Worst purchase ever?

[Moses Yoder]

We looked at more of dad's stuff today that my mom is sorting and getting ready for sale. I went through his fishing gear recently and found a thermometer that would tell the water temp at different depths with a price tag of $50 on it. Today we just sat and visited with my mom and sister and I was trying to think of the worst purchase I ever made. I'm sure there are some, but for some reason nothing came to mind. I asked my wife and she rolled her eyes and said "BOXES!" I said "Are you talking about my tools in the original boxes?" "Yes! They're BOXES." I replied "Well honey, I could sell those for more than I paid for them." She looks at me and says "BOXES!!!" I myself saw some humor in that statement, since we have over the last month purchased 4 orchids that will be dead inside of 6 months. At any rate I would guess there are some doozies out there; what is the worst purchase you have ever made?

[Bruce Page]

A 9 year old 1960 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. Biggest money pit vehicle I have owned. I wish I still had it today.

[eugene thomas]

A boat, and that saying "Bust Out Another Thousand" sure is true.

[Kev Williams]

Marriage license for the first 2 wives...

;)

[David Weaver]

2000 volkswagen jetta.

That and some natural japanese stones. Others turned out great, but the ones that were ho hum were really expensive mediocre sharpening stones.

Oh, and wixey devices. All of the ones I ever got don't work any longer, and one of them I left in the box for a year (the planer depth gauge) and the adhesive dried up and I never got to use it at all. The angle box went on the fritz within two years, and I don't know how many times I turned on the digital TS gauge to find that it needed a new battery.

[Wade Lippman]

My last house. Sold it after 20 years for 80% of what I paid for it. Aren't they supposed to go up?
Sure hope the current one does better.

[Brian Kent]

In tools, the Buck Brothers planes from Home Depot, and several "tools" by Ryobi.

[Paul McGaha]

1982 Pontiac Bonneville Station Wagon.

A real lemon. Bought when my wife and i were in our late 20's, we had our (4) kids by then and were struggling with money.

My mom and dad were always GM people as was I when starting out life.

That Pontiac was bad enough to make a Ford guy out of me.

PHM

[Shawn Pixley]

I wanted to replace my tape 4-track recording deck 12 years ago. So I bought an 18 track (sixteen regular channels with 8 virtual tracks each and a two channel master) digital recording board (all in one). It worked fine (and still does) but the interface was so clunky, it made laying down a concept track so laborious that I stopped recording all practices as it slowed down the creative process. I now use a simpler computer based system.

[Charles Wiggins]

A 9 year old 1960 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. Biggest money pit vehicle I have owned. I wish I still had it today.

1972 Toyota Corona Mark II. That was my money pit. I was 18 and just had to have a car, but knew almost nothing about them. Geezer saw me coming.

Ran like crap after the first month I had it, even after getting the engine reworked. Electrical was all messed up. The bright headlights would come on when you turned on the turn signal. Gas leaked into the trunk.

[Sam Murdoch]

Oh, and wixey devices. All of the ones I ever got don't work any longer, and one of them I left in the box for a year (the planer depth gauge) and the adhesive dried up and I never got to use it at all. The angle box went on the fritz within two years, and I don't know how many times I turned on the digital TS gauge to find that it needed a new battery.

Geez - I was just about to buy a Wixey Digital Angle Gauge and you stopped me short. Any good alternatives?

I don't want to be posting to this thread later :(.

In the meanwhile to continue on the theme - every Sears wood workers tool I ever bought. Not Craftsmen mechanic stuff, but their woodworkers tools during my carpentry 101 days. All - over sized, over featured underwhelming in every way. Otherwise known as JUNK.

[Shawn Pixley]

Geez - I was just about to buy a Wixey Digital Angle Gauge and you stopped me short. Any good alternatives?

Wixey's seem to be hit and miss. I only have the angle box but it works perfectly. One battery replacement in 5 years. I'd buy it again. David's experience is not a lone example though. But there are those of us who have had good experiences. There was a thread ~6 weeks ago on this.

I turnit off when done and it doesn't get exposed to high or low temperatures.

[Andrew Joiner]

A Raleigh Professional bicycle. I was really into biking in the late 70's. I had a couple of low cost bikes that served me well. My bike dealer had a top of the line Raleigh Professional hanging on the wall. I lusted after it every time I was in . Then around 1980 just as was losing interest in biking I walked in and bought the bike of my dreams. I'd always wanted it and I could afford it. I hardly ever rode it. Sold it years later for 1/3 of what I paid.

[David Weaver]

Geez - I was just about to buy a Wixey Digital Angle Gauge and you stopped me short. Any good alternatives?

