Buy good quality toolsOct 30 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line If you can't afford decent quality tools for your own safety, then rent them when you need them.
Most of us already know to wear appropriate protection depending on the work we do and the tools we are using. Your hands and your eyes can be seriously injured by a stupid accident. But there's another factor coming into play at my own opinion: Cheap tools can be extremely dangerous. I would recommand to any of you who's about to buy a new tool to think twice if you can't afford good quality tools. You can buy a jig saw for 14.95$ at WalMart and find another one at 200.00$ at your local hardware store. The difference between the two? Quality, reliability and security. The cheap ones usually have underpower motors, weaker mechanisms, lack security features and have poorly designed features. You're probably tempted to argue with the point of the number of times you'll use your tool to justify the purchase of a lower quality tool. This argument doesn't hold because when you work with a tool, it won't make the difference between a professional use or not. Even though you use it twice a year, if you work a full day with it, it will be considered a heavy use and your low quality tool will suffer. Underpower tools tend to jam, stop or cut slower than more powerful tools. Because of this you might "try to help" the tool by taking risks such as holding it in a different way or push it to the limit thus increasing the chances of an accident. Blades can break and fly in any directions, an overloaded motor can catch in fire, weak parts can break or fall apart under pressure, etc., with the consequences we know: hurting someone or damaging your work. Weak mechanisms also tend to be dangerous if they break. As an example, good jig saws have a small wheel near the foot which keeps the blade straigth and prevents it to bend. Cheaper jig saws don't have that feature and if you don't pay attention, the blade might bend and break in a snap and hurt yourself or just ruin the piece you're trying to cut. Security features like brakes (on circular saws, drills), trigger locks, double triggers, screens, impact protection, isolated electrical systems, reinforced parts, etc., are just other reasons to invest in a good quality tool. Even though you're just a weekend hobbyist or a beginner, you have more reasons than anybody else to invest in a good tool for the simple reason that you might not have enough experience to use the tool properly. That's why you need a good quality tool to sustain and forgive your mistakes. Also, security features must be considered as such and not as an annoyance. Modifying a protection mechanism can be very dangerous. My father lost two fingers a few years ago on a cheap and poorly designed table saw. The protection mechanism over the blade was preventing him to cut the wood smoothly. It was jamming and kicking all the time hurting him a few times. He got fed up and got rid of the protection mechanism and promised himself he would buy a new one or repair it soon. He used his saw for the next 10 years without any accident. One day, he got distracted by something, the saw slid towards him and... "snip" two fingers from his left hand felt on the floor. For those of you wondering if it hurts, apparently it doesn't hurt at all... He picked his fingers, put them on ice and drove 60km to reach the first hospital, waited 7 hours before they can "reinstall" the fingers. He's been on pain killers for the next 4 months... In a word, I would suggest to all new buyers to put the budget consideration at a lower level when comes the time to choose a tool that can cut your fingers in a snap, make you blind in a spin or just hurt you badly. If you can't afford a good tool then just don't buy it and rent it. It will be cheaper, you won't have to maintain it and you will be a lot more safe when you do your work. When you have enough money to afford something decent, buy it. Another advice, if your husband or your wife don't know much about tools, tell them not to buy you any tools as gifts. Good tools are expensive and require a rigorous analysis on how you plan to use them. They often tend to go for the good deals and unfortunately, they will often get these useless and cheap tools. Hopefully, if we all start buying better tools, the market for the crappy ones will shrink and we will get better tools on the long run.  |
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