The Splurge

My name is Marc and I am a tool guy. One aspect of the trade that I have always enjoyed is discovering, discussing, buying, and using tools. I confess, I have taken on jobs to justify the purchase of a new piece of equipment. That urge to buy the new and shiny is tempered, however, by financial reality and practicality. I know that the $400 hammer with custom colors and space-age materials won’t drive nails that much quicker than my old Estwing, so I resist. The same goes for a new rafter square with micro laser etching and hi-vis finish for my tool pouch. My over-20-year-old one can still mark a line or scrape ice off a 2×4 just fine. So I resist.

But every now and again, something will end up in the shopping cart. Before I commit to the purchase, two restraints keep me (mostly) from having an apologetic conversation with my wife. First and most important is it needs to be efficient: Is this tool an improvement over what I have, or will it help me do a job better and faster? If so, then it makes sense. Having the right tool to do a job correctly is satisfying, especially if you’ve had to make do for a time with what was on hand.
My next restraint is that it needs to be a good deal. I hunt for a sale like some people hunt big game. I have tracked a price for a targeted item across time and geography looking for just the right spot to make the shot. Full price or without free add-ons does not taste as sweet.

Even with those points satisfied, the tool may still be right at the pain threshold or “scold” threshold for cost. (Your situation may vary.) That is what makes it a splurge purchase. I could get something similar for less, but I stretched to buy what I liked and thought would be a better quality tool.

My splurge was a cordless track saw, a DeWalt DCS520ST1 with the tracks, clamps, and carrying cases. Several colleagues owned track saws, so I had the opportunity to try out a number of different brands. The saws all delivered as promised, able to break down finished panels, sheet goods, or prefinished doors with a clean, dead-straight cut. The cost with the needed track and such was in the $1,000-plus range—not an impulse buy.

Then a job came along to renovate a restaurant. I would be building shelving, a bar, booths, and more, all on site, with a lot of finish-grade plywood. Most of this work I would be doing alone, so being able to create all of it safely, cleanly, and accurately was vital. The search for a sale began, and I am happy to report that the tool was just what was required for the job. Having had a heated physical disagreement with a table saw in the past, I look on my track saw as a real savior for doing accurate work on sheet goods

In that spirit, I reached out to a few frequent JLC contributors to see what tools they splurged on. I also asked about the reasoning behind the purchase and if it was worth it, because not all tools we buy end up being what we hoped they would, as I know too well. It’s one of the reasons my garage has never seen, and will never see, a vehicle.

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My first gut-wrencher of a purchase was a hammer. I purchased a Dead On titanium-head hammer (I think in 1999, for around $220).[ed. note. This is one of Dead On’s first hammers, which has a titanium head with a welded-on steel face and a wood handle. It’s a more significant tool than the company’s current, more expensive Ti7 model.] It was a splurge at the time. I was experiencing occasional elbow pain and decided to go for it. It changed the way I look at tools. It didn’t necessarily make me more productive in the short term, but it brought a little bit of joy to the day. I would now argue that it gave me long-term productivity, or at least started me thinking about longevity.

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I generally go for the equivalent of a Honda or Toyota when I buy tools. I want a safe, reliable, and durable tool but don’t care about mahogany handles, electronics, and so forth.

I sometimes splurge on masonry tools and equipment, though. The Europeans know a thing or two about masonry. They practice it far more extensively than we do, and they’ve been doing it for a lot longer—over 2,000 years longer. I recently bought a small concrete mixer from Imer, an Italian company. I could have gotten one the same size for about $300, but I paid $900 for the Imer.

It was well worth it. We can take the Imer off its stand in a minute or two. We can then easily load up the two parts in the back of my small pickup truck. This makes it easy to transport and then set up close to our work. It’s well-designed, and it’s a pleasure to work with. And, I’m pretty sure it will last for decades.

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The one “splurge” I can think of is the Caravan pop-up canopy my wife bought me years ago. I told her I wouldn’t use it and, if I set it up on site, people would drive by and think it was ridiculous or ask when the hot dogs would be ready. She spent around $200, but that was at the end of the season and over 20 years ago. I thought it was nuts, but I put it in the van to make her happy.

One day, I did set it up, and now I can’t live without one. Rain or shine, it is one of the first things that I take out of the truck when I am working. With all the days it has made it possible for me to work in bad weather, it has paid for itself. Good-quality canopies last 5 to 7 years with lots of use. If one wears out, I make sure to get another one right away.

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In the late ’90s, I decided to get a fancy drill for all the deck work I was doing. I spent extra money to buy a Panasonic 12-volt cordless drill kit with two batteries and charger. I had to special order it, and it cost about $400. It was okay at first, but once I dropped it into the mud, chuck first, it never worked right afterward. Then I went and spent more money to try to have it fixed, but it still wasn’t right. What a waste. It was a tool that would have been better for a shop where it would’ve been kept safe, away from the cruel world. Not worth it! Still makes me mad thinking about it.

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