A man cannot have enough tools

A man cannot have enough tools

as I walked up on my porch this morning and sit down with my morning cup of coffee, I looked out upon the heavy fog covering the forest making me feel like an eerie Halloween story was about to occur. I continued to look around and noticed that my front gate needed some repair. So I went out into my shop to find the right tool.

Men cannot have enough tools; the longer you live, the bigger your family, the more you need tools. As a young married man I started off with a small set of tools that were given to me by my father. There were not many and they all fit inside a small toolbox. The toolbox was a small single handled slightly beat up toolbox. The box was placed inside a cabinet inside the house. As time went on I bought more tools, now the small toolbox could not carry all the tools I had. So the next toolbox came from Sears and it was a craftsman six drawer rolling toolbox. I was so excited about getting this toolbox that I lined the drawers with a rubber material to stop the tools from rattling around. Now I had to find a place to keep these tools. So the toolbox had to move from a cabinet into the garage. Of course once in the garage I found I needed a workbench. And so the collection began. Now that I had a workbench, I needed a vice and a drill press. I also needed an electrical circular handsaw. As the old hands saw wore  me out just using it on a 2 x 4. It was soon after that I found out about air powered tools. I needed an air compressor. As I started collecting more tools I found I needed a place to put all these tools. So I went out and bought some shelving, the heavy-duty kind, and started stacking some of the tools on the shelves. Of course this started eating into the space usually reserved to park the car in. Now that I had the shelves I found I needed I a light to put over the workbench. To be able to put a light over the workbench I needed more electrical outlets in the garage. And so, I put in several 110 V electrical outlets and of course a switch to control the light over the workbench. As the years went on and we move from house to house, I would look at each new house to see how much work space was in the garage. I went from a two-car garage were only one of the spaces was used for the car the other was used for tools  and then, joy of joy, we bought a house that had three car bays. And now two of the bays could be used for cars and the other bay could be full with shelving, full of tools.

It was at this time I realized that I needed more space and the garage was no longer an option. So I went to Sears and bought one of their 8′ x 10′ metal sheds. These sheds are very lightweight and it takes about 1000 bolts and nuts to put it together. This is one of those times that you need to read the directions in putting it together. Of course with the metal being so thin I had to buy some plywood to put on the inside wall to avoid from any damage while moving tools. It did not take long to fill the shed up. By the time I put my lawnmower, my pressure washer, my cement mixer and my shredder inside it; there was almost no room for my riding lawn mower and a larger group of garden tools finished. Now I found myself back where I started. I needed more room. And as the years went by I noticed that many properties had shops on them.

During our last move I looked at a host of properties. There was a laundry list of things that the new house and property had to have. The property we chose had a beautiful house and 15 acres of trees. But I was more excited about the 25′ x 30′ large steel shop on the property. I’m attaching a photo of the shop. It had a thick cement floor and there was 220 V and 110 V electricity already connected to the shop. And so I bought six set of shelves and built two large tables for my tools. I added lighting and now with all that space I bought a John deer tractor to put in the shop. As I started inventorying all my tools I found I now had to have two large tool boxes just as they handle them. Of course the toolboxes were on rollers so I can move them to whatever area needed. With all this new space I can take on bigger projects and with bigger projects I need more tools. So I started by buying a table saw and I’m looking for a plainer. Now that I’m in the shop a lot I going to need to put in a bathroom which means I’m going to have to run water to the shop and of course connected the toilet to a septic system. For this I need some more tools.

So now I hope you see what I mean by a man cannot have enough tools. Although, they are not as valuable as my wife’s jewelry collection. I imagine I have a lot of money that I’ve spent all my tools. I even carried on the tradition of giving several of my sons a set of tools to help them start their collection. My family constantly jokes about my always going to Home Depot or Lowe’s. And of course they’re right. I get excited by going to those stores and I’m always looking for their sale items. The first things I made when moving into the new house, was a birdhouse.  You would think, with all the tools in the large shop that I have I would’ve made something much larger and more involved. But I felt a great deal of pride in building my own birdhouse.

So with the Christmas season upon us and the question of what to buy for dad, think of tools. They range from very inexpensive to very expensive. He can be as simple as a pair of pliers and a Phillips head screwdriver or a hundred and 13 piece, toolbox. No matter what it is it will be accepted with a smile. Because man cannot have enough tools.

Pops