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Visited a 100-year-old hardware store and saw how little some tools change
I stopped by Mulligan's Hardware in my hometown last weekend. They still have the same wooden bins for nails and screws that my grandpa used to dig through 40 years ago. The owner told me they still sell a particular brand of pipe wrench that hasn't changed design since 1950. Made me wonder how many of those old tools are still worth picking up at yard sales today? Anyone else notice older tools just last longer than the cheap stuff from big box stores?
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harper_owens1mo ago
Used to think old tools were just nostalgia bait, but after picking up a 1950s Crescent wrench at a garage sale for two bucks I changed my mind. That thing has outlasted three modern wrenches I bought new and still grabs tighter than any of them. Makes me check every estate sale now for the old Stanley and Craftsman stuff before they rot in a dusty bin.
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mary_patel591mo ago
Oh tell me about it, I had a similar moment with an old Stanley plane I found at a flea market. The thing was all rusty and looked like it had been used to scrape gum off sidewalks, but after a little clean up it cuts like butter. Meanwhile my fancy new one from the big box store just sits there and chatters and makes a mess. It is like they used to make stuff to last forever, but now they make stuff to last just past the warranty period. I swear we are living in the age of planned obsolescence and it is maddening. That crescent wrench find was a gem, hang onto it like it is gold.
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Oh man that crescent wrench thing is so true. I found a vintage Craftsman one at a yard sale last summer for a buck, the thing was caked in grease and the handle had a little surface rust. Cleaned it up with some wd40 and a rag and it grabs like it's brand new. My buddy bought a shiny new set from Home Depot last fall and already snapped the cheap cast iron jaw on a stubborn rusted bolt. It's nuts how they used to make simple tools like that out of forged steel that just doesn't quit, and now it's all that pressed metal garbage that bends if you look at it wrong. I swear I grab the old stuff every single time now.
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