Such a thing as too many tools?

[Choirboy]

Just catching up on some blogs that I read and ran across this quotation from woodworker/author/editor Christopher Schwarz:
"Tools are like kittens or puppies. Having one or two around the house can be a rewarding, meaningful experience. Having a houseful of them is a sure path to misery and neglect for both you and the animals."

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/w...nd-tools-what-is-most-common-is-most-precious

Now, this goes against everything I've ever been taught about tools ("He with the most tools wins!")

What do you think, is there such a thing as too many tools?

Jon

 

[NORTON'S SHOP]

Sacrilege!!!

 

[unslow1]

I'm sure there is but I'm just not familiar with the concept.

I burnt up my angle grinder Sun night trying to cut the head off a bolt. Just my luck that was one of the few tools that I didn't have a backup for and the stores were closed.

 

[TK-421]

In the words of my great-grandpa, if you can't find it when you need it then you don't have enough. I want to say he had like 30-40 tape measures when he died.

 

[B_Bimmer]

If they aresitting in the elements with no hope of a future it may be possible... But usually the answer isn't that one has too many tools, they just need a bigger shed/garage.

 

[rlitman]

I think Christopher Schwarz is absolutely correct. But he's not advocating not having more tools, just that much specialized stuff is really **** you don't need.
Alton Brown would give the same advice, to avoid "unitaskers".

 

[ItsNemo]

As long as you have the right tool for the job then you don't have too many tools. Tools that you've never once used in your entire life (discounting things like socket/wrench sets where you might not use certain sizes) or don't have a pending job for are just a waste of space and money.

I've got a couple unused tools kicking around, things I bought for a specific job and turned out to be a better/easier way to do it mostly.

 

[PelicanPines]

As long as you have enough drawer space. Unlimited access to a label maker. A skill to organize... You can never have too many tools.

Edit... and learn to play garage tetris

 

[General Geoff]

Tools don't need constant attention, food, water, warmth. Tools don't care if they sit in a box or on a shelf in the cold and the dark for years, as long as they're kept dry. The analogy is bogus.

 

[dclassical]

I will have an opinion that is probably not popular around here, but I would say yes there is such a thing as tool many tools (unless you are a collector, which is a very different category).

I used my tools to fix the cars, do maintenance and work on the house. They save me money and allow me to do things the way I want them (or screw them up).

Buying more tools than I need means money not spent somewhere else, on other hobbies. So I buy tools that I need, sometimes in advance of a project. But I won't buy a tool because it is neat or cool if I do not have a use for it.

 

[rsanter]

Yes there is
When you have 46 of something and you never seem to use more than 5 of them then you have too many.
When you don't have the room to keep them and they are sitting out rusting and not being cared for or protected, you have too many

Bob

 

[Wes J]

My philosophy has always been that if I can't remember the last time I used it, I probably should just get rid of it. You can get by with surprisingly little. But, most of the time a specialized tool will save you time and frustration. You just have to decide if the time and frustration you will see is justified by the cost of the tool.

The same thing is happening with tools as every other consumer good in these modern times. Back in the old days, there weren't a lot of options and everything was pretty expensive. You had to really think about buying a set of sockets or air tool. It would likely cost a whole weeks wages or more.

Today, the Chinese and Taiwan tools have caught up in quality and the prices are so low that the same amount of consideration is not needed. A guy can go into Harbor Freight and walk our with 1,000 lbs of tools for very little money. He doesn't need them, but he can afford them, so why not?

This is both good and bad. It's good because the average guy can afford a pretty lethal set of tools. It's bad because guys fall over each other to give the Chinese money because they can't resist the low prices.

 

[drewvdw]

I agree because he says "in the house" I have a couple tools in the house, hammer, screwdrivers, etc. But the rest is in the garage or at work.

 

[crab]

Absolutely, I don't want any tools that I don't need. A lot of guys just collect tools and that's cool, it's there money and space. I like tools [Snap-On] but I've seen how things can get out of hand. You can see my box to the left, it's full, I'm not buying a bigger box. My garage is for doing things, it's not a big tool display

 

[2oolhound]

Here's another analogy.

