Last week while heading towards check out at Home Depot, I passed the beginning of their holiday sale display at the front of the store. The whole lot was organized as such: $40 and under, $30 and under… well, you get the idea. With all those hot fresh tools in one place, I slightly arched my head back and let out a, “arr, arr, arr.”
Then it hit me, Home Improvement flashbacks dropped all over my frontal lobe. I use to watch that show, like all the time. Granted, I didn’t love the show, maybe didn’t even really like to the show, but it was on after school and was right before the Simpsons.
I was drawing blanks with any of the shows details, so I hopped on the INTERNET!!! and read the entirety of the show’s Wikipedia page. Man, first-rate times, I guess. Besides the super cute mom, the rest of the cast borders on unbearably obnoxious. Ugh, and the later seasons with one son being goth, and the other a preachy liberal constantly talking about environmental nonsense; fast forward to the Simpsons please.
I looked up some quotes from the show and had a good laugh. From the quotes, I’d have to say my favorite character is head honcho Tim; and the way I’ve been acting around power tools lately, I think I’m becoming him.
Before buying a house, literally, all my tools fit inside our apartment's junk drawer. Pretty much a common hammer and screwdriver, cheap ones at that. And now, here I am at Home Depot, lusting over specific kinds of hammers. You mean there’s more than one kind of hammer? Yes my lad, there’s a plethora of diverse hammers; and check this out! You can choose a different weight for the same kind of hammer, you know, for comfort and smashing power.
Sure, Home Depot is a good choice for up-to-date power tools and items you lean towards wanting new; but lets not forget my first love, secondhand! More specifically, estate sales!
For anyone thinking/needing to build a tool collection, estate sales is the place to get the most bang for your buck.
We’re not talking cheap made in China or Taiwan garbage; your average estate sale generally reaches back to the late 50s early 60s, sometimes the 1940s 30s, enough to be considered common, and on the rare-ish side 1920s or before. Everything back then was tough as nails and made in the USA; built to last a lifetime baby. I highly recommend, purchasing your essential hand tools this way, you’ll get what you need dirt cheap, and be able to give new life to a piece of American history.
Not much time left before Christmas! Go hop on estatesales.net, find some killer sales, and start popping on some tools for the Tim Taylor in your life.
What time is it?
TOOL TIME!!!
