As the title says, I'm curious... Why do you buy tools? What is your primary motivation/reason for buying tools?
Is it work (use your tools to earn a living)? A hobby you enjoy? Perhaps it's an addiction/obsession? Are you a collector? Out of some necessity? Just because you can? You have money to burn/waste and nothing else to spend it on? Something else? Having more than one reason is okay too.
As for me, my reasons have changed over the years. I've spent over 20 years of my life living in apartments. Growing up I didn't have much or much need for tools. My father did have a Kennedy box in the closest with old Craftsman tools when I was a kid. But I didn't grow up with household repairs, or using/maintaining landscaping (lawn care) equipment, or other typical things you encounter in a house or on a farm. When I was around 12, my father bought a 1970 VW that we were going to restore, but unfortunately we werre never able to finish that project (life gets in the way). I remember going to Sears with my dad and him having to buy metric tools, because everything he owned was still SAE.
As I got older, but still before I knew anything about tools, I bought Craftsman or Harbor Freight tools for building/working on computers or firearms. I also started working on cars with my very first car. It was a piece of **** money pit. But I've always done whatever repairs or maintenance I could myself if and when possible, because I've rarely had the money to afford to pay someone else to do the work for me (aka take it to a mechanic). Though my sisters friend's husband was a mechanic at the time I had my first car, he would help me out for a 6-pack of beer or $20 bill.
Anyway... Fast forward several years I eventually enter the automotive repair field. So I bought tools to do my job and earn a paycheck. But that's where my very expensive journey into buying tools began. Even though I would leave the auto repair industry and no longer turn wrenches for a living, I've still been buying tools ever since. Yes, part of it is I still work on my own vehicles and vehicles that belong to my family, friends or co-workers. However I'm starting to think it's a bit more than that. I don't help or intervention, but I think it's become an addiction at this point.
Whenever I get a new tool in the mail from Amazon or I go onto the Snap On truck and bring home new tool(s) with me, I feel the closest thing I know to a sense of enjoyment, perhaps even happiness or some form of emotional fulfillment. It's kinda like getting my fix, but my drug of choice is tools (calm down, it's just a metaphor)... Having said that, I'm not just buying anything I can because it's a tool. I try to buy the best possible tool I can at the time, I try to only buy tools that serve a purpose and I have a need for (even if it's a future need). I'm also not a collector, I don't need a 100 versions of the same tool. Some may be new and I've not had a chance to use them yet, or they may have been wiped clean after a dirty job, but I do actually use my tools. I know this GJ and many of you have 100 times more tools than I do.
Carry on.
Is it work (use your tools to earn a living)? A hobby you enjoy? Perhaps it's an addiction/obsession? Are you a collector? Out of some necessity? Just because you can? You have money to burn/waste and nothing else to spend it on? Something else? Having more than one reason is okay too.
As for me, my reasons have changed over the years. I've spent over 20 years of my life living in apartments. Growing up I didn't have much or much need for tools. My father did have a Kennedy box in the closest with old Craftsman tools when I was a kid. But I didn't grow up with household repairs, or using/maintaining landscaping (lawn care) equipment, or other typical things you encounter in a house or on a farm. When I was around 12, my father bought a 1970 VW that we were going to restore, but unfortunately we werre never able to finish that project (life gets in the way). I remember going to Sears with my dad and him having to buy metric tools, because everything he owned was still SAE.
As I got older, but still before I knew anything about tools, I bought Craftsman or Harbor Freight tools for building/working on computers or firearms. I also started working on cars with my very first car. It was a piece of **** money pit. But I've always done whatever repairs or maintenance I could myself if and when possible, because I've rarely had the money to afford to pay someone else to do the work for me (aka take it to a mechanic). Though my sisters friend's husband was a mechanic at the time I had my first car, he would help me out for a 6-pack of beer or $20 bill.
Anyway... Fast forward several years I eventually enter the automotive repair field. So I bought tools to do my job and earn a paycheck. But that's where my very expensive journey into buying tools began. Even though I would leave the auto repair industry and no longer turn wrenches for a living, I've still been buying tools ever since. Yes, part of it is I still work on my own vehicles and vehicles that belong to my family, friends or co-workers. However I'm starting to think it's a bit more than that. I don't help or intervention, but I think it's become an addiction at this point.
Whenever I get a new tool in the mail from Amazon or I go onto the Snap On truck and bring home new tool(s) with me, I feel the closest thing I know to a sense of enjoyment, perhaps even happiness or some form of emotional fulfillment. It's kinda like getting my fix, but my drug of choice is tools (calm down, it's just a metaphor)... Having said that, I'm not just buying anything I can because it's a tool. I try to buy the best possible tool I can at the time, I try to only buy tools that serve a purpose and I have a need for (even if it's a future need). I'm also not a collector, I don't need a 100 versions of the same tool. Some may be new and I've not had a chance to use them yet, or they may have been wiped clean after a dirty job, but I do actually use my tools. I know this GJ and many of you have 100 times more tools than I do.
Carry on.
