Tee Shirt Tuesday

 

This is the first of what I hope to make a regular feature - Tee Shirt Tuesday. Have to see how it works out.

I'm starting out with a big one - not the shirt, that's only an XL - but as a welder/fabricator, you have to have some Vise Grips. The tee shirt came as a promotion with a set I bought a couple of years ago.

Here's part of the collection that's in the welding booth. In addition to these, seven more are currently being used on the jitney project.

There's a half dozen more hanging in the back of the shop along with my C clamps.

These all came out of various tool boxes. I normally buy only the actual Vise Grip brand but I do have some other brands in the collection. The extended reach needle nose on the right side are from Harbor Freight, as are two pair on the top right. They came in a tool set I bought while at the high school when I was teaching the construction class. I was always needing some tool or another and about all there was in the shop were hammers and saws.

Just below those, the pair on the right I keep in my truck - pliers, knife and screwdriver all in one. To the left of those a small pair I keep in the saddle bags on the Himalayan. The ones with the cushioned handles - one pair in the tool box from my part-time gig, the other upstairs in the woodshop. I've also got another pair of those in the house hanging on the basement tool board. The others are from a drawer in my roll around box in the shop to be used as needed.

These all came out of the tool box I bought a few years back to have a set of tools in the garage for miscellaneous maintenance on bicycles, lawn mowers and the VW when I had it parked in there. I wouldn't have bought the five piece kit but it was a close-out at the Ace Hardware uptown and the price was dirt cheap. As you can tell, these don't get much use.

For the record, Harbor Freight now sells a decent brand of locking pliers. The Pittsburgh ones are junk in my estimation but the Bremen ones are just about on par with the actual Vise Grip brand. I don't know if I'll ever need to buy any more but I'd consider buying the Bremen brand since Vise Grips are no longer made by Peterson. However, since I've got 55 pairs of locking pliers now, I'm probably set for life. You on the other hand may wish to consider buying some tools at this time.

Tools seem to be a lousy investment if you wish to flip them at a later time to turn a buck. Old hand tools at an auction will sometimes bring only a dime on the dollar. But since inflation is going to be eating up your buying power, investing in tools now to make yourself more self-sufficient or to perform work for others to boost your income, might not be a bad idea. Just don't buy the cheap knock-off Vise Grips.