Too many cats …...2 is good but a houseful NOT good
Too many tools …...a few are good but a houseful is NOT good
Too much money ...a few bucks in your wallet is good but a houseful of money is bad?????

These analogies are the same, one or two can work but too many adds up to garbage

 

[rlitman]

Here's another analogy.

Too many cats …...2 is good but a houseful NOT good
Too many tools …...a few are good but a houseful is NOT good
Too much money ...a few bucks in your wallet is good but a houseful of money is bad?????

These analogies are the same, one or two can work but too many adds up to garbage

Too many wives ..... 1 is ........ aw shucks

 

[Richard Cranium]

you can never have too many tools

 

[Choirboy]

Too many wives ..... 1 is ........ aw shucks

Lol... reminds me of the old joke: Bigamy is being married to too many women. Monogamy is the same....

(just don't tell my wife! Love you honey!)

 

[franzdom]

I think there is but don't go talking about it here.

 

[code4pay]

You have to remember Chris is talking about hand tools for woodworking. These tools, like specialised planes need careful setting up, careful maintenance and you need to be practiced at using them to work well. If you have a lot of different types of tools you maybe unlikely to use them enough to keep them tuned and have the muscle memory to use them well. With hand tool based woodworking most operations can be done in some other manner with more common tools like a chisel and saw.

 

[crewchief888]

I will have an opinion that is probably not popular around here, but I would say yes there is such a thing as tool many tools

But I won't buy a tool because it is neat or cool if I do not have a use for it.

(according to some people) i'm probably in the "too many tools" club.

but in my defense....
ive been wrenching on const eq for over 30 years, and was a machinist for about 7 years before that.
i put together a pretty good selection of tools at home, as well as my "working tools" i rarely have to get into my work tools to do much of anything.
we've been working, off and on, for almost 10 years doing renovations on our house, i never had much as far as woodworking stuff, but that collection is growing.

every tool i own has been used, and many have seen some serious abuse, i dont buy the latest and greatest "just because"

 

[fsae0607]

No!!!!

Each has a use

 

[DemoFly]

My opinion is that if you have 3 of something then you have too many. (IN ONE SETTING)
Always good to have a back-up while the other is being warrantied/replaced.

Of course if you have 15 socket sets, and you place a socket set in each of your 15 vehicles...then you're good.

 

[ajchien]

No .

 

[Jim Diesel]

Never!

 

[Tellingthem]

Im sure there is. But I'll never reach that point...

 

[77thor]

I'm not sure... as I haven't got there yet.

 

[B_Bimmer]

My opinion is that if you have 3 of something then you have too many. (IN ONE SETTING)
Always good to have a back-up while the other is being warrantied/replaced.

Of course if you have 15 socket sets, and you place a socket set in each of your 15 vehicles...then you're good.

That's why I keep buying four wheeler's and trucks.

 

[anndel]

No, everytime I give or sell a tool away in the I find I need it in the short or long term future so I buy and keep tools.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

The number of tools when it reaches "too many" is one decimal point this side of ∞...

 

[TigerDude]

This fits with TigerDude's law of inventory management: The more inventory you have, the less likely you are to have the exact items that customers want.

The more you have, the more trouble you will have finding the one you actually need.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

quotation from woodworker/author/editor Christopher Schwarz:
"Tools are like kittens or puppies. Having one or two around the house can be a rewarding, meaningful experience. Having a houseful of them is a sure path to misery and neglect for both you and the animals."







OoF-dA


Think I will stick to the MAD Magazine, Friday Night Live, and Garage Journal to gain further wisdom of the Tool World.. Opps; this is Garage Journal.: confused:

 

[Gmonkee]

Ask the kid fresh out of tech school with less than six months at the dealer. Then ask the guy who retired twenty years ago and his walker is too wide for the aisles he made filling his garage the last forty years.

