Are you a tool hoarder?

[Jeff Monson]

I watched the hoarders tv show the other night, wow!! I felt really bad for some of the people on the show....then I got to thinking, and looking around my shop. I'm in the same boat to a point, I can't seem to part with any tools. My shop is very functional, but I have a LOT of tools I just dont use. I just can't seem to part with them though, must be a sickness :o

Where do you stand, hoarder or non-hoarder?

[Michael Weber]

Don't think it's sickness. We are hoarders by instinct and evolution. I'm in between I guess as I never stop wanting to accumulate new things but can apply enough rationalization to avoid over the top extremes.

[David G Baker]

Depending on who you are asking in my household. SWMBO will agree that I am a major hoarder, but she doesn't complain when she needs something fixed quickly and I go to my shop and find the repair part on a shelf waiting for years to be used. I have too many work spaces and I usually have duplicate tools in each one of the areas. Three drill presses, one in my basement, two in my pole building sitting next to a small tool room mill that can be used as a drill press. I do have a lot of things I need to get rid of but every time I think about it I get a knot in my stomach and put it off to another day in the future. Yup, I am definitely a hoarder.

[Gary Hodgin]

David B.,
Same here. I say no, but my family says yes. I just chalk it up to a lack of understanding the need for the right tools for the job. Any real craftsman knows you need a power planer, a power jointer, and about 20 hand planes to true a board.:)

[Jim Rimmer]

I'm not really a hoarder; I just don't know how to sell what I've got. I shy away from Craig's List because I don't want weirdos showing up at my house. I don't really know how to estimate shipping for eBay but I guess I'll have to learn. What I have learned lately (about myself) is that I have purchased some tools that looked like a neat idea but then I never use it so I am going to be more discriminating in the future.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'm not a tool hoarder.....I plan a project that requires a new tool to add to my collection......

[Matt Meiser]

They say the first step is to admit you have a problem. I don't...

[Don Jarvie]

I will say no. I don't go out and just buy anything thinking I may need it someday unless its a great deal. This mostly goes for flea markets, yard sales and C-list. I also can throw things out when I get new ones if they cannot serve another purpose.

Ex, I got a new ROS since my old one was slowing down. I did keep the old one to work on metal, rust so I can keep my new one strickly for wood.

Don

[Peter Kelly]

In case anyone missed this: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?175285-Now-this-is-a-workshop!!!

Now feel free to feel better about yourself.

[John Fabre]

I consider myself a Tool Junkie http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?144436-How-many-tool-junkies-are-out-there&highlight=

[David G Baker]

Peter K,
I am feeling better about myself already but his hoard is well organized but mine is dangerous to navigate through.

[John McClanahan]

I wish I knew a young person wanting / needing some tools to learn with. I would be very happy to set them up with both hand and some power tools. I seem to have multiples of many of my tools that I would never miss the spares. Finding a young person with interests beyond cell phones, computers and facebook is hard to come by.

John

[Larry Edgerton]

Lets see.......

4 tablesaws
2 shapers
2 jointers
2 drill presses
3 planers
9 Miter saws
27 routers
12 circular saws
2 band saws
1 rabbiting machine
I radial arm saw
and only 1 lathe

See, I'm ok, I only have one lathe, one radial arm and one rabbiting machine......

Larry

[Jeff Monson]

Lets see.......

4 tablesaws
2 shapers
2 jointers
2 drill presses
3 planers
9 Miter saws
27 routers
12 circular saws
2 band saws
1 rabbiting machine
I radial arm saw
and only 1 lathe

See, I'm ok, I only have one lathe, one radial arm and one rabbiting machine......

Larry

Larry, thanks a millioin, I feel a lot better now. I think we have a winner!

[Ryan Mooney]

lol @larry - 27 routers and 12 circular saws!! heh nice! The rest of that list looks exceptionally reasonable (numbers to aspire to anyway :D)

The line between hoarder, collector and "that fellow who's handy to know cause he always has just what you need" is very fine indeed. I think the line of hoarder is crossed when you are unwilling to get rid of things that are clearly trash. Scrap metal, random offcuts and tools that just need a little more fixing are clearly not trash (reduce, reuse and recyle - most people forget about the first two).

I reckon I'm not yet a hoarder because I actually got rid of a bunch of junk this year (story and sticking to it).

[Gary Hodgin]

Lets see.......

4 tablesaws
2 shapers
2 jointers
2 drill presses
3 planers
9 Miter saws
27 routers
12 circular saws
2 band saws
1 rabbiting machine
I radial arm saw
and only 1 lathe

See, I'm ok, I only have one lathe, one radial arm and one rabbiting machine......

