Who do you trust.....

[Outlander]

My cousin (older and wiser) taught me to never lend my stuff to someone who was not in a position to repay in equal value. He wanted to borrow my pickup truck, so he gave me his Jeep Cherokee while he used it.

My fear in borrowing a tool is that I damage it and cant replace it with exactly (or better quality), especially if there was sentimental value attached.

 

[J Persons]

No one anymore. I loaned my Porter Cable orbital polisher to my Preacher so he could polish his fiberglass fishing boat that he was rebuilding. Got the polisher back after having to ask for it, but the foam rubber pad was destroyed. Not even a "Sorry 'bout that" or an offer to replace the pad.

 

[chops101]

I have learned that it causes much harder feelings if they break it or seem to want to keep it, over just saying no to begin with.

A guy at my wife's work just asked her if he could borrow from me, and I quote, "One of those little things that shoots little nails?"

 

[CJ7VFR]

I also do not lend my tools to anyone except my dad. As a few others have said, it is my dad who taught me not only how to use tools, but how to CLEAN them and sharpen them when the job is done so they would be read to use the next time they are needed.

I made the mistake of lending my father-in-law my good tree loppers, at my wife's request, because he said his did not cut very well. And now I know why.

When he eventually gave them back, they were all rusted up, and the blade had actual chunks taken out of them, like he tried to cut stones with them or something! How that happened, I don't know, but apparently he also had left them out in the yard for along time through several rain storms. The only reason he even found them to give them back was because he hit them with his lawn mower.

I showed this to my wife, and she said she was sorry, and that her dad was not good with tools, and he never learned from his dad how to properly take care of things. I was pissed, and I had to buy a new set because these were destroyed beyond repair. And the worst part was he NEVER said he was sorry, or that he would replace them, or anything!

My dad told me that if you lend a tool to someone, NEVER expect it to come back in the same condition it was in when you gave it to them. He said most people who borrow tools have no real clue how to use them properly, nor will they ever clean them up after use. And if you do actually get them back, be prepared to clean/sharpen/fix/replace them.

To this day, I threaten to say something to my FIL about this, and my wife will go ballistic! I love to watch the little veins popping out of her forehead.....

Jim

 

[CJ7VFR]

A guy at my wife's work just asked her if he could borrow from me, and I quote, "One of those little things that shoots little nails?"

You should give your wife a straw, and a hand full of finish nails, and tell her, here, give this to your co-worker. Tell her if he blows hard enough thru the straw, it will shoot the nails. Just don't inhale...

Jim

 

[North Run Grader]

Once upon a time I had a business partner. Before we became partners he had sold me a Makita 8-1/4" saw. I had no problems lending him that saw. He was a red seal journeyman carpenter and a red seal journeyman millwright. He knew how to take care of tools and proper use of them. That saw was stolen from a worksite he was supervising. I was miffed, I hadn't even used the saw yet. Strike #1.
I lent him my car to go to the city to buy some saws we found in the local bargain finder, his was in the shop. 3 days later he finally gets back, he went to Edmonton, AB to buy the saws, then on a whim decided to go to Vancouver, BC to pick up some of his other tools and take his fiancé to meet family and friends. This was back before cell phones where common, but I did have an answering machine and a pager and nary a word or message from him. We had a long conversation when he got back. Strike #2.
Within 8 months I sold him the business for a dollar and left him holding the bag of shite that he had created of our business name. He ended up with $10,000 of carpentry tools and materials.
After the split my ex wife lent him my Dewalt 7-1/4" saw while I was at work. By the time I found out, it was "stolen". Strike #3.
I'll lend my tools to my wife, my father, and my son and son in law get to use them with my "help".

 

[66354dream]

I trust my father in law he shares the same views about tools and equipment as I and his father was a mechanic so he knows the value of it.

 

[Krash Kadillak]

Neighbor across the street was going on vacation, asked me to water his lawn on Tuesday (yesterday), he's due back on Thursday. All I had to do was set up sprinklers front and back, and move them each one time, really no big deal. Got all done, and was pulling the hose in the back to coil it up. Sprinkler was still attached. As I was pulling it, the sprinkler hit the edge of a concrete block that was sticking up, and the female end of the connection snapped right off. Not repairable. Looks like there may have been some plastic decay from age.

Neighbor now has a new sprinkler (a better one) sitting next to the broken one.

 

[grifter679]

No one, I hardly trust my father as well. If it is a specialty tool, (dial indicators, pullers, etc.) which I know I can easily find in his garage I will let him borrow it, but some times he annexes my sockets into his collection.

Other than that no one else even gets to look at them lol.

 

[dclassical]

One friend (and of course my dad when he was alive) and that is it. He treats my tools like I treat them, always returns them clean or with fresh batteries.

We actually did a database containing a list of tools that we do not use that often, with who owns it and where the tool is. This is after we kept buying tools that we thought the other did not have. So for example I have a vacuum pump, he has a scale (for A/C). This allows us to spend more money to get nice tools.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Neighbor across the street was going on vacation, asked me to water his lawn on Tuesday (yesterday), he's due back on Thursday. All I had to do was set up sprinklers front and back, and move them each one time, really no big deal. Got all done, and was pulling the hose in the back to coil it up. Sprinkler was still attached. As I was pulling it, the sprinkler hit the edge of a concrete block that was sticking up, and the female end of the connection snapped right off. Not repairable. Looks like there may have been some plastic decay from age.

Neighbor now has a new sprinkler (a better one) sitting next to the broken one.

This is how everyone should be! If everyone took responsibility for their actions, the world would be a better place.

Excellent neighbor you are!!

Jim

 

[dgithens1]

I take a picture of the person with the tool when they take it, and delete it when they return it. That way I don't forget.

That's a great idea

 

[Maticuno]

I don't loan my tools to anyone. Instead, I offer full use of my shop, while I'm home, for the cost of a 6 pack of beer.

 

[kv501]

I have one good friend who I've known for eons and we periodically will loan each other something if the other guy doesn't have it, which is pretty rare. An example would be last week he needed a table saw for a laminate flooring job about 40 miles away but didn't want to haul his full size one in the rain. I gave him my Bosch contractor saw and it came back with a new blade, ALL the parts, shop vac'd and blown off. That's the kind of dude he is and those are the kinds of friends you loan tools too. He's a former auto tech so he's got all the same hand tools I would have (don't have to worry about loaning sockets or wrenches).

My brother has zero tools but if he wants to work on his motorcycle or truck he knows just to bring it over to my place. He can use the tools till he's blue in the face but they don't ever leave the garage. If I ever had to bail someone out of a jam with tools I have plenty of duplicate Craftsman RP ratchets/wrenches, and Chinese sockets that I wouldn't cry over, but I still wouldn't give them to someone I didn't think would bring them back. Snap On/Mac stuff that I own doesn't go anywhere unless I take it.

 

[valentine]

I trust my Sons but that's about it. Never a neighbor> I learned the hard way about that. Stuff either never came back or it was broken. Nope, I keep it in the family now.

-Valentine