I don't want to be posting to this thread later :(.

In the meanwhile to continue on the theme - every Sears wood workers tool I ever bought. Not Craftsmen mechanic stuff, but their woodworkers tools during my carpentry 101 days. All - over sized, over featured underwhelming in every way. Otherwise known as JUNK.

I don't have any good suggestions. I don't think a lot of the small digital tools (calipers, angle guides, etc) are designed to last too long. Maybe there are exceptions to that at a cost level, but I'd imagine one of the things that allows wixey to provide good service is a very low actual cost of tooling. Just my supposition.

I've gone back to "old timey" analog everything, and like a lot of people, the longer you work wood - especially if you do some by hand - the more you find out where that kind of fiddling isn't necessary, and where it actually is.

[Moses Yoder]

I don't really like digital tools, I don't trust it to be right. I use a sliding T-bevel and plastic protractor to set angles. My birthday is coming up, I am thinking of registering at Starret. Vernier Protractor (http://www.starrett.com/metrology/product-detail/Precision-Measuring-Tools/Precision-Hand-Tools/Protractors-and-Angle-Measu/Vernier-Protractors/C359BZ)

[Bruce Page]

I don't really like digital tools, I don't trust it to be right. I use a sliding T-bevel and plastic protractor to set angles. My birthday is coming up, I am thinking of registering at Starret. Vernier Protractor (http://www.starrett.com/metrology/product-detail/Precision-Measuring-Tools/Precision-Hand-Tools/Protractors-and-Angle-Measu/Vernier-Protractors/C359BZ)

You can pic them up pretty cheap on eBay. I have a Brown & Sharp vernier protractor.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Geez - I was just about to buy a Wixey Digital Angle Gauge and you stopped me short. Any good alternatives?

I have two Beall Tiltbox. One at the TS -liked it so much, got one for the BS. 8 - 9 years old. Zero problems.

On topic:

1. And - don't start guys, please - just one man's opinion: Money wasted on plate joiner. Most worthless tool since Ara "Tie One for the Gipper" Parseghian. My fault - I expected it to do things it is not capable of doing - specifically, align boards during glue up. Or, In Ara's case, play the game to win. But still.........

2. Every gol-darn thing I bought as an uninformed first-time homeowner that had an electric motor and the "Craftsman" badge. My wrenches, sockets, rachets only come from them, but that's it - some are 40+ years old - but nothing else, ever again. I have my Dad's full-metal-case Craftsman jig saw and orbit sander - don't use them - but those were from a different era.

[John Sanford]

Any and every meal I bought that made me sick...

'nuff said.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Craftsman dovetail jig. When I first had enough money to buy a few tools, just after getting hitched, my new bride talked me into making a bed and dresser. Watched Norm, and decided that I needed a tablesaw, and a dovetail jig. Went to the closest decent sized town with a pocket full of cash and bought a Delta tablesaw, which was brilliant, and the aforementioned jig. I never did get that stupid thing to cut a decent joint, and I still feel a little guilty for selling it on ebay. (Sorry if you are the one who bought the stupid thing)

[Randy Rizzo]

Chevy Vega wagon, thing blew up the engine 2X

[Matt Meiser]

Any and every meal I bought that made me sick...

'nuff said.

The Mexican place in Spearfish, SD for me...

[Roger Feeley]

When we were first married, we thought we were flush with money and bought an overpriced vacuum cleaner. We learned our lesson and kept the thing around. It has long since departed but we still have some attachments to remind us.

That said, we currently own two Kirbys. One I found for $2 at a thrift store and the other i found for $35 at another thrift store. Bless the people that paid full price for their Kirbys so I could get them cheap. They are fantastically made and I can still find parts.

I remember when I brought the first one home and was rehabbing it. I was polishing up the body when a friend called:

"What'cha doing?"
"Polishing my Kirby."
"Is that what they are calling it now?"

[Roger Feeley]

Probably my worst tool purchase was one of those tilting head bandsaws from Craftsman. The head tilted about three times and has been jammed at 90 degrees ever since. Motor still runs and it cuts so it wasn't a total waste. It was the last Craftsman machine I ever bought.

[Joe Tilson]

Anything Black & Decker, or Craftsman (except Mechanics tools). Ryobi tools have served me well, at the time I had to purchase them, the batteries don't hold up. I can't believe they also make Milwaukee tools, and even they aren't what they use to be.

Long John Silver, Every time I eat that stuff I get sick.

[Mike Olson]

Geez - I was just about to buy a Wixey Digital Angle Gauge and you stopped me short. Any good alternatives?

