Asklemmy

My tools. I've amassed quite the arsenal of hand and power tools from 1840-1970. I refurbish and rebuild them into much higher quality workhorses than you can get these days for a fraction of the cost. Even if the price of modern tools wasn't of any concern, outside of two very premium niche manufacturers, you literally can not get good tools anymore. Nobody makes them. Home improvement stores are full of poorly designed, low quality garbage for people who have never used an actually good tool before. No one has made a made a good combination square in so long that most people have never used one. Chisels and saws are a goddamn tragedy. Power tools are all run with chips than burn out, are covered in plastic guards that break or melt, and are running entirely on brand favoritism from people that don't know they've been had. My table saw is from 1953. It cost me 40$ and an hour of sanding rust and tuning. It has one mechanism and will eat through anything. My band saw is from 1968 and cost me 60$, plus 28 for new guides and tires. My favorite chisel is from 1884, and cost 5$. I still can't find one I like nearly as well in any other size. My favorite block plane was 6$ and an hour of tuning. It's from 1878 and kicks the hell out of the 40$ Irwin dogshit I picked up before I knew better. My panel saws have been used hard for 160 years, and will not only outlive the disposable garbage from home depot, but will do a better job and outlive me.

I've made a hobby of bringing anything I can find at thrift stores back to life. It prevents waste, and keeps a tool that had real care put into it's development from ending up nailed to the wall in applebees. As a bonus, collectors generally hate refurbished tools, and I hate someone removing things from the shrinking pool of good, cheap tools so they can put it on a shelf or try to sell it for hundreds as a rarity.