Black Friday was last week, and Sears did some amazing online sales for it, so I was able to get my hands on the 14pc SAE/Metric Gear Wrench Flex-Head set I've been wanting for some time.
They arrived today, and they're just so damned fun to play with!
I need more repair/build stuff to do, so that I can use these things!
Want a free Kobalt 6-in-1 screwdriver?
You're going to have to travel to your local Lowe's store to pick it up, which means if you're out here in Beirut (or in the vicinity) like me, you're going to have to travel to Salem for it.
Visit http://www.kobalt.com/ right now, and punch in your information. You'll be emailed a link to a printable coupon with a unique barcode (don't give yours out, make your friends enter themselves, because the barcode deactivates once you get your screwdriver) that you can take to the store.
When you redeem the coupon, you're also entered in the sweepstakes for a $4800 Lowe's gift card, which would be pretty sweet, too.
Now, I'm sure it's probably a $5 screwdriver, but, hey, it's free. If I can get one the next time I'm going to Salem for other business, then it's all good.
Anyhow - check it out, enter, get a free driver. DO IT!
Radigast: If you're reading this, use your parent's address or something - I already used ours. :)
Woot!
I got home from Newport today, and sitting on my doorstep was a spiffy USPS Priority Mail box full of ratchets!
Well, not full, but there were four of them in there...
I love eBay.
I picked up for nearly 50% off retail price the following:
Craftsman 3/8" Drive Flex-Head
Craftsman 3/8" Drive Full-Polish
Craftsman 3/8" Drive Full-Polish Long-Handle
Craftsman 3/8" Drive Full-Polish Offset-Handle Flex-Head
I'm almost enjoying collecting tools more than collecting firearms - the guns are awesome as hell, but I can't use them as frequently as I'd like, and they're expensive to feed.
Tools, on the other hand, can be used whenever I want - I can go build something or take it apart or whatever, whenever.
And, they actually kinda save me money, when I'm able to do my own repair stuffs...
Craftsman Club Days are in the house! WOOT!
I decimated the local Sears, taking awesome advantage of the killer savings of Craftsman Club Days!
I got:
80th Anniversary 3pc Next Gen Ratchet Set (Thin Profile)
Craftsman Professional 3pc Pry Bar Set
Craftsman 12" Combination Square
Craftsman 7" Rafter Angle Square
Craftsman 13pc Ball End Hex Key Set SAE
Craftsman 13pc Ball End Hex Key Set Metric
Surebonder All-In-One Staple Gun
Craftsman 5pc Barbecue Accessory Set
Craftsman Quartz Halogen Tripod Light (2)
Craftsman Cross-Force 8pc Combination Wrenct Set SAE
Craftsman Cross-Force 8pc Combination Wrenct Set Metric
Craftsman Professional Vise
Craftsman 6pc Sabre Saw Blades
Craftsman 10pc Reciprocating Saw Blades
Craftsman 8 drawer chest (black)
Craftsman 5 drawer roll-away (black)
Craftsman 3 drawer intermediate chest (black)
A shit-ton of brand new tools, and a new toolbox to put them in! SUHWEEEEET!
I love tools!
Now I just need to buy the lift kit for the Explorer so I have something to use them on!
What the fuck is a Saw Zaw?
Jesus Fucking Christ on a fucking pogo stick.
If you're going to use a name-brand product to refer to your knock-off (Sawzall instead of Reciprocating Saw), at least fucking get that right.
Fucking illiterate idiots.
Craigslist needs a new flag - "moron".
Shit.
So, I went to pay my insurance bill online, and it's telling me my policy is cancelled.
This shouldn't be happening until the 15th of this month, dammit.
Now I have to wait until sometime Monday to get ahold of my agent, since he's not open at all on the weekend.
ARGH.
On a better note, I bought myself a bench grinder today, but forgot to by the adapter so I can use the wire wheel I bought for it, so I'm going to have to go back to Sears tomorrow, I think.
DAMMIT.
I can't stop.
I'm truly addicted.
I can't walk into a store that carries hand tools without going over to browse the stuff.
It doesn't matter where it is.
I can go to Autozone, with absolutely no intent of EVER buying their Duralast-branded tools, but I still go browse.
I <3 Chrome - at least when it comes to tools.
I need help - badly.
So, as I'm sure I mentioned in earlier posts, this past Black Friday, I went hognuts at Sears on tools, and one of the areas I went nuttiest was on sockets.