I bought a digital angle gauge from HF a few months ago and it works fine for me.

As for my worst purchase ever, that would be my 1992 VW Jetta that I bought just out of college in 96. used all my savings that I had from working since middle school. really fun car to drive but I spent more on repairs each month than a new car payment would have cost.

[David Weaver]

I bought a digital angle gauge from HF a few months ago and it works fine for me.

As for my worst purchase ever, that would be my 1992 VW Jetta that I bought just out of college in 96. used all my savings that I had from working since middle school. really fun car to drive but I spent more on repairs each month than a new car payment would have cost.

Welcome to the jetta sucks club, though you were in it before me. I got mine, got rid of it, and then married a woman who proclaimed when I first met her "I just go this car, I think it's cute", and I turned around to see a brand new jetta with a 1.8T. (back in about 2005). We still have the car. The secret to making it last a long time is not actually driving it. It still has cost me $1000 a year each year the last couple of years to drive about 2k miles each year, and at 10 years old now, it's only got about 50k miles on it.

VW would be far better off just reverse engineering a few 1990s toyotas and hondas and not using any of their own ideas in their cars. They somehow manage to make cars that are smaller, with worse fuel economy, that are less reliable, and less friendly to work on. There was an article in the WSJ or something earlier this year that was titled "what went wrong with Volkswagen?", but their focus was recent. The answer is "everything, but it isn't just recent".

[ken masoumi]

Cars: 1994 Chrysler LHS,good looking ,comfortable car but had transmission,shocks,abs/all sensor replaced and at the end sold it for scrap.
1983 Lada.I don't know where to begin,was a real money pit.

Tools: Craftsman table saw.this thing was the flimsiest tool you have ever seen.

[Brian Kent]

While my son was in college I bought some stock, sold it for $1,900 when he graduated, and bought him a used Jetta. That car ran for months.

The stock was 100 shares of Apple, which has since split to 200 shares. It's last price was $512/share. You can buy a nice car for $104,000. I do not regret each step along the way, but we often laugh at the "If we had only known" scenario.

[Kev Williams]

Anything Black & Decker

Lost all faith in Black & Decker after wasting $11 on this ridiculous POC...
287828

Cordless electric cheese grater. If you held it in your hand and put it against some cheese, it would move your hand and arm up and down. If you held it tight enough NOT to move your hand and arm, it didn't have enough power to move at all.

[Bill Cunningham]

Boat... 26 feet of pure aggravation. After 5 years I Finally sold it and by some miracle got most of my money back out of it.

[Ed Aumiller]

Have had wixey angle gauge for years... no trouble with it... I normally remove battery if not doing a lot in the shop though...

[Jim Rimmer]

The Mexican place in Spearfish, SD for me...

Being from Texas, I would NEVER eat Mexican food in South Dakota. Nor would I order seafood in Arizona.

[Jim Rimmer]

Craftsman dovetail jig. When I first had enough money to buy a few tools, just after getting hitched, my new bride talked me into making a bed and dresser. Watched Norm, and decided that I needed a tablesaw, and a dovetail jig. Went to the closest decent sized town with a pocket full of cash and bought a Delta tablesaw, which was brilliant, and the aforementioned jig. I never did get that stupid thing to cut a decent joint, and I still feel a little guilty for selling it on ebay. (Sorry if you are the one who bought the stupid thing)

I had one of those jigs and made it work a couple of times to make boxes. Sold it to someone on the Creek and never got paid for it. I guess I did get what it was worth, though.

[Bruce Page]

Being from Texas, I would NEVER eat Mexican food in South Dakota. Nor would I ordere seafood in Arizona.

LOL, my sister took LOML & I to a Mexican restaurant in Piedmont Missouri.. once...

[Brian Elfert]

I patronize several very good Mexican restaurants here in the Minneapolis area. Just because a Mexican restaurant isn't in the southwest doesn't automatically mean it is bad. Should we not eat at any Chinese restaurants just because they are nowhere geographically close to China?

[Bill Cunningham]

LOL, my sister took LOML & I to a Mexican restaurant in Piedmont Missouri.. once...
Being in rural Ontario Canada, my only experience with Mexican food is via their phone company - Taco Bell...

[Michael Koga]

Been to a Mexican restaurant in a CO ski town, lousy compared to SoCal.

Also been to a Japanese restaurant at another ski area. Decent, but not an Asian in sight. Sat near the kitchen entry, mostly Latino cooks. Still cracks me up.

Chinese food in the middle of Wales. Not good. My theory is all the good cooks worked in London, bad ones banished to the hinterlands.... :-/