Date:         Wed, 8 Jan 1997 11:49:01 -0400 (AST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         smitht@unb.ca (Tim Smith)
Subject:      Re: Tool Pontifications

At 09:07 08/01/97 -0600, Rocko Flamefart wrote:
>uhhh.... er, well

Thank you Rocko..
>
>>if you don't believe me, use the stuff once and it will pay for 
>>itself, 
>
>ah.  true.  it will pay for itself but often only 'once'.  a higher quality

Best deal is to wait for tool sales at Sears and buy a 'full' kit, $150
range. Then pick up a few oddball large size wrenches when on sale too.  My
sears stuff has lasted 15 years of obscene abuse, like 2' extensions on a
1/2" drive plus my weight while bouncing and cursing.  I have busted
sockets, wrenches and worn out some socket drives, all cheerfully replaced
in 10 minutes.  No waiting for the Grey or Snap-On guy to drive up in a
couple of weeks.

  Sears stuff is getting cheaper quality/finish and I am easier on it than I
used to be (getting old and feeble).  I've had too many sets of real cheapo
Allen keys that deformed like putty, generic 'Vice-Grips' whose jaws recurve
themselves and lost their teeth and wrenches that don't fit 'cleanly/snugly'
Probably spent $150 in junk plus the hours and busted knuckles trying to
make them work.  Buy once and save.  The first time you spend 3-4 hours
wrenching on a van pays for those wrenches in avoided dealer labour, so
splurge!  I paid $22Cdn for the Hazett 12point tool to get out CV bolts,
every time I use it I remember how much time/effort I used to spend with
cheap tools. $0.02 from me.  tim