buy me another one when its lifetime guaranted. I told him that I never said you have to buy me one, you just have to go get it. meaning you drive to sears and het it exchanged and bring the replacement to me. after the dumb look fell off his face he went to sears and exchanged it

bob

 

[billspit]

When a neighbor asks to use my chainsaw, I go with it and operate it.

I have one neighbor that I swap tools with all the time. If he broke something he would fix it or replace it.

 

[ddrewyor]

I have a close circle of individuals that can borrow my tools. If something happens these are people who will either admit they broke it and pay for it or they will fix it so it was better than new. Most stuff comes back cleaner or filled with gas

My bad experience was with an ex-friend who lent me his Bobcat to move some dirt on my property. I used it for about 5 hours run time and nothing really taxing. Before returning it, I filled it up and changed the oil - way cheaper than renting and the hassle associated with it. He picked it up,and a couple of weeks later I get a call that his machine is leaking hydraulic fluid. I look where it was parked on my property and no fluid, but I tell him to bring it over and we will fix it. He declines, takes it into a repair shop, then calls me and asks for ~$600. I thought that seems steep and call his repair shop for a breakdown. I talked to the mechanic and asked what I could have done to cause this - he replys that all items replaced for the $600 were basic maintenance items that were just old and worn out. I cut my ex-friend a check for a hydraulic hose and labor ($100) and never talked to him again.

Dave
________
Mercedes-Benz Clk Gtr History

 

[mikester]

I have a couple of friends that I loan/borrow tools. The only things that I dont loan out at this point are my pressure washer and chainsaw.

 

[brownbagg]

I got a freind, nicest guy in the world but tool return not too high on his list, I have to go get them. But he a nice guy. I ended up everytime I go to harbor freight, buy some cheapy. there in a tool box just for him, because I know I never see my snap on again

 

[mikester]

Friends can be funny about tools. Last year about a week before I went in for major surgery my buddy told me he wanted to come over to my garage and look at my tools. I told him that I returned anything that I had borrowed from him a long time ago. He tells me he just wanted to see what I had in case I didnt make it out of the hospital he could get dibs on the good stuff before anyone else ! What are friends for !!

 

[walrus]

. He tells me he just wanted to see what I had in case I didnt make it out of the hospital he could get dibs on the good stuff before anyone else ! What are friends for !!

Is he a member of Garage Journal? Sounds like it

 

[metal1313]

today was really nice to me, and loaning tools. well more like getting repaid for loaning tools and helping out. i had a flat roof spring a pretty bad leak and ended up replacing the whole roof with better materials. well i was almost done when it started to pour again. two more 22ft pieces of high grade roll roofing to go. one of my neighbors had seen me working up there this morning and when his kids came in beucase of the rain he looked out his window.

a few minutes later my relatively new neighbor was askin if i needed help from my deck. he gave me a hand...then asked if i could help him with some stuff at his house, which was hookin up a sink. he knows i used to do plumbing work... and paid me

 

[tcianci]

I never lend out anything to friends, neighbors or relatives that I expect to get back! Learned the hard way. I still lend out stuff, I just tell myself that it may be the last time I see it! Maybe it's a strange way to look at it but when my neighbor came up the driveway with the battery charger I had just loaned him....wires still smouldering, I was more than prepared. I just smiled and told him not to worry about it. He bought me a new one anyway. I seldom borrow stuff myself because if I trash it, I own it. So I figure that if its a tool that I could posibly have to replace for someone, I usually just spend the money up front and get it for myself, or rent one. The most important thing is that good friends and good neighbors are not easily replaceable, tools are. You need to consider the "hard feelings" factor in these situations. I have managed 30 years in my neighborhood, keeping the neighbors as freinds.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

I lent a torque wrench to my co-worker / friend to help him assemble his brand new bike. He ended up cracking the aluminum clamp for the stem to the handlebar. He did have the correct torque setting. I felt bad thinking that the wrench was out of calibration. I looked into getting it calibrated and they wanted to charge as much as a new one would cost!

