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Thread: Sawmill Creek. Blessing or curse?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Upland CA
    Posts
    5,546

    Sawmill Creek. Blessing or curse?

    I was thinking today about how much money being a contributor to Sawmill Creek has saved me. I have learned of many really good deals that I never would have known about if not for the creek.

    In the last ten years I got the Tool Nut deal on the Makita track saw, picked up several Freud saw blades for as little as $18, clamp deals at Lowes, half price on DeWalt scroll saw, also give away prices on Biesemeyer fences, and Kreg benchtop router tables. Can't forget the $100 Festool sanders either.

    I would not have known of any of these deals if I hadn't seen them on the Creek.

    But, on the other hand.........I have spent a lot of hard earned cash on things like a SawStop PCS, the track saw, my Kreg foreman machine, router table with lift, and Onieda Gorilla DC. These are all things I learned about on this forum since joining in 2003.

    The Creek has been an enabler, an opiate, opening my mind to new acquisitions to feed my tool junkie sickness. I may have never fallen this far down this slippery slope without the aid of fellow Creekers.

    What say you?
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    1,408
    Both. Pretty much like any other hobby/tool forum - you learn a lot and burn a lot [of cash]. But in the end hopefully you're happier for all of it.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Crystal Lake, IL
    Posts
    577
    Those caskets don't have side pockets. You can't take it with you.....
    Jeff

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Sacramento, CA
    Posts
    2,005
    I look at is this way: If you wanted to and were going to get in to the hobby anyway, forums like these and some youtube channels educate you on WHY certain products are worth more money the benefits to better/higher end tools preventing you from buying stuff you might not need or use AND from buying cheap tools that will ultimately cost you more money when you decide to upgrade and cant recover little to any money from selling them. Buy once, cry once, then live with the better tool every time you need/use it. EVEN if you're "just" a hobbyist.
    If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Princeton, NJ
    Posts
    7,252
    Blog Entries
    7
    Talk to us when you start admiring German machinery with blue paint.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  6. #6
    Well I just spent $100 at Woodpecker's today because of a thread telling me it was stupid to pay that much for a square.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Central Missouri, U.S.
    Posts
    1,263
    The Creek is as valuable for learning what NOT to buy as enticing me to buy things. Well, maybe not quite.

    I recently paid cash for a PCS, and I'm sure some of the younger members of my family weren't as happy about it as me.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Location
    Itapevi, SP - Brazil
    Posts
    672

    Smile Blessing, of course!

    Quote Originally Posted by Rick Potter View Post

    [...]

    The Creek has been an enabler, an opiate, opening my mind to new acquisitions to feed my tool junkie sickness. I may have never fallen this far down this slippery slope without the aid of fellow Creekers.

    What say you?
    The Creek is one of the funniest places I know. Additionally you can learn a lot about people... and by extension, myself, of course.

    On the other hand, living at thousands km away the US helps me do not fall in temptation so frequently.

    All the best,
    Last edited by Osvaldo Cristo; 05-04-2018 at 7:10 PM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504
    The Creek is a blessing. It' s a friendly place where you can learn from amateurs and professionals in a civil atmosphere. I have gained an enormous amount of knowledge here. The advice I have gotten here has prevented me from making a lot of mistakes. When it comes to tools, it's subjective. It's a matter of personal opinion. Just because you and I disagree doesn't make either of us evil. We just disagree.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298

    memetics

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald View Post
    The Creek is a blessing. It' s a ...
    This is a fascinating place. I most enjoy "meeting" the people, learning how they think, reading of their experiences, and watching how ideas evolve through them.

    I've been reading about memetics lately. SMC could comprise the basis for a post-doctoral thesis.

    JKJ

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Heath View Post
    Those caskets don't have side pockets. You can't take it with you.....
    I have a new CNC friend who builds caskets...and I'm sure he can include that option if you want it!
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  12. #12
    I would say thanks to one person in here who changed my entire approach to equipment. Thanks to him I realized most of my stuff was dog vomit. Without that ah ha moment I wouldn't be on the path that I am, and for that I am grateful.

  13. #13
    Well Rick, chances are the bug would have bitten you anyway and if you weren't enabled by SMC, you would have gone down the same path reading FWW, PW and the other standard rags and been equally or more likely even more enabled.

    Here when your read or ask a question you at least get dissenting, often vehemently divergent, opinions and views. You don't tend to get that in magazines as much, especially ones that want to keep their advertisers. Here if someone says "I like brand X" someone will say X is overpriced and more tool than you need and Y is perfectly fine, while others will say if you don't upgrade to Z, you are wasting your money.

    I know I probably could have done just as good of work if I had never upgraded from my old blue handled (Record) Marples chisels, Defiance smoothing plane, and Revonoc jack plane, but i did, and I normally don't regret it. Oh, and I did it long before this here newfangled interweb thing and SMC

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio - north
    Posts
    110
    Can we start up a new forum section for an 11 step program for tool and equipment addicts?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by al heitz View Post
    Can we start up a new forum section for an 11 step program for tool and equipment addicts?
    No need. The 12th step is always "Forget all that and buy the tool anyway."

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