I have been sheltered a little when it comes to DIY because DIY is not really popular in Japan, but last saturday I finally had a job (rotted-out wooden outdoor dining table that needed new top slats) that required me/justified me to get an impact driver. I had never used one before for aforesaid reasons, so I watched a couple of youtube videos and then I kind of knew what to look for. Headed down to the local hardware store and picked up a Bosch 18V cordless impact driver. About $120, so kind of the lower end in price but I trust the brand (top end was like around $350).
Oh my, screwing is fun! Screwing for me used to be making a hole and then twisting a metal screw into the wood. Takes a lot of time. Not anymore. wow, the wood just sucks in the screws.
I know I am decades behind, but if you haven’t played with an impact driver, please find the time to do so. I want to screw everything now.
Careful, this could turn into a minor addiction. If my workshop is a decent representation of what can happen to a person that starts down the road of DIY.
Good question. I don’t know. I haven’t heard of such a metaphorical use. The only metaphorical use I have heard of for sex is like ‘eating’. “Yeah, I ate her up”. Or stabbing.
Oh no. But now I’m curious. I’ve heard people say all you need is a power saw and a driver. And I instantly said that’s bullshit. You need a power sander too. lol.
What’s an estimate of the number of items in your shed?
Sawhorse Rack; hardware alcove, beginning of shop.
New Hobby Bench setup:
and my finally fully organized garage. Just done recently.
3D Printer area (Basically shares a space with the Laundry area)
I’m down to 7 bench tools (3 large ones). But I would love to find a home for my Radial Arm Saw. That I would give away. Probably 35 handheld power tools. The 3D printer, and hundreds of hand tools.
The good news is it took 30 years of accumulating to get to this point and I did successfully get rid of stuff when we moved. Especially outdoor tools. Probably cut that number in half. Last house was 2 acres, this one is less than a quarter of an acre. So the damn lawn tractor is gone and its sweepers and lawn cart. I also sold my lathe before moving. Gave away my 10’ step ladder, etc.
You have discovered the curse of “the right tool for the job.” Once you have used the “right tool” it’s impossible to go back. This leads to Festool, and that way lies madness (or bankruptcy).
D, of course, will be considerably higher for a blue-collar worker who needs those tools on the job. (says the wife of an electrician whose toolboxes fill the back seat of our car and a fair percentage of the trunk)
Getting another ranch with a full basement in a very competitive market was huge for me.
Impact Drivers are great, I’ve had mine for about 16 years now. When it fails, I will have to replace it. I’ve had cordless drills going back to my first Makita in about 1991. I thought those were all I needed for screwing, but the impact driver is such a great help.
My workshop is in a room next to the garage. It’s a slightly narrower room than yours but I have another work area in the garage if I need more space. Overall we have similar tool selections. All of my hand tools are in a large tool chest instead of being out on pegboards. Your garage is MUCH more organized than mine. Shovels, post diggers, etc. are all shoved into a spare trash can. I have a pegboard in the garage with a bunch of crap on it, and an old dresser holding all sorts of junk.
I am currently in the process of setting up a spare room in the basement as a craft room. It will have my 3d printer and a bunch of electronics and craft stuff in it when I’m done.
I am not a tool addict. I can give it up any time. I swear.
(sigh)
All right. Fine. I’m a tool addict. I admit it.
Hi, I’m ECG and it has been one week since I purchased my last tool (I needed something else off of Amazon and saw it was on sale and I couldn’t resist…)
Agreed. Mine is a Hercules. It’s a bit old and battered but it still works great.
LOL.
I have a pack of a dozen work gloves in my Amazon cart right now. But my last tool purchase was a few weeks ago, no wait, I bought a small item at Harbor Freight Thursday. OK, I might have a problem.
I’m very lucky, when my 1970 Craftsman Bandsaw looked like it was done, my wife was OK with me buying a new one. Even when I said it could cost up to $800.
Thankfully, I’m cheap and fairly solid at DIY. I watched half a dozen videos on YouTube, studied the troubleshooting guide in the manual and figured out how to repair and overhaul the saw for about $30 and probably 6 hours of my labor. Primary replacement parts were new thrust bearings.
Well cars had great resources like Chilton’s Manuals, so I started out as a minor shade tree mechanic.
But yes, YouTube has been an incredible help from sharpening my own lawn mower blades (a fairly big savings) to replacing a small part on a Laundry Machine that prevented it from working. It only cost about $8 but required removing the out shell of the machine. Without the video, very unlikely to have succeeded.
I can tell you know exactly where every tool you need is stationed. Awesome.