I've somehow inherited a couple hundred sockets from a few different kits over the years, and the majority of them have been cheap Chinese/Taiwanese/Japanese deals.
Now, don't get me wrong, I've only ever broken one socket, so I can't really say that I've got a valid reason for needing better quality gear, but there's something awfully pleasing about having a toolbox full of name-brand lifetime-warranty stuff, now.
Anyhow, I've been meaning to sort out all of the extra sockets for quite some time, and build up a couple sets for some friends, and I finally got that done tonight.
Here's an interesting question, for those of you that might be in the know:
Among all of the throw-away sockets, in the 1/4" drive stuff, I found the following sizes:
4mm
4.5mm
5.5mm
5/32"
15/32"
These weren't part of any of the Craftsman kits that I bought, but I've since discovered that Sears does sell the 4mm, 5.5mm and 5/32" sockets.
Are 4.5mm and 15/32" a legitimate nut/bolt size for anything, or is this perhaps a case of the tool manufacturers cranking something out as filler, or to enable a "10,000 pieces!" claim?
I just pulled out my 2006-2007 Craftsman Power and Hand Tools Catalog, and the 4.5mm and 15/32" sockets apparently don't exist, at least as far as Craftsman is concerned.
I'll probably hang on to the no-names that I've got, but now I'm real curious.
Found these recently, and since I'm in tool-whore mode (as opposed to gun-whore, arcade-whore, radio-whore, car-whore, or just general whore), I'm going to share them with you.
http://www.craftsmantooltalk.com/BBS/ - Craftsman Club Forum/Bulletin Board. You have to be a Craftsman Club member to post, and joining apparently ain't the quickest, as the card I filled out a couple months ago still hasn't done anything. Try calling 1-800-682-8691 to join, and it might be expedited. If I don't hear anything soon, I'll be doing that myself. It's not the greatest forum out there, but there's some knowledgable people, and since I'm a fan of Craftsman tools, this is neat to me.
http://www.ryobitools.com/dc/dcboard.php - Ryobi Tools Forum. Kinda along the same lines as above, only Ryobi-centric. Again, some decent knowledge there to draw from, and if you're curious about a particular tool, they can tell you if it's good or if it's crap.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/index.php? - The Garage Journal Forums. Garage Journal is a blog dedicated to outfitting your garage/shop, and the forum follows that. There's a pretty good tool discussion section on the forum.
http://www.toolmonger.com/ - Toolmonger. Here's the neat one. Regular reviews of all kinds of nifty tool and man stuff. Regular giveaways (all you have to do is post comments). News of the tool/do-it-yourself world. I just found this yesterday, and I'm loving it.
Finally, and it's not a new find, but there's always eBay, the hawk-shop for crackheads that know how to use a computer. Why buy new, when all the major brands have a full lifetime warranty? Found quite a few neat tool deals on there recently, but sadly, too many people know about buying tools there, so you've got to remain vigilant, and keep up on the site.
Now, if I could just find a nice set of cheap name-brand brake tools, I'd be pretty much set.
I'm so happy, I just created a new blog category, "Tools".
I've been organizing all my tools into the plethora of drawers that my cool new toolbox thinger has, and I discovered that I don't have any "good" 1/2" drive ratchet/socket stuffs.
Over the last couple of months, I've now become a tool whore, and the Asian stuff just ain't gonna cut it.
My 1/2" drive stuff is a Japanese set that seems to be OK, but now that I'm a tool whore, I don't trust stuff like the ratchet/socket stuff unless it's made in the good old U.S.A.
So, I'm over at Fast Cash today, which is the local hawk-shop here in Lebanon.
Compared to the shops in Albany, Fast Cash has the best selection of used hand tools that I've seen. Tons of stuff, and all reasonably priced.
Anyhow, I snagged a Craftsman 1/2" drive ratchet that was priced at $12.00, and I dug through their bin-o-sockets and weeded out a new-looking set of 8 1/2" 12pt sockets ranging from 11/16" to 1 1/8". Individual sockets are priced at $1.50 to $2.00, with larger 1/2" drive stuff supposed to be at $2.00/each.
On my way to the counter, I notice a zip-tied set of 6 1/2" drive 6pt sockets, from 9/16 to 7/8 for $10, so I add it to the pile, and go up to pay.
Well, at the low end ($1.50/socket) for the 8 sockets pulled from the bin, my total should be $34. At the high end, $38.
