I'm not very old, and my tool collection is quite small, but there are
tools that are 'special' to me. A friend that I usually wrench with
has a 1/2" Proto breaker bar. He bought me one and for a while I would
just look at it for a minute when I took it out of my tool bag. It's
really a beautiful piece.
I have an assortment of 'junk' tools, so when I got serious about
tinkering I treated myself to a Craftsman set. Not a big one. I think
I paid $100 for it on sale, and some of that with a gift card my wife's
employer gave to her. But it has a 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" ratchet and a
decent selection of sockets. The really nice thing is that it has a
molded case with a spot for every socket so I can be very careful to
collect the bits before I pick up and leave (I don't have a garage so I
work at other people's places). I've been building on it since by
buying an adapter here and an extension there.
I know that a lot of people rag on Craftsman tools, but this is the
only way I am able to afford a decent set to work with. I always swore
that I'd buy a great set of tools when I am gainfully employed, but now
I don't know. Sure I've broken a few sockets and adapters (I once
broke three 17mm sockets by running them on a 3/4" impact driver and
'helping' it with a 36" pipe wrench), but I've taken them in to Sears
and they hand me a new one with no questions asked. It's a bit
inconvenient to have to take one back every now and again, but it also
gives me an excuse to buy that adapter or set of torx bits that I've
needed...
~Paul
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