It's an illness. Has to be.

[Michael Ray Smith]

Why do I keep buying saws when I have at least a dozen hanging in my shop, waiting to be restored? For a while it was planes fueling my addiction. Then it was draw knives, then Millers Falls drills. Now it's Atkins saws. Sigh.

[Gary Herrmann]

It's not an illness. It's a condition.

Or just admit it and call yourself a Tool Pig.

It could be worse. Over on OWWM, there are guys that have 17 DPs and 11 TSs. Some of those guys have had to rent warehouse space to keep up. At least hand tools take up less space.

See? Don't you feel better now?


I won't mention chisels, rasps, spokeshaves, braces, bits, mitre boxes or anything like that.

[Tony Shea]

We all have it. I have a back log of saws, chisels, planes, etc that need to be fixed up but time is at a premium in my shop so I usually choose to work wood instead. Until I really need one of these items or I come across the tool in my search for something in the shop, then I will take the time out and fix it up in proper condition. Files are another tool I seem to be hoarding lately. Anytime I come across an old stock, made in the USA file I buy it. But these are becoming more scarce in the wild and use them often enough that I can justify it.

My other obsession is WOOD. I cannot pass up a good deal on nice wood or pass by a unique board/boards. I always have the perfect project in mind when I see the wood but I have hoarded so much of it that I may never live long enough to get to some of these project (am only 30).

But there are worse addictions out there and tell myself and my girlfriend this every time I come across another buy.

[Jim Matthews]

It's easier to buy things than to find time to refurbish them.

It's a sign of wealth, but not free time.
I keep my "backlog" in a 13 gallon garbage pail.

Until one or more are adopted, I can't bring home more strays.

Don't ask how many I have sharpened, and ready for rare use.

It's in the genome - not just your DNA, MRS.

[Kenneth Speed]

Yup, see it a lot...Saw Fever. Sad ,really, to see a grown man get glassy eyed and short of breath over a rusty piece of steel. No cure. Isolation helps, but it doesn'thelp the guy with the fever it just helps other people to avoid getting it. Hang around with someone with saw fever and, sure as shootin, you'll get it too!

SAW FEVER SYMPTOMS

1. Vocabulary change, the sick individual will start talking about strange things, "kerf", and "hang" and "etch" and PPI vs TPI; these terms come up in the early stages of the disease, when the sufferer uses the word, "fleam" they're lost.

2. Rusty hands

3. Hangs around garage sales, flea markets, second hand stores, antique shops and, the worst of all, swap meets.

4. Really thinks it's important that ( Atkins,Simonds, fill in the blank, is deemed a better saw than a comparable Disston.

That reminds me, I need to clean that old Simonds Model 95 miter saw with the 10 tpi blade and nice etch and get it sharpened

Oh GOD! Me too!


Ken

[Jacob Nothstine]

I have tried to stop but have had not luck. I'm a sucker for a nub and a faint etching. I have limited myself to $1.00 a saw but it's not working. Here was one of my fines. The entire green tub $1.00 there was a D-8 and something else good in the there I can't remember.242397

[george wilson]

There's nothing wrong with hoarding NOS USA files. They will wear out,and considering the sorry state of available USA files,I do it myself at every opportunity.

[Jack Curtis]

It's the reptile part of your brain, the part that says "Hey, that was great fun, do it again." Not much you can do about this, except establish outside limits like storage area, some magic number of each type of tool, or when it gets boring to obtain yet another saw.

[Zach Dillinger]

Whenever I feel bad about my tool-pig self, I remind myself of Alex Jordan, and the House on the Rock. The man had a serious collecting problem, and built the house to store it all. Probably the single weirdest place I have ever seen. So, I figure, as long as my house doesn't look like his, I'm fine, and I buy another couple dozen wooden planes.

[Jim Koepke]

these terms come up in the early stages of the disease, when the sufferer uses the word, "fleam" they're lost.

It is a disease that can become contagious.

I was showing a non-woodworking friend a saw filed crosscut and had to explain why half the teeth looked smaller. I explained with the words from vintagesaws.com, "it is an illusion of the fleam."

He now uses that phrase, and loves the word fleam.

I passed on a chisel a few weeks ago and still lament the act. Even though it wasn't anything special.

It fit the usual justification for my purchasing extra tools of being salable at more than it cost.

Darn…

jtk

[Gary Herrmann]

There's nothing wrong with hoarding NOS USA files. They will wear out,and considering the sorry state of available USA files,I do it myself at every opportunity.

Yeah, George. I've got that bug myself somewhat. I think I'll blame it on you.

[Kevin Grady]

Whatever it is, there is no cure. I started with a couple of saws, then aquired my first "nice" old saw and 32 saws later... I'm selling one of them and I feel like I'm selling my kidney.

[James Baker SD]

Fortunately I haven't caught the "saw disease" yet, but I got real bad cases of "plane disease" and "chisel disease".

[john davey]

I have chiselitis myself. Not a bad case as of yet as I have less than 100 of them. But in reality I reach for the same 3 chisels 90% of the time when working in the shop so I am at least a little ill :)

[Mike Cogswell]

There are so many strains of the tool disease, and I seem to be susceptible to almost all of them. My official motto for the past 50 years has been: "every project deserves a new tool", and 50 years of projects have justified a lot of tools. :)

But even now, there are planes and chisels and saws and measuring and marking tools that I yearn to have. Somehow I never have enough, much to my long-suffering wife's everlasting dismay.

Oh, wait, I need some carving tools for the decorations on the new cabinets. And more turning tools for the spindles.

Mike

[Rick Fisher]

I have about 40 chisels .. None are low end .. And yet I look at chisels ..

Its an obsession..

I could give away half my chisels and be set up well, but I want more .. I don't need them .. I want them ..

Its a compulsion..

[Jeff Morton]

I find it hard to pass most hand tools at flea markets, garage/estate sales, etc. Usually SWMBO tips me off with her "oh, no" call. I have become somewhat more selective, but I still look and think about everything I see. I do agree it's an illness that is hard to cure... But fun to suffer from.

[Zach Dillinger]

When SMWBO complains (rare, but does occassionally happen, like earlier this week when I told her I just spent my work lump sum payout on a set of Gabriel hollows and rounds that I don't technically "need"), I gently remind her that I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't cavort with women of questionable morals, I don't do drugs. All things considered, an old tool habit is pretty harmless. Also, every tool could be sold for at least what I paid for it. The coup de grace is usually "how much did that closet full of shoes / clothes cost? What are they worth now?". She usually leaves me alone for a while after that, mostly just because she doesn't like to hear me win arguments :) At least that's what I think it means...