I've done the same thing. I guess we have to make sure our tools are working right before we lend them out

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

I lent out an old floor jack to one of my old customers a year ago still to have seen it come back.

I lent out a jig saw to whom I can not remember quite a few years ago and never came back.

I dont lend any thing out any more. Unless you are real close to me as in across the street.

it is hard to recover and lend again when you've been burned in the past. I don't blame you for guarding your tools closely.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

We're in a good neighborhood - we always have stuff going back and forth between about six houses. If one of us adds a tool to our arsenal, we let the other guys know.... makes for one less tool for the others to buy. Big stuff like my appliance dolly? Whoever uses it last has to store it in their garage. We all have keys to each others garages in case someone's not home (except for the douchebag in the yellow house - he kept breaking our stuff and is now on his own).

Lent my neighbor to the west of me a floor jack to do brakes on his mini-van. He didn't want to take the jack stands with him - "...I'll be alright with just this..."

Long story short - van fell on his leg and his nickname is now "Squishy".

Now he knows he HAS to take the stands when he borrows my jack.

Sounds like you have great tool-lending community in your neighborhood. And you also don't spare the painful lessons.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

The neighbor on one side, probably. He has offered me the use of some of his tools. I prefer not borrow tools, if I break them, I replace them of like or better quality.

The neighbor on the other side, hell no! I loaned him a splitting maul once. When it came back it had a split handle and he was not man enough to tell me what happened. He also sneaks across the fence and wanders in my yard at night, & when we are gone. We have him on the security camera trespassing.

I do loan my work tools to my employees, I do not expect them to buy any power tools, pipe working tools or consumables. But they come back to me, and I put them in my van.

I never loan my trade manuals or code books. If on a job and someone thinks they need to look at my books, I stand there and watch them. That includes the inspectors. Some of my books are not replacable, when they are gone, they are gone.

That's a good point! it's always good to keep close eye on tool and trade manuals that are important and irreplaceable.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

For all my bigger stuff, like floor jack, jack stands, skilsaw, saber saw, or cases with specific tools in it like pullers or allen wrenches, etc., I always write my name on it with a silver paint pen.
It's not that my friends are a bunch of thieving bastards, its that after a while you forget where something came from.

What I haven't done yet is make a sign-out sheet in my garage, which I should do. I know I've loaned a couple things, and I can't remember where I sent them.

-Brad

If you had a sign-out sheet do you think that would keep people from borrowing tools from you and sort of weed out those that don't bring stuff back?

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

We also have great neighbors and we loan one another tools on a pretty regular basis.

My dad taught me to always return borrowed items in better shape than you received them. He was an honest and wise man.

Very wise advice, indeed.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

I have a sticker on one of my boxes. I found it at Northern tool... It says "Borrowing tools is for the weak".

I'll loan tools out, but typically not to anybody I wouldn't trust with my wife, dog, and/or kids (if I had any).

that's an interesting sticker slogan. Can you upload a photo of it?

 

[boiler7904]

I loan stuff to a couple of family members - my dad, father in law, and one of my brothers. The other brother isn't too good about returning things or using common sense. If he needs to borrow something, I make sure there is supervision namely me or our dad. I have a couple of neighbors that I wouldn't hesitate to loan a tool to because I know they aren't hard on things to begin with and are capable of replacing or repairing a damaged one in the event something happens.

I'm not really a fan of borrowing tools except for the FIL's miter saw. Funny thing is that it's been used a lot more at my house in the last 2+ years than his even though it's only in my garage 15 or 20 days a year. The days of me borrowing it are winding down though. I'm starting to look at moving out of state and that means I'll be buying my own to work on a new house.