Guy at the counter charged me $20 for the whole deal.
New from Sears, the ratchet should be $22.99. The sockets in a set would be at least $40-$60.
I scored, hardcore.
With the Craftsman lifetime warranty, who cares if they're used or (in the case of the ratchet), scuffed up a tiny bit?
They all work, and if they break, I get a replacement.
Good times, good times.
I love my tools.
In case anyone cares, my toolbox showed up about a week ago, and it's quite sweet.
I've pretty much got all the stuff organized and packed in it - now I just need to go weed throught all the extraneous shit that I've got, and see what other tools I need.
I'm sick and tired of waiting. I want my toolbox, so I can put all my cool new tools away and get them all organized.
It's supposed to be here sometime this week, but that may have changed.
The stupid freight company responsible for shipment changed the ship date - originally, it had said it shipped on 11/23/07 (two days after I ordered it), and now it says it shipped on 11/27/07, which adds about another week to things.
This is getting fucking annoying. I want my stuff, dammit.
I'm going to need to find some kind of storage thing for all my Ryobi tools, too - they're currently in a decent spot on one of the workbenches, but I like the idea of a rolling storage setup for them, too.
So, it wasn't as bad as expected, which I'm happy for.
I had been debating going out and trying to score one of the many $400 laptops that people were selling, and then decided against it, because the specs of them all kinda sucked, compared to what I wanted.
On Monday or Tuesday, I saw that Best Buy had posted some "secret" only-advertised-on-the-Internet specials, one of which was a $250 Toshiba laptop, with specs comparable to everyone else's $400 laptop.
At $250, I decided that I really couldn't pass it up, so I arranged with C to accompany me, and we left Lebanon this morning at about 2am, to go await the 5AM opening of Best Buy in Salem.
When we arrived, on the opposite side of the mall, things looked good - barely any cars in the parking lot.
When we rounded the corner of Macy's, we discovered Best Buy was packed.
There were at least 150-200 people in line already.
We got in line, thinking we might be lucky, but in the short 20 minutes that we stood there, about 30 people joined the line behind us, and about 60 people joined the front of the line.
Shit like that pisses me off.
These assholes need to die. Retailers need to hire some cheap minimum-wage security folks to stand out there for a few hours, and enforce the fucking line.
I seriously feel sorry for the people near the middle of the line, who were probably #50 or #60 to get in the store when they joined the line, and ended up being #150 or #160 when the store finally opened.
"Fuck this", I said to C, and we bailed. We drove down to Albany to check and see if there was any kind of line at Sears, as they were having some MASSIVE freakin' deals on Craftsman tools, AND giving away a $10 gift card to the first 200 people.
At about 3:30am, one guy was standing at the door, and two girls were waiting in their car. We decided to get in line.
Now, I can almost accept some of the line-campers.
Take the Playstation 3, for example. Given how much the damned thing was selling for on eBay, if you had the opportunity to be one of the "lucky" few to purchase one on launch day, and you intended to sell it on eBay to exploit the idiots who just had to have one, sweet. You may have had to camp there for 48 hours, but if you end up making $1500 on the thing, you're being paid $30-something an hour to what? Brave the wind and rain for a bit?
Not a horrible deal.
But if you're at Sears, camping since 11pm the night before, without a shopping agenda, simply there to get one of the $10 gift cards they're giving out to the first 200 people through the doors? You're fucked in the head, pal.
Yes, that was Mr. First In Line. He waited at Sears for six hours, so he could get a $10 gift card. He got the card, and he left. Didn't purchase a single fucking thing.
Why is minimum wage $7.50/hr when there's people willing to do stupid shit for $1.67/hr?
I don't get it.
All in all, Black Friday wasn't horrible - but, we only patronized one establishment.
To the people out there that just absolutely had to be to as many places between 5am and 11pm, you're fucking mental.
I ended up dropping about $300-$350 on tools and such. There were a couple things I didn't particularly need, but when you're talking Craftsman tools with a lifetime warranty? Wrenches for $1.25/each and sockets for $0.91/each is a hell of a deal for something that's warrantied for life.
We entered at 5am, left at 6am, got breakfast at Denny's, and I was in bed at 7am.
As I'm writing this, I'm still freaking exhausted, but the sleep sacrifice was worth it. I've now got a pretty respectable collection of hand tools, and I'm quite happy about that.
