Who keeps patching their old yard tools together?

[JDgreen]

This is an IDC (Interdynamics Corporation) electric weed trimmer I purchased at Monkey Wards back in 1989. I have never tried to get OEM replacement parts, but have jury rigged the power cord and string shield/cutter with oddball parts twice, and repaired the on/off switch with JB Weld. It still works good, but one of these days something will break I cannot fix. Why do we hang onto things like this, when we got our money out of them a long time ago? About 2 years ago I found something almost the same as this at a Goodwill store, it was a Ryobi brand, but I didn't buy it as it didn't work when I plugged it in. Dumb me...it was only $15.00.

 

[mois25]

This is an IDC (Interdynamics Corporation) electric weed trimmer I purchased at Monkey Wards back in 1989. I have never tried to get OEM replacement parts, but have jury rigged the power cord and string shield/cutter with oddball parts twice, and repaired the on/off switch with JB Weld. It still works good, but one of these days something will break I cannot fix. Why do we hang onto things like this, when we got our money out of them a long time ago? About 2 years ago I found something almost the same as this at a Goodwill store, it was a Ryobi brand, but I didn't buy it as it didn't work when I plugged it in. Dumb me...it was only $15.00.

I think if all of us would own up to it, the truth of the matter is that we tend to hang onto what we are used to without having any clear cut explanation. Perhaps it just is mere attachment.

 

[Two-Stroke]

For me the real dilemma is when to throw out stuff that is beyond fixing but still contains good parts. What I should do is dismantle those things and organize the parts -- but I rarely get around to that.

 

[monica123]

My husband is so guilty, he drains every last bit of good out of a tool before he retires it, most have duct tape, etc holding them together, it is ridiculous

 

[LandN]

My wife and i go round and round on this matter,whether it is ope equipment or house stuff. if i throw it to the curb she sneaks it back into the garage. So what i have to do is totally destroy what i'm pitching to the curb, so it is impossible for her to save it. i cant stand having patched up stuff laying around the house/garage that is not in good working order, once i get both vehicles in the garage there is not a lot of room for lots of other stuff,and i cant stand clutter :laughing: :biggrin:

 

[JDgreen]

My husband is so guilty, he drains every last bit of good out of a tool before he retires it, most have duct tape, etc holding them together, it is ridiculous

Your husband is thinking like me...one of my favorite sayings is:

"Saving money is the retired man's full time job". To be honest I don't have duct tape holding anything together. electrical wire, cable ties, JB Weld, etc work better than duct tape anyhow....

 

[Harriet]

I know that when I buy things, I am always thinking about having them for the long term and my intention is to "buy it once". I'm also one of those people that buys a car and drives it "until the wheels fall off".

 

[patches]

I buy the best quality I can afford and keep it until I get tired of repairing it or it can't be repaired again. If the handle of a shovel breaks, I buy a handle instead of a new shovel. I keep up on the maintenance of my mowers to make them last longer and replace them when the repairs get too costly. If something can be repaired, it is repaired until it doesn't make sense to spend the money on more repairs.

 

[greengrass]

We jury rigged all types of things but we have never dealt with any heavy machinery before. I have to give props if anyone here has done it, for some reason things this intense kind of make me back off and leave it to the professionals.