Reply to post: Re: Hoarders.

Re: Hoarders.

Many of my toolboxes' contents date back to 1972 when I first started doing my own car maintenance.

Dang, I wasn't even breathing in '72!

I still have some of my first vehicle tools as well. More than 30 years of use, yet still good (although I've had to replace an alligator clip on a test light after it got crushed by the last person who borrowed it some 20 years back!). The new stuff just doesn't seem to last. I had a cheap jigsaw that finally died (blade guide worn out) when I pushed it really hard trying to finish off a project before it rained. The high-priced "tradesman grade" unit lasted a few months, as did it's replacement, and the replacement's replacement. My old one was something I brought as a kid on a tight budget to finish cutting parts for a kid's construction project, wasn't expected to last the year. The new one was brought as a tradesman on a tradesman's tool budget, reasonably expected to last several years with heavy use, but the build quality of the modern 'expensive' is not nearly as good as last century's 'cheap junk'.

Oh, I also have some of my great-grandfather's gardening tools now. Yes, original blades and handles, at least on most of them (someone thinks one of the hoes or rakes got a broken handle). There is one axe that needs a new handle. And the G-clamps I use were purchased in the 1950s. The bench vice dates back to the 40s or maybe 30s. Many people tell me I need new tools, I ask them to show me a vice that'll still be as good after even 5 years, let alone 70 years of at least monthly use.