In praise of gifted tools.

 

That was an odd ball title I guess.

Today was a normal Saturday for me. Nothing earth shattering or exciting at all really. Just Lyndsay and I tearing up junk in the back yard. The project of the day was cutting the mounting hardware for a front loader off of an old tractor. I've been putting that off for a LONG time...it's not exactly as glamorous as fabricating some great new gadget, or painting something up. But, money is tight and I'll take my projects as I can find them. Anyway, for some reason in the midst of this one, I looked around and found there were as many tools around me that had been given to me, as ones that I'd bought myself.

I started grinding the welds out with a 4.5" angle grinder that Deb got for me. I'd have bought a Dewalt, so when she brought home a Black & Decker, I really didn't think it would last long. Well, so far that damn thing has taken all the abuse I have thrown at it.

The life saver today was a very old heavy 7" angle grinder that dad handed down to me. The little B&D was just not big enough for this job, and was not making progress at the required rate....the old monster got the job done quick.

I did the tight spots with a die-grinder given to my by my friend Jerry from Columbus. It is Deb's x-husbands x-wife's dad (no kidding). I also did a bit of clean-up grinding with a bench grinder he gave me as well.

Of course the impact wrench used was the bad-assed composite body Ingersoll Greg gave me. I've for another one that has a bit more power (from dad), but usually this light little gun gets the job done.

When I cleaned up for the day I headed straight for the Shop-Vac brother in law Kevin gave me on the last trip. I never realized how much I needed one of these until I got this one home. It is hands down the one thing that gets used every time I'm in the shed. I'd probably have put off buying one forever, but now I don't know how I lived without it.

Anyway, here's to the folks that hand me down tools. I wouldn't get half as much done without this stuff.