Cheap Tools Are Dangerous
Cheap Tools and the Wrong Tools Are Dangerous
I have been hurt several times using cheap tools or trying to make do with the wrong tool. When I started the business 30 some years ago I didn’t know much about tools and I bought cheap tools. I’m still using some of those tools even though now I know better.
I’m also trying to make do with tools that are almost right instead of getting the absolutely right tool.
Most recently I ripped the top tendon loose on my right bicep. It was extremely painful and I have lost about 30% of the strength in my right arm. I was trying to use a wrench that wasn’t big enough. It didn’t have enough leverage to make the job easy and safe so I kept pulling harder and harder until the tendon snapped. I heard it snap and it was excruciatingly painful.
A year or so ago I had my little finger and ring finger on my right hand swollen for most of the year because of cheap drill bit caught, snapped and spun the drill out of my hand.
My worst injury was using a ladder that was too short back in 1993. I ended up with a left leg that is three quarters of an inch too short and an ankle that doesn’t bend very well.
I keep working on breaking the habit of using tools I already have instead of replacing him with high quality tools that are the right tools for the job. It is a hard habit for me to break.
All my life I’ve been taught that it is a real virtue to make do with what you have. I was taught expressions such as “It is a poor workman who blames his tools.”
Now I’m at the point where I firmly believe intellectually that good quality tools and the right tools for the job are the only way to go. But it is hard breaking the habit.
Having my bicep ripped loose because I was not using the right tool has certainly helped in the learning process.
I strongly suggest that you develop the habit of using the right tool before you rip your bicep loose, lose the use of two fingers for about a year or shatter your leg as I did.
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Tags: safety
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