Larry

Larry,
Thanks, I'll forward that list to my wife.
Gary

[Stephen Tashiro]

I'm less of a hoarder now that several charities (whose missions I can easily understand) have opened local thrift shops. They accept donations. Out the door have gone: 1 table saw, 1 router, 2 belt sanders, 2 drills, 1 screw gun, 1 air compressor, 1 shop vacuum, 1 engine stand.

So what's left in the garage? Well, let's not talk about that.

[John Coloccia]

If I don't use it in 6 months to a year, or I don't like it, it's out the door. I don't have the time, energy, room or money to have anything tied up in stuff that's not pulling it's weight.

[Mike Cruz]

Yes, and proud of it!

[Kent A Bathurst]

I'm not a tool hoarder.....I plan a project that requires a new tool to add to my collection......

I have been accused of exactly the same thing. Not without merit, I have to confess..........:p

[Phil Thien]

I think SMC sees a lot of "tool collectors" come and go.

These are the guys that rapid-fire gloat about new tools accumulated, and talk about the shops they're building.

A few months to a year later, they're gone.

I can imagine many reasons. But I think it all boils down to this: If you daydream of the projects you'd like to build, this hobby is for you. If you daydream of new tools only, with no idea of what you'd like to make or how you'd like to make it, then you're a tool collector and pretty soon you will be a tool seller.

[mike holden]

Years ago, some friends and I came up with the saying: " if you see it (a tool) and dont have it, you need it!"
Murphy joins this by making sure that if you pass on a tool, then you are sure to find a use for it shortly thereafter.

Mike

[Steve Clardy]

Lets see.......


27 routers


Larry




Lets see......

25 I think. :o

Guess I better get 2-3 more.

[Larry Edgerton]

Actually Jeff this was a good question. It has made me think.

When business was great, I developed some bad habits, buying whatever tool I wanted. Sometimes I just did not want to drive back to the shop as my jobs are usually 50 miles average away from home, so I would buy another one. Thats how I ended up with three sawzalls, a tool I dispise.

So... I thought I was better now but when taking into consideration that I am doing 85% less business, I am spending more now than I used to percentage wise. I looked through the past few months, and I am spending roughly an average of $1000 a month on tools and tooling. Too much for the way business is now, and I suspect will be in the future. I say this as I take off to Chicago to pick up yet another jointer this weekend..........

I really needed this one for this one job.... I can sell it when I am done..... I use this kind of rationalization on myself all the time.

Thanks Jeff, sincerely. You are making me step back and take a look at what I am doing.

Larry

[mickey cassiba]

Yes I am....any other questions?:D

[anthony wall]

just because my wife and children and most of my friends say that i am a tool hoarder does not mean that i am it simply means that they don't understand me-------i think

[Brad Adamson]

lol Anthony, exactly! I think most of us would be considered hoarders that actually have a passion for something. Because after all, if you enjoy doing something and are actually dedicated to it you are going to have the equipment to go along with it if you are able to.

I have a boatload of tools that would make other people call me a hoarder, but they are all used for different projects. Some also have memories of things I have built with them for my children, my wife, and so I would keep them even if they were not being currently used.

[Jim Koepke]

I have tools from many different trades that I have worked through the years.

I have bought some tools for the purpose of cleaning up and selling, that is fairly easy.

The few tools that I sold that were not bought for the express purpose of reselling has alway caused regrets.

Hopefully some of our kids or grandkids will find a use for my accumulation of tools.

jtk

[David G Baker]

"If you haven't used it in one year it is time to get rid of it." Now that is one very sick philosophy that has never made sense to me. I have tools that I haven't seen for 40 years but I will not get rid of them because that day may come where I need that tool. I am not a hoarder I just love my tools. :D

[Michael Moscicki]

I wish I knew a young person wanting / needing some tools to learn with. I would be very happy to set them up with both hand and some power tools. I seem to have multiples of many of my tools that I would never miss the spares. Finding a young person with interests beyond cell phones, computers and facebook is hard to come by.

John

Depends on what you mean by young. Is 20 too old to be a young person interested in wood working?

I'd gladly buy some tools, but don't have a proper place to store them, let alone use them. I could keep them in the basement, but it's filled with my dad's tools and other stuff. We did some cleaning in our basement a few months ago and threw out 7 vacuums, how's that for hoarding. I have a yard which I do some work with my dad's tools.

Tools and room aside, the biggest detriment is finding a decent wood supplier in NYC. We've got a blue BORG, lots of orange BORGs. One local hardware store has only pine, poplar, maple, and red oak in limited varieties.

[anthony wall]

"If you haven't used it in one year it is time to get rid of it." Now that is one very sick philosophy that has never made sense to me. I have tools that I haven't seen for 40 years but I will not get rid of them because that day may come where I need that tool. I am not a hoarder I just love my tools. :Dmy sentiments exactly, out here it seems that the locals will make do with the barest minimum in tools for their work which probably explains the poor standards of work turned out