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2016 Spring Home Improvement
LINCON DAILY
NEWS.comMay 2, 2016 Page 7
3. Lending tools to your friends and neighbors
will result in broken and unreturned tools!
Our next door neighbors growing up were among
our best friends we had in this life. We shared
everything with them, including our tools. When
we wanted to use our hammer we knew right where
it was: at our next door neighbor’s house. We
could visit it there any time.
Not meaning to sound like a tool-Scrooge here, I
recommend that the next time anyone asks if they
can borrow your framing nail gun, you just say
NO. If they ask to borrow your pipe wrenches, you
just say NO. If they ask to borrow your drill press,
your table saw, your staple gun, your battery-driven
circular saw, hammer drill, or any other tool in your
collection, you just say NO. You are not being
mean. You bought those tools for your own use to
save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars over a
lifetime in home repairs, and if your neighbor has
your tools, you don’t.
Principle 1:
Your neighbors will likely follow
the principle of delaying the return of your tools
so they can forget whose tools they are. I’m not
calling them thieves; this is just the way it normally
goes. The longer they reside at your neighbor’s
house the more likely they are to change ownership
and become your neighbor’s tools.
Principle 2:
Your friend or neighbor didn’t buy
the tool in the first place, didn’t read the owner’s
manual, and likely doesn’t know that you shouldn’t
twist the handle on the recip saw as they are
sawing through the branch on their cypress tree and
therefore didn’t realize that such a maneuver would
snap off the blade and the shaft of the saw, thereby
rendering it worthless. Borrowed tools are much
more likely broken by the persons borrowing them
than by the persons owning them.
Principle 3:
Even in the most perfect situation
with the best intentioned friends or neighbors, if
your tool is in their possession it is not in your
possession. And given the odds, if they have your
tool you will likely need it.
Principle 4:
It doesn’t matter how well you
label your tools or inscribe your name, address,
telephone number and SSN# on your tools,
the moment they leave your possession their
identification is moot. Possession is 9/10’s. “Hey,
that tool has Joe’s name on it. Is it Joe’s tool?”
“Naw, he gave it to me years ago.” The label does
not ever guarantee return.
Do not loan out your tools! They are like your
treasure. You don’t just loan out the family jewels.
You keep them organized and locked up and you
know where they are for the next time you need to
use them. So it is with your expensive tools.
So, buy the best tools you can afford every time
you buy a new tool. It usually pays to read
consumer reports or reviews before you buy them.
Take your time. The most important thing is that
you get a tool that will do the job and last to do the
jobs over the next 30 years. Buy tools that you can
leave to your children or your grandchildren.
Second, organize your tools so that you can put
your hand on it the next time you need it without
cleaning the garage or your entire workshop. And
finally, never, never, never loan out your expensive
tools. Maybe go to the dollar store and buy some
of those faux tools to loan to your friends and
neighbors as a courtesy, but don’t let them even see
your nail gun collection.
[Jim Youngquist]