Two very different answers and reasons. I collect some and work with tools daily.

One set of backup tools in case of theft and anything not used in two years is considered for resale. And we are in the handboxes class of storage, not 8' wide triple high roller boxes.

Everyone will have different needs but mine are simple.

 

[vga]

Never

 

[speed bump]

How many car mechanics/DIYers have 3/4" drive tools and beyond that are never touched? How many people own 20 drills and use 2 99% of the time? How many people make 2 cuts a year on a table saw? His point is focus on buying tools that you will use and unless you like collecting skip the ones you have to dream up a use for. Most people have a limit on how much space they have and I for one would rather use it to get work done rather than have another roll around full of 1/4"-1" wrenches and sockets or spline drive 3"+impact tools.

 

[K-Dog]

you picked the wrong place to ask that question.

 

[ssdave]

I reached that point a few (maybe 3) years ago. I had so many extras and duplicates that it was hard to find and use the stuff I really wanted and needed. I've since then sorted out many duplicates and things that have been upgraded and sold them off. I've used those funds to buy exactly the things that I wanted and didn't want to pay the high prices for. So, traded off the excess for what I really wanted, at no cost. Overall, right sizing my supersized helping of tools was just like when I lost weight. I feel a whole lot better now, and wouldn't go back, no matter how tempting "just one more helping" is.

Mind you, I'm not a minimalist in any way. I have a very complete and quite nice set of garage tools for working on cars. It's a mix of Snap-on and Proto and a few other select items. Enough to fill a 26" stack and a 42" stack box.

Then, I have a Proto nostalgia set that I have collected. Parts of it reside with the garage stuff, and parts of it get pegboarded in my basement shop. It's really just a collection, it's surplus to the basic needs that are met with the garage boxes, minus the extra Proto. But, it saves me going from the garage to the shop for a tool.

Then, I have a very complete Snap-on set in a portable "on the road" box. That set is more complete than most non-pro garage 26" stacking combo box sets. It saves raiding my garage tools and throwing an emergency box together when I make a trip or have to do an on the road repair for some reason.

Three sets, meet three different "needs" I perceive. Any one set could probably do for 90% of what I do, and I could make do easily. However, now I don't have the 3000 extra sockets, 500 extra wrenches, dozens of pliers, screwdrivers, etc, etc, etc, that I have sold over the past 3 years. Those were "too much", and I finally realized that and disposed of them, and feel a lot better about my tools now. Those thousands of tools have been replaced with some nice Snap On and Proto stuff that I was missing, and that fits in with my overall scheme of things a lot better than the superfluous extras did.

So, the question: is there such a thing as too many tools? Yes, there can be if they don't meet the basic objectives of what you want them for. If your basic objective is to have nice, beautifully matched sets to work with (that was my objective) then accumulating random stuff anytime you can afford it is too many tools. If your objective is to collect things because you love finding and buying them cheap, and hoarding them, it's unlikely you'll get "too many tools" until your house collapses and your wife leaves you for a less cluttered space. Even then, it might not be too much for you, if that's your thing.

So, the best way to answer that for yourself is look at why you own tools, and see if what you own matches the why, or exceeds it, or doesn't meet it. If not, and it doesn't match because you have excess beyond what you want, then you're at the too many tools stage.

 

[WhiskeyRanger]

I probably have a half dozen full sets of 3/8 sockets and twice as many ratchets, along with a few partials. I need another set like I need another hole in my head. If I bought another set, that's more money diverted from something more useful. If I was given another set and didn't pay it forward by getting rid of an existing one, I would just be adding clutter to no benefit.

So yeah, just having more **** isn't any better than having just enough.

 

[drink]

It seems like no matter how hard I try to be prepared with a good set of tools I end up buying more tools to get a job done. Have you ever been on a job with a ton of fasteners that are the same size? If you have half a dozen workers and only one socket and ratchet it can be a huge slow down. Sometimes you have to have more than one of everything to make good time.

 

[dledmo]

Only on moving day!