My thinking is that if I have to buy a new one as a replacement for my screw up, I'd rather be keeping a new tool than giving it to whoever I borrowed something from. Hence my ever growing collection of tools.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

I don't advertise the fact that I have a lot of tools, just so I won't get people asking to borrow them. But I had a pretty good experience when a neighbor that I didn't really know came to the door to borrow some stuff. His boat trailer had a flat a little ways down the street and was blocking a lane of traffic. It was just a side street so there wasn't much traffic, but he was pretty desperate to get it fixed and off the street. Anyway, he didn't have any tools to get the wheel off, had seen me working on cars many times in the past, and was hoping I could help him out. With a sense of impending doom, I pulled out a hydraulic jack, and a tool bag, and fixed him up with a breaker bar, extensions, and a range of metric and SAE sockets since he didn't know exactly what he needed. An hour later, he returned everything, thanked me several times, and offered to buy a replacement for one of the sockets because he had noticed the chrome was chipped after he had used it to removed the lug nuts. I told him it was like that before I gave it to him, so all was well.

Too bad that kind of responsibility and appreciation can't run rampant in more of the population......

That's quite a story. And yes, I wish that kind of appreciation and responsibility was a bit more contagious, too.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

I loan a couple of my neighbors tools, although they probably loan me more. We live out in the country, 8 miles from the nearest Lowes/Wal Mart/Ace Hardware (Lowes is only about 6 months old) and it's a pain to drive into town to get a 1" spade bit when I can't find mine, usually it's small stuff though.

I used to borrow a jig saw from one neighbor all the time, when I returned it, I always gave him a set of jig saw blades with it. I've bought my own finally when I wanted to borrow his and he wasn't home. I did borrow a hammer drill from him once, it was from his work (he does phone installation stuff for the state) and I got it pretty hot, but it worked when I returned it (I was replacing a PVC toilet flange in a concrete floor in my bathroom). When it went to use it later, it locked up on him, the state got him a new one, I felt sorta bad about it, but didn't know what to do, I didn't want to get him in trouble.

Later I loaned him my Bostich framing nailer and he hooked it up to his 135 psi compressor without a regulator and blew out the seal on the trigger. It cost me about $30 to fix, but I thought it probably made us even, I even loaned it to him later.

The other neighbor I loaned my cordless drill to for about 10 minutes as they were finishing something up on their roof and had run their batteries down, I've borrowed more from them than that.

I loaned my chainsaw to a buddy once, when it came back it wouldn't run anymore, had to buy a new one, but my dad had given me the old one (pretty new Homelite, I now have a Stihl) so I wasn't really out anything on it.

I loaned a 12" miter saw to a coworker for he could do some crown in his house, it came back with an 80 tooth blade

I guess sometimes the lending evens out for the good. And if you're lucky a neighbor can bring back your tools in better condition.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

i sorta feel like i should loan my tools to my neighbors, after all i was a snot nosed nosy kid a few years ago. i learned alot from them, one is an architect and the other is an engineer. so when i was younger i borrowed alot of tools...not all were returned though. so now that i have more tools than anyone, and better tools, i do loan them out. after one neighbor returned a miter saw broken and i had to fight with him to go buy me a replacement i now make them write a check or hold something important,(id credit cards, house keys) so i know i'll get it back and in working order

It's funny how tool lending comes around and you have the chance to give back. I also respect the hard line you take with your neighbors. How do they respond to your "new" tool lending rules?

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

When I moved in (4 years ago) I brought my parents lawn tractor to mow my grass. it had a dead batt. I walked across the street to a guy who was working on his f250. I introduced myself and asked if he had a set of jumper cables, or a batt charger I could borrow for a few minutes.

he replied "I don't have those kinds of tools" as I stared into a garage FULL of stuff.

at that point, the neighbor next to him heard the conversation and basically gave me carte blanch on borrowing anything he had (this guy has 3x the stuff the 1st neighbor has.

Haven t really talked to the 1st guy since, but he manages to wrench on his truck every weekend, with no tools apparently

Sorry to hear about the 1st neighbor. But I'm glad your other neighbor was more helpful.

 

[Gladiator GarageWorks]

I had a b/law I'd lend things to and they'd come back(sometimes) broken,altered or generally screwed up.
Last time he came to use something I asked what he had for collateral? I might as well asked for his first born?
Best move I ever made.
My neighbor is great.We trade/bargain tools and supplies at a speedy rate.I'd hope to never do him dirty.He's a good neighbor.

Great neighbors are sometimes hard to find. But I'm glad you've got one! You never know when you're gonna need help.